Feb 5 (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Alembic Pharmaceuticals on Thursday reported lower third‑quarter profit on Thursday after taking a one-time charge linked to India's new labour code, despite strong demand for its generic drugs and new product launches in its key U.S. market.
The company's consolidated profit fell to 1.33 billion rupees ($14.7 million) in the quarter ended December 31, from 1.38 billion rupees a year earlier.
Alembic took up a one-time charge worth 301 million rupees linked to India's new labour codes. Excluding the charge, profit rose nearly 15%.
Revenue from operations jumped 11% to 18.76 billion rupees.
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KEY CONTEXT
Alembic Pharmaceuticals and several Indian generic drugmakers derive a large share of their revenue from the United States. The sector received a boost in October after U.S. President Donald Trump shelved plans to impose tariffs on generic drug imports.
Stronger U.S. sales for Alembic were also supported by new drug approvals, including a hypertension treatment and an antidepressant, which helped drive growth in the market.
By contrast, larger peers Cipla and Dr Reddy's Laboratories posted subdued North America sales, weighed down by price erosion in key products, including the generic cancer drug lenalidomide.
PEER COMPARISON
|
Valuation (next 12 months) |
Estimates (next 12 months) |
Analysts' sentiment |
||||||||
|
RIC |
PE |
EV/EBITDA |
Price/Sales |
Revenue growth |
Profit growth |
Mean rating* |
# of analysts |
Stock to price target** |
Div yield (%) |
|
|
Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd |
ALEM.NS |
18.77 |
12.08 |
NULL |
10.63 |
22.94 |
Buy |
11 |
0.78 |
1.38 |
|
Zydus Lifesciences Ltd |
ZYDU.NS |
21.45 |
14.60 |
3.34 |
7.17 |
-10.15 |
Hold |
29 |
0.90 |
1.22 |
|
Cipla Ltd |
CIPL.NS |
23.33 |
15.05 |
3.45 |
7.82 |
0.47 |
Hold |
37 |
0.91 |
0.98 |
|
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd |
REDY.NS |
21.93 |
13.14 |
2.84 |
3.30 |
-10.28 |
Hold |
39 |
0.93 |
0.65 |
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
OCTOBER TO DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
-- All data from LSEG
-- $1 = 90.2200 Indian rupees
Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru
Source: Reuters