Biocon Net Profit Up By 12 Percent, Announces Launch Of New Drug To Treat Psoriasis

By Sreeja VN | July 26 2012 3:38 AM

Biocon, India's major biotechnology company has reported a lower-than-expected 12 percent increase in its net profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year, sending its shares down in the Indian stock markets.

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The company's consolidated net profit for the first quarter stood at 788 million rupees. The shares of the company dropped more than 2 percent on Thursday morning trading as markets had expected the company to post a profit of 880 million rupees on the revenue of 5.68 billion rupees.

The company revenues rose 30 percent to 5.71 billion, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins were at 23 percent much lower than the analysts' expectation of 26 percent.

"EBIDTA margins were extremely disappointing. Company has booked only Rs 13.9 crore of licensing income and has seen significant y-o-y increase in other expenses," Hitesh Mahida, an analyst at Fortune Equity Brokers told moneycontrol.com.

The company announced that it expects to launch Itolizumab, a drug to treat psoriasis, by end of the current fiscal year.

"We are going to apply for market authorization very soon. Hopefully, if everything goes well, by end of this fiscal, we should be in the market," Biocon Chairman and MD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told Reuters by telephone.

The company's biopharma business recorded 23 percent year-on-year growth, while expenses for the first quarter were up by 32 percent to 4.97 billion rupees.

The company's shares were trading 2.82 percent down at 245 rupees in the NSE-Nifty at 12.30 p.m. local time.