Lupin stock surges on robust sales in March quarter

Shares of pharmaceutical major Lupin surged as much as 3% to hit an intraday high of ₹770.00 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday, a day after the company reported an increase in net sales by 12.1% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹4,330.3 crore in the January-March quarter this year owing to robust sales in foreign markets such as the U.S. and Europe. In the March quarter of FY22, the company's sales stood at ₹3,864.5 crore.

During the session on Wednesday, the scrip opened at ₹752. The counter closed at ₹749.75 on Wednesday, up 0.53%. The company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹34,115.56 crore as 1,44,764 shares exchanged hands on the BSE, higher than the two-week average of 0.42 lakh shares. The share price of the pharmaceutical major is 4.9% lower than its 52-week high of ₹749.75 whereas the company’s shares are trading 22.2% higher than the 52-week low of ₹583.05 on the BSE.

In the March quarter, the company’s profit before tax stood at ₹235.9 crore as against the net loss of ₹517.9 crore in the same period last year. The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin during the quarter under review was up 690 basis points by 14.2% YoY as against 7.3% in the same period last year.

On a sequential basis, the company’s profit was up 53.7% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) as against ₹153.4 crore in the quarter-ago period. The company’s sales were up 2% during the quarter under review as against ₹4,244.6 crore in the December quarter.

"We were able to drive continued improvement in operating margins on account of improved growth in India, improvement of margins in the U.S. as well as growth in other areas like our API business, EMEA and APAC regions. Our India business recorded 15%+ growth per IQVIA, ex-diabetes. In the U.S. we improved our margins for the third quarter in a row through maximizing our portfolio, optimizing expenses and more focused R&D investment into complex products. We are committed to sustaining this positive momentum into the new year and driving strong growth across our regions, in particular India and the U.S aided by our recent sales force expansion and material new product launches respectively," Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Limited said.

In FY23, the company's net profit stood at ₹430.1 crore as against the net loss of ₹1,528 crore in FY22. The company’s net sales during the year under review stood at ₹16,270.0 crore as against ₹16,192.8 crore in FY22.

In North America, the company's sales for FY23 stood at ₹541.7 crore, compared to ₹575.5 crore in FY22; accounting for 33% of Lupin’s global sales. In India, the company’s sales for FY23 stood at ₹607.5 crore up 1.2% YoY as compared to ₹600.4 crore in FY22, thus accounting for 37% of Lupin’s global sales. In Europe, the company’s sales in FY23 stood at ₹155.1 crore, up 14.1% as against ₹135.9 crore in FY22, thus accounting for 10% of total global sales.