Biocon has reported strong numbers on the back of selling its 10 per cent stake in Syngene and improved business from biopharma and contract research verticals.
The Bengaluru-based bitoech company reported net profit of ₹497 crore for the 2015 financial year, an increase of 20 per cent in the previous financial year, when the company had posted ₹414 crore.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon, said that the business looks robust and profits were boosted by the Syngene share sale, which is expected to list in the markets by July and helped the company gain ₹105 crore. Further, the company reported revenues of ₹3,143 crore, up 7 per cent when compared to the 2014 financial year. Its subsidiary Syngene clocked full year sales of ₹823 crore, a yearly growth of 15 per cent. The biopharmaceuticals segment grew 5 per cent in the year and the company said that though performance of this vertical was good (in the fourth quarter it grew 11 per cent) business growth continues to be impacted by time taken in redeploying sales from West Asia and North Africa region to other geographies, reduced offtake of specialty Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and capacity constraints in insulins.
Biocon spent ₹169 crore in R&D, a 29 per cent jump when compared to the previous financial year. Going forward, R&D spends are bound to go up as Biocon is working on finishing its Phase 3 clinical trials and go to market by 2017-18, Shaw said.
Product offerings During the year, Biocon has rationalised some of its product offerings as the management felt that it was not amongst the top in a lot of these categories. The company also made new forays into markets such as Mexico, where it received approval for its insulin Glargine through partner PiSA Farmaceutica.
The company also said that its Malaysia insulin plant has been commissioned. “We have initiated steps required to qualify the plant and once these activities are concluded, we will seek necessary approvals from emerging market regulators, follow it up with plant qualification for the developed markets, which is in line with the progress of our global clinical trials and filing of marketing authorisation applications.”