Drugmaker Laurus Labs’ consolidated net profit slumped almost 54% for the March quarter to ₹107.24 crore as revenue from the key generic FDF and CDMO-Synthesis business segments were lower compared to the year earlier period.
Revenue from operations declined 3% to ₹1,380.90 crore. The Q4 performance came in the back of a steep fall in CDMO revenues and higher upfront cost of capex as well as research and development projects, Executive Director and CFO V.V.Ravi Kumar said.
For FY23, the company reported a more than 4% decline in net profit at ₹796.64 crore even as revenue from operations increased 22% to ₹6,040.55 crore. The net profit decreased due to higher Opex and effective tax rate. The full year performance was driven by non-ARV business, especially CDMO and API business which compensated for FDF sales decline, Laurus Labs said.
The company has declared an interim dividend of ₹1.20 per equity share of ₹2 each and fixed May 10 as the record date for determining the eligibility of the shareholders.
It was a year of significant achievement and meaningful progress despite a challenging macro environment, said founder and CEO Satyanarayana Chava. “Our investment programmes are well on track with a focus on long-term success. We are entering FY24 with greater confidence… to bring forth greater business resilience and generate long term sustainable value for stakeholders well into next decade,” he said.
“We delivered good financial performance for FY23 in line with our revised outlook. Business mix had positively contributed to margins but the negative operating leverage on new capacities commissioned, higher inflation and foreign exchange impact let to the overall margin fall compared to last year,” Mr. Ravi Kumar said. On Thursday, the company’s shares declined 2.60% to close at ₹292.25 on the BSE.
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