Sun Pharma fourth quarter profit almost doubles but misses estimates

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd reported a near-doubling in fourth-quarter profit, although that missed analysts' estimates as weakness in emerging markets outweighed higher sales in India and the United States.

Net profit for the world's fifth-largest generic drugs maker in the January-March quarter jumped to 17.1 billion rupees ($255 million) from 8.9 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier. But that was below a Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate of 19.14 billion rupees.

While U.S. sales were up 19 percent and India sales rose 17 percent, sales in emerging markets that include Brazil, Mexico, Russia and South Africa were flat due to adverse currency rates, the company said.

Sales in what Sun Pharma calls "rest of the world markets" that include Australia and New Zealand as well as some countries in Western Europe fell 6 percent as it decided to not participate in some "non-remunerative" businesses.

($1 = 67.1755 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)