Dr Reddy’s shares hit 52-week high on strong Q3 results

Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd surged as much as 4.51% to hit a 52-week high of ₹6,089.75 apiece on the BSE, a day after the company reported a 10.6% year-on-year growth in its net profit at ₹1,378.9 crore in the December quarter of FY24 as against ₹1,237.90 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The scrip opened gap-up at ₹5,839.75, up 0.1%, as against the previous closing price of ₹5,845.75. At 11:55 am, the share price of the pharmaceutical major was trading 4.19% higher at ₹6,090.80. This was in line with the broader BSE Sensex, which was trading 640.31 points or 0.91% higher at 71,789.31. The company hit a 52-week low of ₹4,288.55 on February 6 last year. The company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹1,01,748 crore with 38,884 shares exchanging hands on the BSE, as against the two-week average of 0.12 lakh shares.

In the past one month, three months and one year, the counter has given 5.27%, 13.83% and 41.15%, in returns, respectively. In the year-to-date period, the counter has given 4.88% in returns.

In the October to December quarter of FY24, the company's revenue from operations stood at ₹7,214.8 crore, up 6.6% YoY, as against ₹6,770 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. "The YoY growth was primarily driven by market share gains for our existing products in North America and continuation of our growth journey in Europe," says the company. The company's revenue from North American business witnessed a 9% YoY increase on account of market expansion in certain existing key products and revenues from new product launches, partly offset by price erosion.

Meanwhile, the revenue from the European business grew by 15% YoY during the quarter under review. "YoY growth was primarily on account of contribution from new product launches, improvement in base business volumes and favourable currency exchange rate movements, partly offset by price erosion," the company says.

The pharmaceutical major’s domestic business grew by 5% YoY owing to the launch of new products. The domestic revenue, however, declined by 1% sequentially on account of lower volumes in the base business. "QoQ decline was primarily on account of price erosion in certain countries, partly offset by an increase in volumes of our base business," the company says.

The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) in the December quarter grew by 7.4% to ₹2,210.7 crore.

"We delivered another quarter of highest ever sales and robust financial performance aided by new products performance and base business market share gain in the U.S., new products launch momentum and strong performance in Europe strengthen our core businesses and invest in innovative products including strategic collaborations to meet unmet needs of patients," says G V Prasad, co-chairman and MD, Dr Reddy Laboratories.