A strong show in India and Japan seems to have helped Lupin meet market expectations in the first quarter.

The company reported a 17 per cent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenues to Rs 1,568 crore in the quarter. Profits, however, grew only by 6 per cent to Rs 214 crore, mainly due to a rise in costs.

Increased overheads due to the new facility at Indore drove the operating margins lower by 2.5 percentage points to 18.8 per cent.

Lupin's Japanese subsidiary Kyowa grew by an impressive 28 per cent to Rs 166 crore in the first quarter (11 per cent of total revenues), helped by new product launches. Japan could become a key growth market for the company this year, with the management expecting prices to remain firm. Its stronghold in the domestic market continued with India formulations growing by about 17 per cent during the quarter (32 per cent of total revenues).

Lupin's formulation sales in the US and Europe grew only by about 7 per cent during the quarter (35 per cent of revenues). Price erosion in Lotrel and absence of launches during the quarter kept the US sales growth capped. Its brands' business, led by Suprax, contributed to about a third of its US sales, while generics made up the rest.

Lupin filed four ANDAs, taking its filings to 152 (of which 51 stand approved by the US FDA). The company has over 29 ANDA filings in the high-margin oral contraceptives space. It expects to make two or three launches in the third quarter. But the much-awaited AllerNaze launch may be delayed to the last quarter of this fiscal owing to manufacturing issues.

Sales for Lupin's South African subsidiary, Pharma Dynamics, grew by 47 per cent, while Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient sales grew by about 12 per cent during the quarter.

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