Dr. Reddy's second-quarter profit beats estimates, shares rise

(Reuters) - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd posted a better-than-expected second-quarter net profit on Tuesday, helped by higher revenue from its European business, driving shares of the drugmaker up to a one-month high.

Revenue from the company's European global generics business rose more than 36 percent from a year ago to 2.42 billion rupees ($37.35 million), the Indian drugmaker said in a statement. (http://bit.ly/2z6HNtJ)

The company's net profit dropped marginally to 3.05 billion rupees, versus 3.09 billion rupees a year ago, but the number beat analysts' average estimate of 2.88 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data shows.

Revenue from the company's global generics business in North America fell 11 percent to 14.32 billion rupees as consolidation among drug distributors in the region continued to erode the ability of export-driven Indian drugmakers to negotiate prices.

Compounding their woes was U.S. regulatory scrutiny of foreign manufacturing sites that has led to bans on many plants over quality control issues.

Dr. Reddy's shares rose almost 3 percent to their highest in more than a month in a broader Mumbai market that was trading down 0.2 percent.

($1 = 64.7925 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Jessica Kuruthukulangara in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)