(Reuters) – Indian drugmaker Alivus Life Sciences, formerly called Glenmark Life Sciences, reported a higher third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by strong demand in its mainstay active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business.
The Mumbai-based company said its profit rose to 1.37 billion rupees (nearly $16 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31 from 1.19 billion rupees a year earlier.
The company’s shares rose as much as 4.2% after the results to their intraday high of 1,171 rupees.
Its revenue from operations rose 12% to 6.42 billion rupees, led by a 17% jump in its API business. APIs are key elements added to drugs to produce desired health effects.
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KEY CONTEXT
Indian API makers have been enjoying increasing demand in their key Europe and U.S. markets, and are expected to benefit further from global drugmakers turning to India and other markets to limit their reliance on Chinese firms.
Moreover, the restart of Alivus’s manufacturing plant in the western state of Gujarat removed a key overhang on production. Last quarter, Alivus reported a lower profit as revenue across geographies was hurt due to the facility’s closure.
Alivus has over 130 APIs in its portfolio across key therapy areas such as cardiovascular, oncology and anti-infectives.
PEER COMPARISON
Estimates (next Analysts’ sentiment
12 months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
TDA growth growth rating* analysts price yield
(%) (%) target** (%)
Alivus Life 25.1 16.62 13.84 16.68 Strong 5 1.06 2.04
Sciences 1 Buy
Granules India 23.8 13.58 11.71 27.88 Strong 4 0.89 0.25
1 Buy
Laurus Labs 61.0 25.14 15.43 88.31 Hold 11 1.29 0.14
0
Divi’s 61.8 43.49 16.78 28.45 Hold 21 1.10 0.50
Laboratories 5
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
OCTOBER TO DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 86.4770 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
