India's Gland Pharma misses Q4 profit view on higher employee costs

Gland Pharma

22/05/2024 13:41

BENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Indian generic injectables
maker Gland Pharma  GLAD.NS  reported fourth-quarter profit
below estimates on Wednesday, as soaring employee expenses
outweighed strong demand in its core markets.
    It reported a consolidated net profit of 1.92 billion rupees
($23 million) for the quarter ended March 31, missing analysts'
average estimate of 2.41 billion rupees as per LSEG data.
    In the year-ago period, the company had reported a profit of
786.8 million rupees which included a one-time impairment charge
of 564.6 million rupees.
    Its revenue from operations jumped nearly 96% to 15.37
billion rupees, ahead of analysts' estimates of 15.23 billion
rupees, led by an eight-fold jump in Europe sales and an 83%
growth in U.S. sales.
    These markets together constitute about 75% of the company's
total revenue.
    The revenue was also boosted by Gland Pharma's acquisition
of French pharmaceutical group Cenexi in January 2023. Excluding
this income, its revenue rose 50% to 11.74 billion rupees.
    Sales in the company's other core markets, such as Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, rose 58% to 578 million rupees.
    However, this was more than offset by its expenses surging
95% to 12.81 billion rupees, mainly due to a more than
three-fold jump in employee-related costs and higher raw
material prices.
    Its tax expenses also surged more than three-fold to 1.06
billion rupees.
    Last week, rival Dr Reddy's reported fourth-quarter results
above estimates on strong U.S. demand, while Cipla missed
revenue estimates due to weakness in its India consumer segment.
    Earlier in the day, Sun Pharma  SUN.NS  reported
fourth-quarter revenue below, and profit above estimates.
    Separately, the company also declared a dividend of 20
rupees per share.
    

($1 = 83.2760 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H
K)
 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))