Saturday, October 27, 2012

The doctor checks in at #44!

low-priced buyouts, cost control & ensuring sustainable revenues, did the trick for sun pharma. what next? STEVEN PHILIP WARNER answers…

At a time when the Indian pharmaceutical sector, once considered immune to downturns, lies battered, Sun Pharma, during FY2008-09, grew its topline by a remarkable 27.3% y-o-y to clock Rs.42.72 billion, and its bottomlines rose by 22.2% y-o-y to touch Rs.18.17 billion. All this catapulted this pharma giant to the 44th spot on the 2009 B&E Power 100 List, making it the only pharma name to feature in the rankings.

Uday Baldota, VP – Investor Relations, Sun Pharma, tells us, “We created sustainable revenues streams, with greater speed to market. A focus on cost leadership and making acquisitions which yielded high ROI proved to be the right strategies…” Although the strategic combo he gives seems straight out of the consultant’s rule book, critics claim the fact is that Sun Pharma has often appeared to be making seat-of-the-pants decisions in the most critical area of inorganic growth, namely M&As – over the past 14 years, Sun has acquired 14 distressed assets. But there is another side to the story as many of these buyouts have come at “low prices” – as Uday defends – therefore renovating them into profit-churning assets proved less challenging. And if fortune has to favour the brave – at a time when other Indian generic giants are facing the heat and are selling-off their crown jewels – Sun’s acquisitions have actually started bearing fruits, key elements powering its financial vehicle even during a downturn!

At the same time, Sun has always been open to diversifications into the right business lanes. When it laid hands on Dadha Pharma & Milmet Labs, it entered the oncological & opthalmological spaces respectively. And if its $454 million Taro deal comes through (“The deal is still on, with some court decisions awaited,” – Uday), it will get an entry into the dermatological market. Thanks to those cheap buyouts, it’s 2009 now, and Sun’s gross profit margins, which for FY2008-09 stood at an extremely high of 79.9%, have never ever looked better!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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