Lupin rallies 4.5% in a weak market post Q3 results; top Nifty gainer

NEW DELHI: Lupin rallied as much as 4.8 per cent in trade on Monday in a weak market, after the drugmaker reported a 42 per cent growth in its quarterly net profit and announced the acquisition of a Netherlands-based company that provides technology to develop injectable products.

The stock closed 4.5 per cent higher at Rs 921.90 and was also the top gainer on the Nifty, which slipped 87 points to end marginally above 6,000 at 6,001.80.

Lupin's net profit in the December quarter rose 42 per cent to Rs 480 crore on the launch of new drugs in its key market, that is the US. This inclides the generic version of Eli Lilly and Cymbalta used for treating major depressive disorder, Reuters reported.

Analysts had expected Lupin's December quarter net profit to be at Rs 435 crore, according to an ET Now Poll; and sales at Rs 2,850 crore.

Revenue came in at Rs 3,022 crore as compared to Rs 2,501 crore in the year-ago period.

EBITDA margins stood at 25.6% in Q3FY14, higher than 24.1% reported in Q3FY13.

"The numbers are far higher than what we and the Street had expected and we need to see further numbers and details. I believe that on the face of it, probably the US market would have done much better," said Kirit Gogri, Senior VP, Quant Broking, in an interview with ET Now.

"Basically, the US business has been a big game changer for Lupin and I am presuming that the US business would have delivered much superior numbers than what is generally expected," he added.

Pharmaceutical major Lupin also announced the acquisition of Nanomi BV of the Netherlands today.

With this acquisition, Lupin has made its foray into the technology intensive complex injectables space.

Nanomi has patented technology platforms to develop complex injectable products.

Nanomi has a rich talent pool of scientists who would be backed by Lupin's global R&D and manufacturing teams.