Lupin net plunges 65% in Q3

Pharma major Lupin Ltd on Tuesday reported a whopping 65 per cent annual decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 222 crore for the third quarter of 2017-18 from Rs 633 crore in the same period year ago.

In a regulatory filing on the BSE, the city-based drug maker said consolidated revenue from sales for the quarter under review (Q3) declined to Rs 3,900 crore, posting 12 per cent annual decline from Rs 4,405 crore in the like period year ago.

Sequentially too, net profit dipped 51 per cent from Rs 455 crore quarter ago and sales revenue, however, remained flat (0.7 per cent) from Rs 3,874 crore.

Operating profit at Rs 688 crore was 44 per cent lower than Rs 1,219 crore year ago and 19 per cent less than Rs 853 crore quarter ago.

Earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) declined annually 60 per cent to Rs 436 crore from Rs 1,091 crore year ago and 33 per cent sequentially from Rs 655 crore quarter ago.

"Net profit for the quarter includes impact of Rs 36 crore on remeasurement of deferred tax assets/liabilities in the US operations based on the enactment of the next tax regime," said the company in a statement.

Lupin invested Rs 476 crore on research during the quarter, accounting for 12.2 per cent of sales.

"The quarterly performance was muted on the back of business mix as well as forex losses. We continue to grow strong in our markets while the US business is starting to stabilise at the current level," said Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta in the statement.

On the BSE, where the Sensex tanked a whopping 1,200 points during the intra-day trading on global clues, the company's blue-chip scrip of Rs 2 face value lost Rs 50.25 or 5.9 per cent to end at Rs 801.65 per share from Monday's closing price of Rs 851.90 and opening price of Rs 834 after touching a high of Rs 835 and low of Rs 790 during the pre-noon and post-noon trading sessions.

--IANS

fb/vd