Strides Pharma Science has reported consolidated loss of Rs 12.01 crore for the quarter ended September 2018, impacted by exceptional loss and loss in joint ventures/subsidiaries. Lower operating income and other income also impacted profitability.
The loss widened from Rs 4.31 crore reported in June quarter and profit for September quarter 2017 stood at Rs 8.6 crore.
Consolidated revenue from operations in Q2 degrew by 4.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 732.6 crore due to tepid growth in US business, weak Africa and institutional business.
The company said there was strong business momentum in Australia with a topline growth of 12 percent YoY (4 percent QoQ) with steady margins while US business delivered a healthy sequential growth of 27 percent (1 percent YoY) and reached breakeven despite a higher R&D spend.
Other regulated markets delivered a strong quarterly performance with revenue growth of 52 percent YoY (15 percent QoQ), which continued to be the fastest growing market for Strides, it added.
Institutional business registered a muted performance on poor offtake, falling 42 percent YoY (16 percent QoQ). Africa revenue dropped 28 percent, but jumped 49 percent due to improved performance at Kenya manufacturing facility.
Strides said it posted exceptional loss at Rs 7.4 crore against loss of Rs 12.3 crore in year-ago, including foreign exchange loss (Rs 1.66 crore), restructuring expenses (Rs 1.76 crore), loss on sales of investment in subsidiaries (Rs 1.44 crore), and unwinding of discount on gross obligations over written put options and contingent consideration (Rs 2.53 crore).
Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) declined 7.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 99.6 crore and margin contracted 40 bps to 13.6 percent in Q2.
At 12:00 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 417.05, up Rs 3.30, or 0.80 percent on the BSE.
