See Q2 better than Q1; US biz growth in 25-30% range: Lupin

Kamal K Sharma, MD, Lupin expects its US business to grow in the range of 25-30 percent. He believes the second quarter of FY14 should see a good double digit growth as against virtually no growth in the first quarter due to pressure from de-stocking by the traders and also banning of a couple of products by the doctors.

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"In the corresponding quarter of last fiscal to this fiscal there should be good growth not withstanding the Antara sales," he says in an interview to CNBC-TV18

Below is the verbatim transcript of Kamal Sharma's interview on CNBC-TV18

Q: What is the timeline for the launch of Zymaxid for which you recently got the approval and how much would that add to your revenues?

A: It is too early for me to comment anything on that. We have certain arrangement for the launch and we will follow that.

So, it is not an appropriate time for me to comment as to when we are going to launch it.

Q: How is the US business doing especially this quarter? Are there any new launches that would be contributing to the Q2 numbers?

A: The US business has been doing well even in the last quarter and will continue to perform.

The challenge that we were looking at was the branded business. There we have acquired rights for Alinia which is a diarrhea product so, that should enforce our branded business.

We have another product close to agreement – again for pediatric segment. So, with these two products coming in, the branded business which used to be 30 percent of our revenue came down to 22-23 percent and should be on good traction now.

With regards to the generic business – we will be launching about 15-20 products this year and you would see good growth in generic business as well.

The overall growth should be in the range of 25-30 percent for the US market.

Q: What about the domestic formulations market? What kind of growth rates are you confident of achieving?

A: Q1 faced some pressure because the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and the de-stocking by the trade, also banning of a few products where the doctors were not prescribing some of the products, but now all that seems to be falling in place.

So, this quarter we should see a good double digit growth as against virtually no growth last quarter.

Thereafter, from Q3 we should be in good shape.

Q: You have in the past expressed your acquisition strategy and that you would be looking at acquisition possibly in emerging markets such as Brazil. Any update on the acquisition strategy that the company would adopt in FY14?

A: The strategy remains in place. Unfortunately, I am not at a point where I can share with you as to where we stand.

We are currently evaluating some assets in Mexico, some in Brazil and hopefully we should be able to complete atleast during this year one if not two assets in that area.

Q: Will Q2 FY14 be better than the previous quarter because there is some reversal on the Antara sales which is also expected? How would you be doing on the domestic portfolio in particular?

A: Q2 should be better thanQ1. More importantly the corresponding quarter of last fiscal to this fiscal there should be a good growth notwithstanding the Antara. Whatever happened in Q1 is slowly becoming history and the company is well on its way to recover the lost ground.

It was an industry wide phenomenon but for some exceptions. So, we should be in good shape in Q2.

Q: What about Japan?

A: Japan stays on eve keel. We grew about 9 percent last quarter. We should grow around 9-10 percent this quarter as well. The market is growing around 7 percent there.