India's Sun Pharma Posts Near-30% Rise In Q4 Profit On Lower Input Costs

New Delhi: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's largest drugmaker by revenue, on Friday reported a 29.6 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit, as it benefited from lower expenses and higher sales of specialty drugs.

The company's consolidated profit before exceptional items and tax rose to 24.11 billion rupees ($291.7 million) for the quarter ended March 31, it said in an exchange filing.

Total revenue from operations climbed 15.7 percent to 109.31 billion rupees, while input costs declined 13.2 percent. The company, founded in 1983, makes over-the-counter medications, antiretrovirals, and active pharmaceutical ingredients for chronic and acute treatments.

Drug sales in India, which account for over 31 percent of Sun Pharma's total consolidated sales, rose 8.7 percent year-on-year, while U.S. sales climbed 20.9 percent.

The company said it was impacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's import alert in December at a plant in Gujarat, without elaborating.

Despite the popularity of its generics business, the intense price competition prompted the drugmaker to enter the high-margin specialty segment about seven years ago. Its global specialty drugs sales rose 28 percent.

In March, Sun Pharma completed acquisition of U.S.-based Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc, giving it access to the company's late-stage drug deuruxolitinib to treat patchy baldness.

Its exceptional item for the March quarter, amounting to 1.71 billion rupees, included Concert Pharma's acquisition-related expenses of 643.9 million rupees.

The company proposed a final dividend of 4 rupees per share for the year financial year 2023, adding to a previously paid interim dividend of 7.5 rupees per share.

Shares of Sun Pharma settled 2.6 percent higher after the results and snapped six weeks of losses with a gain of 4.8 percent for the week.

Rivals Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd and Cipla Ltd posted higher profits earlier in the month.