Cipla First Quarter Profit Rises 20%, Beats Estimates

Cipla Ltd, India's fourth-largest drugmaker by sales, reported a 20 per cent rise in quarterly profit, beating analysts' estimates, as higher sales in Europe and South Africa offset weakness in its key domestic market.

Revenue from South Africa, Cipla's third largest market, rose 21 per cent to Rs 4.88 billion compared with last year while Europe revenues climbed 33 per cent to Rs 1.58 billion.

India revenues fell 13 per cent to Rs 12.71 billion, impacted by a nationwide tax reform. Cipla's Chief Executive Umang Vohra said on Friday (11 August) the company is working on building its India business through new drugs for diabetes and chronic diseases.

It's also working on improving its presence in North America, a market where copycat drugmakers' growth has been hit due to pressure on drug prices. Cipla's North America sales fell 2 per cent in the quarter, but Vohra said the company was "on target to ramp-up our launch trajectory in the US."

First-quarter net profit rose to Rs 4.08 billion from Rs 3.39 billion a year earlier, the company said.

Analysts were on average expecting a profit of Rs 3 billion in the first quarter, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Cipla's shares were down 2.4 per cent after the results as of 0850 GMT in a broader Indian market that was 1.3 per cent lower.

(Reuters)