Biotechnology company Biocon beats estimates as it posted its fiscal fourth quarter profit at Rs 313.20 crore, up 31.3 per cent as against Rs 238.60 crore in the same quarter last year, on the back of robust sales. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 3773.90 crore, up 56.7 per cent in comparison to Rs 2408.80 crore in the fourth quarter of FY22. Biocon was expected to clock a profit of Rs 234 crore and revenue of Rs 3611.7 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year ended March 2023. The Board also recommended a final dividend at the rate of 30 per cent, that is, Rs 1.50 per equity share of face value of Rs 5 each for the financial year. “The dividend will be paid on or before September 8, 2023,” it said in a regulatory filing.
“FY23 has been a transformational year led by the acquisition of our partnered biosimilars business from Viatris, which has significantly contributed to Biocon’s robust consolidated financials. Revenue growth was led by Biosimilars at 61%, Research Services at 23 per cent and Generics at 13 per cent. R&D Investments have nearly doubled to Rs 1,119 crore, as we seek to drive future growth,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon and Biocon Biologics.
Biocon is also raising Rs 800 crore (~$98 million) from Edelweiss Alternate Asset Advisors Ltd (EAAA) through the issuance of NCDs worth Rs 500 crore by Biocon Limited and CCDs worth Rs 300 crore by Biocon Biologics Limited, it said in the regulatory filing.
Biocon’s segment wise performance
Biocon’s generics business posted a revenue of Rs 716.60 crore during the quarter, its biosimilars segment clocked a revenue of Rs 2101.60 crore, while the novel biologics’ revenue stood at Rs 19.20 crore, and research services posted revenue at Rs 994.40 crore.
Talking about the generics business, Siddharth Mittal, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Limited, said, “The Generics business performance in FY23 was in line with our expectations, delivering healthy year-on-year revenue growth that was driven by immunosuppressants, specialty APIs, and a rampup of some of our recently launched generic formulation products.” He added that even as the profitability for the year was muted, mainly on account of pricing pressure in our key markets, as well as increased input costs, that was partially mitigated by cost improvement initiatives.
In terms of Biocon Biologics, the company credited the closure of its acquisition of Viatris’ global biosimilars business for performance. “This acquisition coupled with strong growth in our underlying business and over 35 new launches has translated to a significant step-up in revenues and expanded global reach,” said Shreehas Tambe, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Biologics Ltd. Going forward, the company is planning to integrate the acquired business in a phased manner with over 70 emerging markets transitioning to Biocon Biologics shortly followed by the US and EU thereafter.
Syngene also showed a strong growth in the fourth quarter which subsequently added to the positive performance over the course of the year. “All business divisions delivered growth through the year, triggering investment in additional laboratory capacity and new facilities at our campuses in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, as well as creating over 1,000 new jobs,” said Jonathan Hunt, CEO & Managing Director, Syngene.
