Granules India posts Q4 revenue fall on weak paracetamol sales, price erosion

Alivus Life Sciences

15/05/2024 08:48

BENGALURU, May 15 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Granules India
 GRAN.NS  posted a 1.6% fall in fourth-quarter revenue on
Wednesday, hurt by a decline in paracetamol sales and price
erosion.
    The company's consolidated revenue fell year-on-year to
11.76 billion rupees (nearly $141 million) for the three months
to March 31.
    Granules, which focuses on making active pharmaceutical
ingredients (API), holds 30% of the global market for
Paracetamol. It makes the drug's API as well as the finished
dosage - the ready-for-consumption product.
    Still, weak sales of the drug and price erosion due to
heightened competition hurt its revenue. This is despite
analysts expecting Indian API makers, including Granules, to
benefit from increasing demand from Europe and the U.S., the
industry's biggest markets.
    Shares fell as much as 2.6% after it reported its results.
    Rivals Glenmark Life Sciences  GLEM.NS  and Laurus Labs
 LAUL.NS  posted lower fourth-quarter profits.
    Glenmark's revenue was hit by issues stemming from the Red
Sea crisis while Laurus was challenged by multiple factors
including a decline in selling prices of antiretroviral
products.
    A 9.5% drop in Granules' raw material expenses, meanwhile,
helped its quarterly profit climb 8.4% to 1.30 billion rupees.
    API makers use a variety of chemicals in their formulations,
including hydrochloric acid and chloroform, accounting for a
majority of the drug-makers' input costs.
    The easing costs had helped its profit marginally climb in
the third quarter as well, before which profit fell for two
straight quarters.

($1 = 83.4750 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman
)
 ((varunvyas.hebbalalu@thomsonreuters.com;))