Bangalore-based biotechnology company Biocon is on track to achieve its target of $700 million revenue by 2015 driven by its research services, branded formulations and biosimilars business.
The company has posted more than 200 per cent rise in net profit of Rs 249 crore when compared to the same quarter last year on the back of an increase in exceptional income. Biosimilars means a drug that is derived from a living organism.
This gain was to the tune of Rs 202 crore and includes a $20-million payment received from Mylan to develop generic insulin that is used to treat diabetes. Further, the company reported revenues of Rs 2,538 crore, an 18 per cent growth for the fiscal year 2013 over the previous fiscal.
Consolidated net sales, however, rose to Rs 630.12 crore for fourth quarter from Rs 589.22 crore for the same period last year. But the company took a hit on the revenues on a sequential basis. For the fourth quarter 2013, Biocon posted revenues of Rs 649 crore, a two per cent reduction over the third quarter.
Reacting to this, the Biocon stock was down to Rs 279, or 10 per cent on the NSE.
However, Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is unperturbed and feels that not much needs to be read into this sequential decline and instead a yearly outlook coupled with its strategy would offer a better picture. “We intend to sustain our growth momentum by optimising our small molecules portfolio, which boosts our insulin business in emerging markets.”
Its branded formulations business went up 34 per cent on a yearly basis to Rs 347 crore, the research services that include revenues from its subsidiary Clinigene and Syngene, a company that Biocon acquired went up 36 per cent to Rs 557 crore. The biopharma business clocked Rs 1,523 crore or a 10 per cent yearly increase.
The quarter also saw Biocon enhance its partnership with Mylan through the re-licencing of the generic insulin portfolio. “This partnership significantly reduces our burden of development costs involved in global commercialisation,” Shaw told Business Line . The company announced a final dividend of Rs 5 per share and a special dividend of Rs 2.50 per share for the 2013 fiscal.