Lupin, the fourth largest pharma company in India with net sales of Rs. 11,000 crore plus, has posted strong profit growth during the fourth quarter and year ended March 2014. The consolidated net profit went up by 35.5 per cent to Rs. 553 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 2014 from Rs. 408 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its EBDITA also moved up by 32.7 per cent to Rs. 884 crore from Rs. 665 crore. Its consolidated net sales increased by 20.3 per cent to Rs. 3,052 crore from Rs. 2,537 crore. With strong growth in net profit, its EPS improved to Rs. 12.34 from Rs. 9.12 in the last period.

The board has recommended final dividend of 150 per cent for the year ended March 2014 making total dividend of 300 per cent or Rs. 6 per share of the face value of Rs. 2 each. Despite strong performance and hefty dividend, Lupin scrip declined by Rs. 15.15 after the announcement of financial performance to Rs. 987 as against its intra day and yearly high of Rs. 1,022 on the BSE.

Nilesh Gupta, managing director, Lupin said, “We have had another remarkable year fuelled by strong growth in key markets like the US, Europe, South Africa and in our API business. Importantly, we were able to improve operational efficiencies substantially. The year also marked our entry into high growth markets like Mexico and acquiring technology research capabilities that would help us address niche segments like complex injectables and inhalation.”

For the full year ended March 2014, Lupin's consolidated net sales improved by 17.2 per cent to Rs. 11,087 crore from Rs. 9,462 crore in the previous year. Its net profit jumped by 39.7 per cent to Rs. 1,836 crore from Rs. 1,314 crore and EBDITA by 35.7 per cent to Rs. 3,119 crore from Rs. 2,298 crore. EPS for full year improved to Rs. 40.99 from Rs. 29 in the last year.

The formulations sales improved by 17.2 per cent to Rs. 9,973 crore from Rs. 8,512 crore in the previous year and that of APIs moved up by 17.3 per cent to Rs. 1,114 crore from Rs. 950 crore. The formulation sales to US went up by 30 per cent to Rs. 4,887 crore from Rs. 3,770 crore and that in Europe improved by 24 per cent to Rs. 293 crore from Rs. 236 crore. The company launched 5 new products in the US market during the fourth quarter taking it to a total of 20 products. It has 72 products in the US market. The company is the market leader in 29 products marketed in the US generics market.

Its formulation sales in Japan declined slightly to Rs. 1,296 crore from Rs. 1,304 crore. The sales of formulation in India improved only by 5 per cent to Rs. 2,480 crore from Rs. 2,364 crore and contributed 22 per cent of its overall revenues during 2013-14.  Lupin's formulation sales in South Africa and Rest of World improved by 18 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

The revenue R&D expenditure increased by 30 per cent to Rs. 929 crore from Rs. 710 crore in the previous year and worked out to 8.4 per cent of net sales as against 7.5 per cent in the last year. It filed 19 ANDAs and received 22 approvals. Cumulative ANDA filings with the UF FDA stood at 192 and approvals reached at 99 ANDAs. It has 31 first-to-files include 15 exclusive ones. Further, cumulative filings with European authorities now stand at 57 with the company having received 48 approvals.