Ajanta Pharma a Rs. 2,130 crore pharma major, has suffered a setback during fourth quarter ended March 2018 and its consolidated net profit declined by 17.1 per cent to Rs. 94.49 crore from Rs. 114.02 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its net sales increased by 11.2 per cent to Rs. 530 crore from Rs. 477 crore. EBIDTA also declined by 11.4 per cent to Rs. 144.77 crore from Rs. 163.29 crore. EPS nosedive to Rs. 10.74 from Rs. 12.96 in the last period.

Yogesh Agrawal, managing director, said, “During the quarter, we have performed well in the Africa branded generic space. Whereas branded generic business in India and Asia performed below our expectations. We have seen lot of movement in the Africa institution business which saw de-growth of 22 per cent which has impacted the overall quarter performance. Considering the challenging pricing environment in US, we have performed much better relative to our competitors who have seen much sharper price erosion. Going forward, we will continue to focus on the branded generic business in India and emerging markets.”

Its domestic sales increased by 6 per cent during the quarter to Rs. 148 crore Its export sales improved by 10 per cent to Rs. 348 crore. Africa branded generic contributed Rs. 109 crore, a strong growth of 112 per cent. However, its sales in Asia of branded generic declined by 4 per cent to Rs. 132 crore. Its US sales sales declined by 7 per cent to Rs. 42 crore.

After the announcement of financial results, Ajanta scrip improved by Rs. 14.55 to Rs. 1,366 on BSE. It touched to intra-day low at Rs. 1,314.80.

For the full year ended March 2018, Ajanta's consolidated net profit declined by 7.5 per cent to Rs. 469 crore from Rs. 507 crore in the previous year. Its net sales increased by 6.4 per cent to Rs. 2,131 crore from Rs. 2,002 crore. EBDITA declined by 4 per cent to Rs. 682 crore from Rs. 711 crore. Its domestic sales increased only by 2 per cent to Rs. 629 crore.  Its exports increased by 9 per cent to Rs. 1,434 crore. Its sales of branded generic in Africa improved by 30 per cent to Rs. 355 crore and that in Asia increased by 18 per cent to Rs. 493 crore. Its US sales increased by 5 per cent to Rs. 194 crore.

Ajanta received 4 ANDA final approval, commercialized 6 products and filed 8 ANDA with US FDA. Out of 19 final ANDA approvals, it has commercialized 18 products. Further, it received two tentative approvals and currently 18 ANDA are awaiting US FDA approval. It is planning to file 10-12 ANDAs during current year. Its R&D expenditure increased to Rs. 186 crore from Rs. 153 crore. Its Mumbai based R&D centres for formulation development and API has over 850 scientists.