Cipla Q4 PAT likely to jump 38% to Rs 295 cr

Pharmaceutical company Cipla is expected to report a growth of 38% year-on-year and 9.4% quarter-on-quarter in its profit after tax of Rs 295 crore for the fourth quarter of FY12, according to CNBC-TV18 poll.

Revenues are seen going up by 9.8% YoY and 4.3% QoQ to Rs 1,833 crore in the January-March quarter.

EBITDA too is likely to jump 39.6% YoY and 8% QoQ to Rs 421 crore during the same period. Operating profit margin is expected to be at 23% versus 18% YoY and 22.3% QoQ.

Analysts on average expect a stable quarter with growth from domestic formulations, but otherwise sluggish exports could surprise on the upside as the company began supplying to Teva for Lexapro (Teva launched Lexapro in March 2012 on exclusivity and Cipla is the manufacturing partner)

Growth YoY to be driven by domestic formulations business of 15% plus.
**In Q3, domestic formulation was up 18.4% YoY to Rs 868.7 crore (50% of sales) – this was due to 36% growth in the generics segment that is 20% of domestic sales. For 9MFY12, domestic formulation was up 13.6% to Rs 2,459 crore

Within exports, analysts expect API uptrend to continue - in Q3FY12, it grew 18% due to selective participation in tender business of ARV and Malaria in Africa. ARV business in API helps contribute to overall margins of 20 to 22%.

Analysts expect weak technology fees which have been sluggish - down 48% YoY to Rs 7.8 crore and for 9MFY12, down 41% to Rs 25.4 crore

Margins will be in a range of 20%+ sequentially due to favourable revenue mix improving capacity utilization at the Indore SEZ and favourable currency