Lupin Q4 net profit at Rs 296 cr

Drug firm Lupin Wednesday posted consolidated profit after tax of Rs 296.37 crore for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 fiscal. The company had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 777.60 crore for the same period of 2017-18 fiscal.

Sales during the fourth quarter stood at Rs 4,325.93 crore as against Rs 3,978.49 crore in the same period of 2017-18, Lupin said in a regulatory filing. For 2018-19, the Mumbai-based drug firm posted a net profit of Rs 615.48 crore as compared with Rs 258.35 crore in 2017-18.

Consolidated sales grew to Rs 16,369.37 crore during the last fiscal as against Rs 15,559.84 crore in 2017-18 fiscal. During the fourth quarter, Lupin's sales in North America increased by 16.1 per cent on year to Rs 1,740.6 crore. However, sales in the region declined to Rs 5,592.4 crore during fiscal 2018-19 as compared with Rs 5,893.9 crore in 2017-18.

"As committed, we have been able to deliver strong growth in operational performance through consecutive quarters," Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta said. On the back of solid in-line sales and important new product launches like Ranolazine and Levothyroxine, the US generics business has bounced back strongly, he added.

"Resolving the compliance issues at some of our sites and delivering on our cost optimisation efforts is now imperative and as we start delivering on complex generics, markets like US and India will drive our growth," Gupta said. The company said its sales in the domestic market rose to Rs 1,052.5 crore during the fourth quarter of 2018-19 as compared with Rs 964.7 crore in the same period of 2017-18.

For the entire 2018-19 fiscal, the company's domestic sales increased 12.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,638.2 crore. The company's board recommended a dividend Rs 5 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each (250 per cent) for the year ended March 31, 2019.

Shares of Lupin Wednesday ended 3.22 per cent lower at Rs 783.10 apiece on the BSE.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)