Biocon, a Rs. 3,050 crore plus leading innovation-led bio-pharmaceutical company, has posted satisfactory financial performance during the fourth quarter ended March 2015. Its consolidated net profit, after exceptional income of Rs. 105 crore on account of sale of Syngene shares, increased by 78.2 per cent to Rs. 201.54 crore from Rs. 113.08 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its EBDITA increased only by 4.8 per cent to Rs. 202.06 crore from Rs. 192.79 crore. Profit before tax and exceptional income also improved by only 4 per cent to Rs. 143.54 crore from Rs. 138.06 crore. EPS moved up to Rs. 10.08 from Rs. 5.76 crore.
Its consolidated net sales increased by 14.9 per cent to Rs. 830.38 crore during the fourth quarter from Rs. 722.59 crore in the same period of last year. Its pharma sales increased by 10.8 per cent to Rs. 594.91 crore from Rs. 536.77 crore and that of contract research & manufacturing services improved by 27.7 per cent to Rs. 248.92 crore from Rs. 194.90 crore.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, said, “Biocon closed the year with a stronger performance in Q4 on the back of a record quarterly performance by our research services subsidiary, Syngene and an improved performance of our biopharma business. We also recognized exceptional income from the sale of share of Syngene. As we move into FY16, we are clearly seeing our biosimilar strategy playing out with greater clarity, credibility and traction visible across our portfolio of biologics as they advance in clinical development. We continue to make investments in R&D as a strong future value driver. The Malaysia insulins facility has been commissioned, which one qualified, should provide us the scale to increase our presence and penetration in emerging markets and then in developed markets.”
For the full year ended March 2015, Biocon's consolidated net sales increased by 7.3 per cent to Rs. 3,069 crore from Rs. 2,853 crore in the previous year. Its pharma sales increased by 4.6 per cent to Rs. 2,251 crore from Rs. 2,151 crore and that of CRAMS business increased by 16 per cent to Rs. 860 crore from Rs. 741 crore. The sales from biopharmaceuticals segment, including small molecule API, generic formulations and biosimilars, improved by 5 per cent to Rs. 2,237 crore. Biopharma sales improved by 3 per cent to Rs. 1,807 crore. Overall biopharma business was under pressure due to time taken in redeploying sales from the MENA region to other geographies, reduced off take of specialty API and capacity constraints in insulins.
The company commissioned its Malaysia insulins plant and initiated steps required to qualify the plant. Once these activities are concluded, it will seek necessary approvals from emerging market regulators before starting commercial supplies.
The sales of branded formulations improved by 10 per cent to Rs. 430 crore during 2014-15. The sales of CANMAb (trastuzumab) have been encouraging and this hold promise as it look to bringing more products from its biosimilar portfolio into the Indian market in the future. It insulins portfolio continues to grow ahead of the covered market. The company is planning to enter the disposable device segment in current year, which should help further grow the domestic insulin glargine business. The company has completed the first set of trials in the US with its oral insulin candidate IN-105 earlier April. The data from these studies is currently being analyzed.
The company strengthens presence in Mexico and received approval for insulin glargine. Its R&D expenditure increased by 94.7 per cent to Rs. 329 crore from Rs. 169 crore.
Its net profit improved by 20.2 per cent to Rs. 497.43 crore for the year 2014-15 from Rs. 413.72 crore mainly due to exceptional income generated from sales of Syngene shares. Its profit before exceptional items and tax provision declined by 3.5 per cent to Rs. 519.07 crore from Rs. 537.66 crore. The company paid interim dividend of 100 per cent in March 2015.
As against the equity capital of Rs. 100 crore, Biocon's reserves & surplus stood at Rs. 3,171 crore as at the end of March 2015 as against Rs. 2,927 crore in the previous year. Its total borrowings increased by 21.3 per cent to Rs. 1,031 crore from Rs. 850 crore.