Page 150 - CW E-Magazine (14-11-2023)

Top Stories Pharmaceuticals

BUSINESS OUTLOOK ALL-ROUND GROWTH

Aarti Industries reports sequential improvement Piramal Pharma clocks 11% revenue growth in second

in profi ts and income quarter

Shares of peciality chemicals com- headwinds related to inventory destock- The management foresees FY25 to Piramal Pharma Ltd. (PPL) has has been better than H1, both in terms
pany, Aarti Industries Ltd., jumped more ing, demand pressure from export mar- be a normal year, considering the current reported 11% growth in revenue from of revenue and profi tability. We expect
than 9% in the morning trade on Novem- kets and geopolitical uncertainties among pace of recovery. In the quarter ended operations at Rs. 1,911-crore in the sec- a similar trend to play out this fi nancial
ber 6 as investors cheered management’s others persisted during the quarter, the September 2023, its EBITDA perfor- ond quarter ended September 30, 2023 year as well, more specifi cally in Q4,”
positive commentary and improved company said. mance was bolstered by volume expan- (Q2), backed by performance across its she added.
sequential performance, overlooking a sion with stable-to-better realisation for three businesses segments.
disappointing September quarter. The medium-to-long term trend will some products; balanced contribution Q2 performance
continue to be appealing, backed by from both regular and non-regular mar- The company’s Contract Deve- The CDMO business clocked reve-
The speciality chemicals company’s steady demand recovery in key end-user kets. Aarti Industries commercialised lopment and Manufacturing Organi- Consumer Healthcare business is nues of Rs. 1,068-crore, registering
net profi t (PAT) fell 27% year-on-year industries, the company said. Demand Phase 1 of the acid unit revamp in the sation (CDMO) returned to mid- delivering steady growth driven by 14% growth. Complex Hospital
to Rs. 91-crore and sales declined nearly was recovering gradually and will take quarter under review. Other projects, teen growth, with continued order our power brands,” she added. The Generic saw 5% growth at Rs. 589-crore,
14%. According to the management, a few more quarters to normalise across too, are progressing as planned, it said. inflows, especially for differentia- company posted Rs. 5-crore profit and India Consumer Healthcare saw
the company’s performance improved various end segments and product lines. The company plans to add more than ted offerings and innovation-rela- after tax in the quarter. 13% growth at Rs. 256-crore. PPL
sequentially due to volume gains in seve- The second half of FY24 is anticipated 40 products through an integrated value ted work, said Ms. Nandini Piramal, received its fi rst revenue milestone
ral products. Sequentially, net profi t was to be better than the fi rst half, the com- chain and increase base capacity for Chairperson, PPL. “Our capacity ex- The fi rst half of the fi nancial year from the expanded Grangemouth
up 15% and total income 2.8%. There were pany said. chlorotoulenes to around 42,000-tpa. pansion for Inhalation Anaesthesia saw 14% revenue growth, accompa- facility in the quarter. Facilities at
products is progressing well as we nied by an over 300-bps improvement Digwal, Pithampur, Riverview, Sellers-
Training programme on medicinal and aromatic look to capitalise on the healthy de- in EBITDA margin, she said. “Histori- ville and Lexington contributed about
mand in the global market. Our India cally our H2 (second half of the year) 50% of CDMO revenues.
plants held in Pune

A three-day SIDBI-sponsored entre- Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic provided guidance on advanced agri- DRUG DISCOVERY
preneurship and skill development pro- Plants (CSIR-CMAP) and CSIR-NCL cultural technologies for cultivation of SPARC enters into an exclusive worldwide license
gramme on ‘Cultivation, Processing provided farming and distillation solu- geranium and patchouli, and outlined
and Marketing of Medicinal and Aro- tions in simple and easy language. the success of the country’s farmers from agreement for alopecia drug
matic Plants’ was held from October the Aroma Mission.
26-29, 2023 at CSIR-National Chemical Dr. Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR-
Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune. NCL, stressed the need for entrepre- Dr. V.R. Singh, Principal Scientist, Sun Pharma Advanced Research stones, as well
neurial skills to benefi t from farming of CSIR-NCL, informed about advanced Company Ltd. (SPARC) has en- as tiered royal-
43 participants attended the event aromatic and medicinal plants. Dr. Alok agricultural techniques for rose and tered into an agreement with Johns ties on sales.
in which scientists from CSIR-Central Kalra, Former Director, CSIR-CMAP, satavar cultivation. Hopkins University (JHU) and The “The licensing
Institute of Organic Chemistry and of SCD-153
Biochemistry of the Czech Academy marks another
CCI launches study on cement sector in India of Sciences (IOCB) to exclusively successful col-

The Competition Commission of The objectives of the study are to:  Reach out to stakeholders for a license IOCB’s drug discovery, SCD- laboration bet-
India (CCI) is launching a pan-India  Examine the market structure in holistic understanding of the sector 153, including all patents and patent ween SPARC
Market Study on the cement sector. the sector across regions including and identify impediments to compe- applications. SCD-153 is a fi rst-in- and an aca-
“Given the criticality of cement for market concentration, entry/exit and tition, if any; and class topical drug for the treatment of demic institute
many vital sectors, well-functioning consolidation;  Ascertain enforcement and advocacy alopecia areata (involving hair loss), under our out-
and competitive cement market is of  Study market trends including priorities for CCI in the cement developed jointly by SPARC, JHU reach program
utmost importance… the market study trends in price, cost, production, sector. and IOCB, SPARC told the stock ex- Option to License Agreement with with academia. Topical SCD-153,
will be a fact-fi nding exercise to deve- capacity, capacity utilisation and changes. the licensors. Under the terms of the upon successful development, can
lop comprehensive understanding of the profi tability; The study is independent of any agreement, the licensors are eligible provide an important option to clini-
functioning of cement market across  Understand pricing including an case proceedings before the CCI per- SPARC had evaluated SCD-153 for upfront payment, milestone pay- cians and patients for the treatment
regions in India, and the state of compe- in-depth analysis of the determi- taining to the cement sector, the agency under a Material Transfer Agreement ments contingent upon the achieve- of Alopecia Areata,” said Mr. Anil
tition therein,” CCI said in a statement. nants of movements in price; added. (MTA) after which it entered into an ment of regulatory and sales mile- Raghavan, CEO, SPARC.

150 Chemical Weekly November 14, 2023 Chemical Weekly November 14, 2023 151

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