Morepen Laboratories Ltd. has reported yet another growth-filled quarter by registering 107 per cent rise in its net profit in Q3 of FY 2017-18 at Rs. 9.67 crore despite a marginal rise in its net sales revenue at Rs. 139.87 crore, vis-a-vis corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. The Q3 FY 2017-18 financial results were taken on record at a meeting of the company’s board of directors here on Monday.
Domestic sales were up by 24.8 per cent at Rs 103.29 crore in Q3 FY 2017-18, whereas exports were lower at Rs 36.58 crore. EBIDTA during the quarter grew by over 18 per cent at Rs 18.17 crore. The company did well in controlling its interest cost in the quarter. The interest cost in Q3 FY 2017-18 amounted to just Rs 90 lakhs, registering a fall of 60 per cent compared to corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. As a result, the cash profit during the period rose by 32 per cent at Rs 17.27 crore. The overall depreciation and amortisation charge was also lower by around 10 per cent at Rs 7.60 crore during the same period.
In the bulk drugs category, Montelukast recorded highest growth of 25 per cent in its sales numbers at Rs 22.37 crore followed by Atorvastatin, which registered a handsome growth of 23 per cent in Q3 FY 2017-18 sales at Rs 15.82 crore vis-a-vis corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. The overall API business sales remained stable at around Rs 80 crore in Q3 FY 2017-18 over Q3 last year. The Home Diagnostic category did extremely well with an overall growth of 53 per cent in Q3 sales in FY 2017-18 at around Rs 28 crore. Within the Home Diagnostic category, Blood Pressure Monitors’ sales went up by 99 per cent and that of Blood Glucose Monitors by 61 per cent in Q3 FY 2017-18. The Formulations segment registered a revenue drop of five per cent in Q3 FY 2017-18 compared to corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.
Speaking on the Q3 results, Mr Sushil Suri, Chairman and Managing Director, Morepen Laboratories Ltd. said, “During the quarter, the focus was on high value drugs, cost reduction and improving margins, The growth in Montelukast and Atorvastatin business in Q3 FY 2017-18 has helped the API business to make up for fall in sales revenues recorded by other products in this category. We are working on consolidation of our product portfolio so as to remain focused on high value APIs and also expand Self Health brand Dr Morepen which is consistently registering phenomenal growth across all the product segments.”
