Sun Pharmaceutical Industries posted a near 2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in profit after tax (PAT) for the first quarter of FY24 to Rs 2,022.5 crore due to a one-time exceptional expense. The firm’s total income grew by almost 13 per cent.
The firm’s stock ended flat at Rs 1,140.85 on the BSE.
The company notified the stock exchanges that they incurred an exceptional expense of Rs 323 crore during the quarter on account of forex loss pertaining to Ranbaxy Nigeria and other expenses. The firm also attributed it to damage of an intangible asset under development, devaluation of the Naira against the US dollar, and the impact of the planned relocation of Alchemee operations from California to New York and the consequent transitional expenses.
On a sequential basis, the company’s PAT grew almost 2 per cent, while the income from operations grew 7.4 per cent. The company’s total expenses have increased by 10.17 per cent YoY.
Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Pharma, said that US has led the revenue growth in the first quarter, and the global specialty business has continued to increase as a share of its revenues. Shanghvi added that the specialty business grew 21 per cent YoY to $232 million, and the research and development (R&D) spend for the pipeline accounted for 35.8 per cent of Sun Pharma’s total R&D spend for the quarter.
During an investor call, Shanghvi also said that they are upbeat from the initial clinical trial data from their GL0034 asset, a type-2 diabetes product.
“We are excited with these early results and the phase-2 trials will start shortly,” he said.
The company informed that supplies from its Mohali plant, under a consent decree, are yet to begin, but clarified that no re-inspection from the USFDA was required for the supplies to restart. In April, the USFDA had asked Sun Pharma to take certain corrective actions at the Mohali facility before releasing further final product batches into the US.
The company’s India formulation sales for the quarter were up 5.1 per cent to Rs 3,560 crore. India accounts for 30 per cent of consolidated sales, and Sun Pharma has a 8.3 per cent share of the market, leading the charts in the domestic market. The company said that patent expiry of a diabetic drug Sitagliptin (for which it had a licensing arrangement) as well as the impact of price control has led to a subdued performance in its home market.
Formulation sales in the US were $471 million (including Taro), recording a growth of 12 per cent over the first quarter last year; accounting for over 33 per cent of total consolidated sales.
