Lupin Q2 net down 35%, lags estimates

Lower revenue from US, where sales dipped 9%, affected profit

Lupin, one of India's top five drugmakers by sales, reported second-quarter net profit much below market estimates, due to lower revenue from its largest market, the United States.

Net profit for the July-September quarter slumped 35% to Rs 409 crore ($62.97 million). That was much below the Rs 568 crore analysts on average estimated, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 630 crore during the same period the previous fiscal. 

Net sales of the company rose to Rs 3,178.3 crore during the second quarter compared with Rs 3,116.8 crore during the same period of previous fiscal, Lupin said in a statement. 

US sales, however, fell about 9% to Rs 1,155 crore.

Lupin's performance has been hurt in recent quarters by lower number of generic drug approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"A lack of material (drug) launches continued to dampen growth" in the second quarter, Lupin's Managing Director Nilesh Gupta said in a statement on Tuesday.

During the second quarter, its India formulations business grew by 9.4%, recording sales of Rs 873.8 crore during the second quarter as against Rs 799 crore during the year-ago period. 

Lupin's Japanese business posted net sales of Rs 323.4 crore during the second quarter, as against Rs 345.9 crore in the same period of previous fiscal. 

The company's South African subsidiary, Pharma Dynamics achieved sales of Rs 99.8 crore in second quarter compared with Rs 105.7 crore last year. 

The Mumbai-based firm's active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) sales grew by 1.1% to Rs 321.9 crore during the second quarter as against Rs 318.3 crore during the same period of 2014-15. 

Lupin's shares were trading at Rs 1,942 on BSE in late afternoon trade, down 5.43% from previous close.

($1 = 64.9550 rupees)