Lupin makes impairment provision for Gavis

MUMBAI: Lupin on Tuesday reported a net loss of Rs 777.60 crore for the quarter ended March as the Mumbai-based drug maker had to make a one-time impairment provision towards its acquisition of Gavis Pharma.

Lupin took a hit worth Rs 1,464.35 crore on US-based Gavis, which it acquired in 2015 for $880 million (Rs 5,610 crore then). Consolidated revenue stood at Rs 4,033 crore, a 5.2% drop from Rs 4,253 crore in the same quarter last year.

Lupin’s North America sales fell 21.1% year on year to Rs 1,499 crore in the fourth quarter.

“We took a one-time impairment on the Gavis acquisition in line with the changed market conditions, in particular with the opioids in the US,” said Nilesh Gupta, managing director at Lupin Pharma.

But the firm’s Ebitda for Q4 rose 3.3% to Rs 853.60 crore from Rs 826.70 crore in the yearago quarter. “We have made meaningful strides in our complex generics pipeline, made progress on the speciality build across the US, Europe and Japan and have had strong growth in the emerging markets, especially India,” Gupta said.

Lupin’s board recommended a dividend of Rs 5 per equity share of the face value of Rs 2 each for the fiscal. “Our near-term priorities are resolution of the warning letter on Goa and Indore Unit 2, successful commercialisation of Solosec in the US, and executing on meaningful product launches,” Gupta said.

Shares of Lupin on Tuesday closed at Rs 750, marginally down by 0.46%.