New Delhi: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., India’s largest drugmaker by revenue, on Friday reported a 29.6 per cent jump in fourth-quarter profit as it benefited from lower expenses and higher sales of specialty drugs.
The company’s consolidated profit before exceptional items and tax rose to 24.11 billion rupees ($291.7 million) for the quarter ended March 31, it said in an exchange filing.
Total revenue from operations increased by 15.7 percent to Rs 109.31 billion, while input costs decreased by 13.2 percent. The company, founded in 1983, manufactures over-the-counter drugs, antiretrovirals and active pharmaceutical ingredients for chronic and acute treatment.
Sales of the drug in India, which account for over 31 per cent of Sun Pharma’s consolidated sales, grew 8.7 per cent year-on-year, while US sales climbed 20.9 per cent.
The company said it was hit by an import alert from the US Food and Drug Administration at a plant in Gujarat in December.
Despite the popularity of its generics business, intense price competition prompted the drugmaker to enter the higher-margin specialty segment about seven years ago. Its global specialty drug sales grew 28 percent.
In March, Sun Pharma completed its acquisition of US-based Concerta Pharmaceuticals Inc., giving it access to the company’s late-stage drug duraxolitinib for the treatment of patchy baldness.
Its extraordinary items for the March quarter, amounting to Rs 1.71 billion, included an expense of Rs 643.9 million related to the acquisition of Concert Pharma.
The company proposed a final dividend of Rs 4 per share for the financial year 2023, adding to the earlier paid interim dividend of Rs 7.5 per share.
Sun Pharma shares rose 2.6 per cent after the results and ended a six-week losing streak to gain 4.8 per cent for the week.
Rivals Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Cipla Ltd posted higher profits at the start of the month.