Alembic Pharma Q3 net up 25% as US formulations business moderates

Consolidated total income rises 9% to Rs 1,316.86 crore

Led by double-digit growth in its India formulations business, especially specialty drugs, Vadodara-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd (APL) posted a 24.92 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit for the third quarter of financial year 2020-21.

The company saw its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) stand at Rs 292.57 crore in Q3 of FY21, up from Rs 234.19 crore in the said quarter last year. APL's consolidated total income on the other hand grew by 8.87 per cent in the said quarter at Rs 1316.86 crore, up from Rs 1209.54 crore in Q3 of previous FY'20. 

According to Shaunak Amin, managing director of APL, while the third quarter saw some moderation in US business after several quarters of double digit topline due to multiple factors, it was the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and India formulations business including specialty drugs that led the growth. 

"The specialty business that we had been working for last three years have begun paying off. While there has been some moderation in the US business, we continue to invest in R&D spend to build pipeline for US. We had seven launches in last quarter and we expect that to continue," Amin added. As far as the US market is concerned, the company is readying itself for USFDA inspection of its three new plants in near future. The company hopes to commission the injectables and oral oncology plants by next fiscal.

Alembic Pharma has so far seen capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 197 crore in Q3 and Rs 509 crore for the first nine months of current fiscal, even as it expects to end the year with another Rs 100-odd crore. 

While its US formulations business saw a year-on-year (YoY) decline in growth by one per cent to Rs 512 crore in Q3 of FY'21, its overall international formulations business grew by three per cent to Rs 683 crore in the said quarter. The company bagged eight abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) approvals in the quarter taking the tally to cumulative 137 approvals. 

It is, however, its API business that led the quarter with a 21 per cent growth in Q3 to Rs 214 crore while India formulations business grew by 14 per cent to Rs 418 crore in the third quarter. APL also saw specialty segments grow by 16 per cent for the quarter led by cardio, diabeto, gynaec and gastro segments.

Meanwhile, APL posted an R&D spend of Rs 147.95 crore in Q3 of FY'21 as compared to Rs 145.73 crore for the said quarter last year.

Alembic Pharma currently runs three API plants, one formulations plant and one plant in Sikkim for the domestic market. In addition, the company is awaiting USFDA inspection for F2, F3 and F4 plants that will manufacture oncology injectables and oral solid dosage (OSD), general injectables as well as OSDs. Apart from this, the company runs three R&D centres with one each in Vadodara, Hyderabad and New Jersey.