Biocon Q1 net up 17% at Rs147 cr, revenues climb 11% to Rs952 cr

Biocon Ltd, Asia's premier biopharmaceuticals company, on Thursday announced a 17 per cent year-on-year increase in its fiscal first quarter net profit at Rs147 crore compared with a net profit of Rs126 crore for the similar quarter a year ago.

Total revenue for the quarter increased by 11 per cent to Rs952 crore from Rs857 during April-June 2015-16.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter of FY17 rose 15 per cent to Rs271 crore from Rs236 crore during the year-ago quarter.

EBITDA margin was up 28 per cent while net profit margin was 15 per cent, unchanged from the previous year quarter.

Biocon chairperson and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, ''Our strong performance this quarter has been driven by an all-round growth of our business across Small Molecules, Biologics, Branded Formulations and Research Services. Our Biologics business delivered a growth of 53 per cent driven by the sales of biosimilars in emerging markets. The submission of Pegfilgrastim, our first biosimilar filing in EU, is a critical milestone this quarter. Our insulins business made a mark with the launch of Insulin Glargine in Japan. In addition we received regulatory approvals from MoH, Malaysia, for rh-Insulin and Glargine which will enable commercialisation of these products.''

''We are on track for filing some of our Biosimilars and Generic Formulations in the developed markets later this year,'' she added.

Biocon's revenues from small molecules increased by 9 per cent to Rs357 crore, led by sales to its India-based customers.

Biologics business, which includes rh-insulin, insulin analogs, monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins, improved by 53 per cent to Rs107 crore. Sales of branded formulations increased by 15 per cent to Rs159 crore.
 
Its research services business through Syngene improved by 18 per cent to Rs263 crore.

Biocon scrip was trading at the year's highest level at Rs803.85 in the afternoon session on BSE on Friday.