Aurobindo Pharma may spend Rs 1,300 cr toward capex in FY15-16

Drug maker Aurobindo Pharma Limited may spend up to Rs 1,300 crore towards capex during the ongoing and next financial years.
"We are expecting this year like it (capex) would be around Rs 600 crore. Once we start measuring the cash flow and looking at the various aspects of it, we will review it at the end of the next quarter," Aurobindo Pharma's Managing Director N Govindarajan said during a recent earnings call with analysts.
"But next year would be equivalent or slightly more than this, in terms of let us say Rs 600-700 crore of capex would also be there for next year is what our estimation as far as this year and next year is concerned," he said.

The capex will be spread out across APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and formulations and the company's operations have resulted in substantial improvement to support the capex through internal cash generation, he said.
The pharma company said it spent approximately Rs 275 crore during the first half the current year.
Consolidated net operating income of Aurobindo in second quarter of the ongoing fiscal grew 50 per cent to Rs 2,881 crore over the same period a year ago. Profit After Tax (after minority interest) was up by 58.4 per cent to Rs 372.2 crore during the July-September quarter against Rs 235 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Replying to a query, Govindarajan said the net debt of the company was USD 447 million as on September 2014 compared to net debt of USD 532 million on March 2014.
"The majority of the company's debt is denominated in foreign currency. The cash and bank balance is about USD 83 million. The company has reduced USD 85 million of debt during the first half of FY15 and we may bring down the debt further by USD 25-40 million in the second half of the year," he said.
Growing export revenue offers hedge against repayment of Foreign Currency Term Loans, which is payable over 4 to 5 years, he added.