Expect to cut debt by Rs 70-80 cr this year: Dishman Pharma

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Arpit Vyas, MD, Dishman Pharma said the company plans to pare down Rs 70-80 crore this calendar year. Dishman has  a total debt of Rs 880 crore.

Although this year the topline growth is relatively flat they expect a stable growth of 10-12 percent. Since most of the company's sales are in dollars and euros, it is desirable that the rupee stays within 60-63/USD, Vyas said.

Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview on CNBC-TV18

Q: We understand that there could be some fresh order wins from the likes of AstraZeneca and there could be improvements that you are expecting in your margins – could you take us through how the next couple of quarters look in terms of increased revenues and increased profitability that you re expecting?

A: We have not won the order from AstraZeneca, but we were always the preferred supplier for them. The market of Brilinta has improved and that is what will be seen from next year. For 2014, we would see around USD 5-7 million from AstraZenea, which if all goes well with the products, can go up to USD 8 million and even USD 20-25 million in the subsequent years.

Q: Your last reported revenues were lower in Year-on-Year terms – you did about Rs 10 crore less in Q1 than you did in same quarter last year but now there seems to be an improvement marginally in several things like Vitamin D, better performance of Carbogen Amcis, more generic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) business coming in – So would the sales in Q2 and remaining two quarters will be better? What is the kind of revenue growth you are estimating?

A: Even in Q1 if we did less sales, you can see the EBITDA  margins were almost same in the corresponding quarter last year, therefore we have actually done better this quarter than that of last year. 

We expect a stable growth of around 10-12 percent of the topline. Although this year it looks relatively flat, but we are working on bottomline growth, which was seen in Q1.

Q: Since this Brilinta drug a high margin product for you - how much could it take your margins up by from this 28 percent?

A: I would not like to comment on exact margins but we don’t like to work anything below 25-30 percent EBITDA margins.

Q: What is the debt situation- you are still sitting on high debt of close to Rs 880 crore, how much do you plan to scale it down by the end of this calendar year or by FY14 end?

A: This calendar we will pare it down by Rs 70-80 crore

Q: Will there be a mark-to-market gain in Q2 with the rupee improving?

A: If the rupee stays stable at around 60-63/USD, we are very comfortable because most of our sales are in dollars and euros.