Cadila Healthcare has posted strong growth in net profit during the fourth quarter ended March 2015 on account of higher sales and lower interest charges. Its consolidated net profit went up by 46.4 per cent to Rs. 350 crore from Rs. 239 crore in the corresponding period of last year. EBIDTA improved by 38.9 per cent to Rs. 516 crore from Rs. 372 crore. EPS worked out to Rs. 17.11 as against Rs. 11.68 in the last period.
The board of directors has recommended equity dividend of 240 per cent for the year 2014-15. With strong bottom line growth, Cadila scrip improved by over Rs. 58 to Rs. 1,717 on BSE in the afternoon session. It reached at its highest level at Rs. 1,998 on April 7 2015.
Its consolidated net sales improved by 17.3 per cent to Rs. 2,247 crore during the quarter under review from Rs. 1,916 crore. The Group launched Exemptia, the world's first biosimilar for adalimumab which is the largest selling therapy worldwide. This biosimilar is a part of the Group's robust biologics programme which has the largest number of monoclonal antibodies under development in India. Exemptia is marketed by Zydus Biovation and Zydus BioNext – new divisions launched exclusively to market this ground breaking therapy for inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. During the year, the group also launched Sovillep, the breakthrough therapy for Hepatitis C in alliance with Gilead Sciences.
For the full year ended March 2015, Cadila's consolidated net sales improved by 20.4 per cent to Rs. 8,497 crore from Rs. 7,060 crore in the previous year. Its net profit zoomed by over 130 per cent to Rs. 1,151 crore from Rs. 804 crore in the previous year. Its EPS for the year 2014-15 worked out to Rs. 56.20 as against Rs. 39.25. Its interest cost declined by 24.8 per cent to Rs. 67.86 crore from Rs. 90.19 crore. However, its tax provision went up to Rs. 259 crore from Rs. 106 crore.
Advancing its discovery research programme, the group has been exploring newer treatment options for its breakthrough drug Lipaglyn (saroglitazar) and initiated phase III trials of the molecule for patients suffering from lipodystrophy and nonalcoholie steatohepatitis (NASH), during the year. The group initiated phase 1 clinical trials in the US for Zydplai, a novel, orally active, small molecule DPP-4 inhibitor to treat type-2 diabetes. Phase I clinical trials are also underway in Australia for its IND-ZYAN 1, a HIF-PH inhibitor for treating anemia.
The group filed 38 ANDAs during the year with the US FDA, taking the cumulative filings to 260. The group received 8 ANDA approvals during the year 2014-15, taking the total to 99 product approvals.