Laurus Labs' Revenue To Remain Stagnant In March Quarter, Says CEO

Laurus Labs Ltd. isn't likely to witness a bump-up in revenue in the fourth quarter of the fiscal, according to its Chief Executive Officer Satyanarayana Chava.

The situation with the environment is challenging with respect to orders, antiretroviral drugs and formulation non-ARVs, Chava said.

Fiscal 2024 will be a year of consolidation and the subsequent fiscal will again be a growth year, Chava, who is also the founder of Laurus Labs, told BQ Prime's Niraj Shah.

The pharma and biotech company's third quarter revenue rose 50% to Rs 1,545 crore year-on-year, while net profit was up 32% to Rs 203 crore.

The Hyderabad-based firm said that in the next fiscal, it has a "lot of capacity" coming online—both active pharmaceutical ingredient and formulations, as well as contract development and manufacturing organisation.

The company's operating margin stood at 26.1%, down from 27.7% a year ago.

"Since we have a lot of qualified capacities in APIs and formulations, a lot of operational deleveraging is happening," Chava said. "We expense all pre-operative expenditures and we don't capitalise. So, that was the one hit to Ebitda."

The company doesn't have "big concerns" for the margin front in the next fiscal, he said.