BENGALURU, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd reported a bigger-than-expected 11% increase in second-quarter profit on Friday, helped by rising demand for its drugs and inhalers and a boost in its new ventures.
The company has been on an acquisition spree in recent months, from buying supplement maker Endura Mass to stake purchases in medical diagnostics firm Achira Labs and health tech company GoApptiv.
Cipla, which makes generic versions of respiratory drugs Advair and Albuterol, said consolidated net profit rose to 7.89 billion rupees ($95.6 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from 7.11 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 7.83 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.
Total revenue from operations increased 5% to 57.59 billion rupees. Revenue from its mainstay pharmaceutical business rose 5% to 56.91 billion rupees, while revenue from new ventures doubled to 2.78 billion rupees.
Cipla said revenue from U.S. markets rose 25% to $179 million.
On Tuesday, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's largest drugmaker, reported a surprise 10.5% rise in second-quarter profit, led by a surge in specialty drugs sales.
Cipla's shares were trading down 1.7% at 1,145 rupees as of 0955 GMT. ($1 = 82.5010 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Rama Venkat and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza
Source: Reuters