Unhappy with its performance in the three-month period up to end-September, Lupin’s top management expects the situation to pick up over the next six months.
“We are certainly not happy with the performance and it is not up to expectation,” said Chief Executive Vinita Gupta. But it resulted from a combination of factors including pricing pressures and no material product approvals in the US, she told BusinessLine .
But that does not take the sheen away from the US market, Managing Director Nilesh Gupta said, adding that the meaningful launches are expected by the year-end in the fourth quarter.
Lupin saw a 35 per cent drop in net profit at ₹408 crore for the July-September period, resulting largely from a dip the United States, its mainstay market.
The company had clocked a net profit of ₹630 crore in the corresponding second quarter period in the previous year.
Total revenues stood at ₹3,321 crore in the period under review, up about five percent against ₹3,173 crore, last year. The United States market that contributes over 36 per cent of Lupin’s revenues saw a nine per cent dip in revenues.
Outlining some of the other contributing factors to the dismal quarterly performance, Vinita said there were pressures in the other markets including the impact from foreign exchange in Japan and emerging markets, continuous investments in research and development and the large acquisitions that the company had recently made.
But with two top appointments this month in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, Vinita said that the plan was to go deeper into these market. Even as it strengthens its performance in the US, India and Japan, the last 12 months has seen Lupin diversifying its presence across Brazil, Russia, Germany and South Africa, she pointed out.
In fact, Lupin has been on a shopping spree recently with acquisitions in the above mentioned markets, including a big ticket one in the US where it sealed an $880 million deal to buy Gavis, a privately held company with niche products.
The integration of this company this year is also expected to bolster Lupin’s product filings and performance in the US.