India's Torrent Pharma posts Q2 profit rise on strong demand
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Torrent Pharmaceuticals on Monday reported a nearly 24% jump in second-quarter profit, driven by the strong demand in the domestic market and in Brazil.
Consolidated net profit was 3.86 billion rupees ($46.4 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 3.12 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, estimated a profit of 3.87 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.
Revenue from operations rose 16.1% to 26.60 billion rupees, as sales rose 18% in India and 36% in Brazil.
Margins on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved to 31% from 30% a year earlier.
Torrent, which sells drugs related to diabetes, pain management, cancer and infections, has been in talks with private equity funds including CVC Capital Partners and Bain Capital to raise up to $1.5 billion to bid for India's No.3 drugmaker Cipla, Reuters reported last month.
If the deal works out, it would be the largest in the Indian pharma sector, analysts said.
Cipla and another competitor Dr Reddy's Laboratories will report their second quarter earnings next week.
Torrent shares closed 0.8% lower ahead of the results, following a 1.3% decline in the Nifty Pharma index.
($1 = 83.1325 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)
