Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has posted strong net profit growth of 70 per cent during the fourth quarter ended March 2015 to US$ 153 million from $90 million in the similar period of last year. Its net sales went up by 30.5 per cent to $244 million from $187 million. With smart improvement in earnings, EPS worked out to $3.56 as against $2.10 in the last period. Its R&D expenses increased to $23.9 million from $13.1 million and selling, marketing, general and administrative expenses declined by 16.5 per cent to $22.2 million from $26.6 million.
For the full year ended March 2015, Taro's net sales increased by 13.7 per cent to $863 million from $759 million in the previous year and net profit went up by 34.6 per cent to $486 million from 361 million. EPS for the year 2014-15 worked out to $11.32 as against $8.15 in the last year. Its R&D expenditure increased by 18.2 per cent to $65.5 million from $55.4 million. Income through settlements and loss contingencies was at $4.2 million as against expenses of $2.6 million in the previous year. Its total debt decreased to $12 million due to paying-off of its debentures with institutional holders.
Kal Sundarma, CEO, said, “Overall, we are pleased with the quarter and full-year results, reflecting good performance despite the headwinds we face in the current environment. Our sales and earnings growth is mainly attributable to the prudent life cycle management of our existing product portfolio. We realized a modest benefit in cost of goods due to the strengthening of the US dollar. Volumes of our US generics business have experienced a slight decline during the year. We have also encountered increased competition and increased pricing pressure from customer consolidations.”
“Our year-over-year increase in R&D demonstrates our commitment to growing our pipeline of quality products; further evidenced by 12 total filings with the FDA this year,” he added.
The company filed five ANDAs and a one NDA with the US FDA during 2014-15 and its cumulative filings reached at 12 ANDAs. The company is awaiting approval for 35 ANDAs and one NDA.