Litigation settlement hits Sun's Q1 PAT

Posts net loss of Rs 1,276 cr for Q1 vs net profit of Rs 795 cr in the same period last year

Sun Pharmaceuticals, the largest Indian pharmaceutical company, has posted a net loss of Rs 1,276 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013, on account of payment for settlement of US patent litigation. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 795 crore for the corresponding period previous fiscal. 

 

During the quarter, the company has provided Rs 2,517 crore as per the settlement agreement entered in June 11 with Pfizer Inc USA, Wyeth LLC USA and Nycomed GmbH Germany with respect to patent infringement litigation related to generic versions of Protonix. 

 

Sun Pharma had already provided Rs 584 crore in Q2 FY13 towards this liability. 

 

Total income of the company rose to Rs 3,502 crore for the quarter under consideration from Rs 2,683 crore for the same period year ago. 

According to company, recurring net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1241 crore, a growth of 56% over Q1 last year, resulting margin of 36%. As per earning estimates from various brokerage houses, Sun Pharmaceutical was to report 28-30% growth in net profit at Rs 1,022-1035 crore, after adjusting one-time litigation settlement fee. 
 

On Thursday, Sun Pharma shares went down by 3.24% on BSE, after its subsidiary Taro Pharma reported a fall in its first quarter earnings. Taro Pharmaceutical has reported June quarter net income of $58.8 million, down from $62.9 million last year. Net sales of Taro for the June quarter also dropped to $153.2 million from $159.2 million last year.

For Q1, sales of Sun Pharma in the US were at $364 million for the quarter, up by 28%, accounting for 58% of total sales.  

 

Branded generic sales in India, at Rs 849 crore, grew by 44% over Q1 last year while international formulation sales grew by 19% at $81 million over same quarter last year. 

 

Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of the Company said, “All our businesses continue to perform in-line with our expectations. We remain focused on strengthening our existing businesses and developing a differentiated and specialty driven product basket. We also continue to review opportunities to expand and strengthen our global footprint.” 

 

Sun Pharma holds 5.1% market share in the Rs 72,000 crores Indian pharmaceutical market, as per June-2013 AIOCD-AWACS report.