Cipla's consolidated net profit increased 6.5% in the third quarter to Rs. 807 crore

Cipla, a Rs. 21,600 crore plus pharma major, has posted single digit growth in revenues as well as profits during the third quarter ended December 2022. Its consolidated revenues increased by 6 per cent to Rs. 5,810 crore from Rs. 5,479 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The pharma sales increased only by 3.9 per cent to Rs. 5,589 crore and that of new ventures moved up by 14.3 per cent to Rs. 312 crore. Its profit before tax increased only by 6.6 per cent to Rs. 807 crore from Rs. 757 crore.

EPS worked out to Rs. 9.92 as against Rs. 9.03 in the last period. Cipla’s Indian sales increased only by 1.8 per cent to Rs. 2,563 crore from Rs. 2,518 crore. However, its North America sales has taken quantum jump of 42.3 per cent to Rs. 1,600 crore from Rs. 1,124 crore. Strong traction in the differentiated portfolio including market share expansion in key respiratory and peptide injectable products. Its sales in SAGA ((South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Global Access) declined sharply by 23.8 per cent to Rs. 680 crore from Rs. 892 crore. Out of this, sales in South Africa declined by 11.8 per cent to Rs. 550 crore from Rs. 623 crore.

In secondary terms, strong demand continues with overall South Africa private business growing faster than the market. Healthy ranks & market position in key therapy areas of asthma & COPD, anti-biotics, cough & cold and probiotics. API sales remained almost stagnant at Rs. 147 crore. R&D expenditure reached at Rs. 363 crore and worked out to 6.2 per cent of sales. Higher 39 per cent YoY driven by on-going clinical trials on a respiratory asset and other developmental efforts continuing including biosimilars.

Umang Vohra MD and global CEO, said, “Our Q3FY23 performance reflects sustained momentum in core One-India and US businesses driving our overall revenue growth of 6% reported and 11% on an ex-Covid basis. Our One India franchise delivered strong performance across therapies and segments with double digit market beating growth in prescription on a Covid adjusted base. We achieved the highest ever quarterly revenue for the North America region of $195 million driven by the contribution of differentiated products and market share expansion in flagship respiratory and peptide franchises.

Our reported operating profitability of 24.2% reflects our focused efforts on navigating external headwinds and continued higher R&D spends stemming from ongoing respiratory trials and initiation of biosimilar programmes.” For the first nine months ended December 2023, Cipla’s consolidated revenues increased only by 3.1 per cent to Rs. 17,014 crore from Rs. 16,503 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its net profit went up by 6.2 per cent to Rs. 2,311 crore as compared to Rs. 2,176 crore. EPS for nine months improved slightly to Rs. 28.21 from Rs. 26.71 in the last period.