Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.'s quarterly profit beat estimates due to higher sales in emerging markets, including India.
Profit jumped 44 percent year-on-year to Rs 434 crore in the March quarter, the drugmaker said in an exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 418-crore consensus estimate of the analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
The company's revenue, too, beat estimates, rising 14 percent to Rs 4,016 crore. That's against the Rs 3,900-crore forecast.
Sales from emerging markets, including India, rose 27 percent year-on-year to Rs 701 crore during the three months ended March. Revenue from pharmaceutical services and active ingredients rose 5.7 percent to Rs 814 crore, while from global generics it increased 9.2 percent to Rs 3,038 crore.
“It has been a good year with significant turnaround in the financial performance and steady progress on quality,” GV Prasad, executive chief and co-chairman of Dr. Reddy's, said in a media statement accompanying the exchange filing. “We will focus on profitable growth, continue to emphasis on operational excellence and drive innovation to deliver value to patients and healthcare systems worldwide.”
The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 52 percent to Rs 882 crore—the consensus estimate was Rs 800 crore. The operating margin expanded to 21.9 percent from 16.3 percent. That's 140 basis points ahead of the projection.
The drugmaker also recommended a final dividend of Rs 20 per equity share—a 400 percent premium on the face value of Rs 5 apiece for the financial year 2019.
Shares of Dr. Reddy's were down 2.8 percent after the earnings announcement, compared with a 1.7 percent decline in the NSE Nifty Pharma Index.
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