Cipla Q3 net profit up 4.7% at Rs343 cr

Cipla Ltd, India's fifth-largest drugmaker has reported a reported a 4.7 per cent increase in its after-tax profit at Rs343 crore for the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, up from Rs328 crore in Q3 of FY14-15.

Cipla, which gets a majority of its sales from India, said its income from operations grew by 12.3 per cent to Rs3,107 crore, up from Rs2,765 crore in the year-ago quarter, as per unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter ended 31 December 2015.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 18.1 per cent to Rs454 crore, down from Rs554 crore. Cipla said EBIDTA as percentage of income from operations decreased to 14.6 per cent in Q3 of FY15-16 from 20 per cent in Q3 of FY14-15.

Domestic sales declined by 0.4 per cent to Rs1,194 crore during Q3 FY15-16 from Rs1,199 crore during Q3 of FY14-15.

Cipla said its exports of formulations increased by 28.5 per cent to Rs1,833 crore during Q3 FY15-16, from Rs1,426 cr during Q3 FY14-15, despite problems in the US market.

Exports of APIs decreased by 5.3 per cent to Rs143 crore during Q3 FY15-16, from Rs151 crore during Q3 of FY14-15.

Cipla said its current year figures include the relevant results of Cipla's subsidiaries from the date they became subsidiary of the company and therefore the corresponding figures for the previous period are not comparable.

Cipla is a globally-acclaimed company for the pioneering role played in HIV/AIDS treatment as the first pharmaceutical company to provide a triple combination anti-retroviral (ARV) in Africa at less than a dollar a day and thereby treating many millions of patients since 2001.