Net sales grew by 11.13% year on year to Rs 1,911.38 crore during the quarter, on the back of broad base performance across all three businesses – CDMO, CHG and ICH.

The company's revenue from contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) was at Rs 1,068 crore (up 11% YoY), complex hospital generics (CHG) stood at Rs 589 crore (up 5% YoY) and India consumer healthcare (ICH) came in at Rs 256 crore (up 13% YoY) during the period under review.

The drug maker posted a profit before tax of Rs 39.56 crore in Q2 FY24 as against a pre-tax loss of Rs 26.26 crore recorded in Q2 FY23.

EBITDA stood at Rs 315 crore in the September quarter, registering a growth of 44% from Rs 219 crore recorded in Q2 FY23. EBITDA margin improved to 16% in Q2 FY24 as compared to 13% reported in Q2 FY23, primarily driven by operating leverage and cost optimization & operational excellence initiatives.

Net debt as on 30 September 2023 stood at Rs 3,823 crore, reduction of Rs 958 crore since 31 March 2023.

Nandini Piramal, chairperson, Piramal Pharma, said, “We have delivered a healthy performance in the first half of the financial year with 14% revenue growth accompanied by over 300 bps improvement in EBITDA margin. Our CDMO business returned to mid-teen growth with continued order inflows, especially for differentiated offerings and innovation related work.

Our capacity expansion for Inhalation Anesthesia products is progressing well as we look to capitalize on the healthy demand in the global market. Our India consumer healthcare business is delivering steady growth driven by our power brands. Historically our H2 has been better than H1, both in terms of revenue and profitability. We expect similar trend to play out this financial year as well, more specifically in Q4.

During the quarter, we also successfully completed our rights issue and utilized the proceed to reduce our debt. On the ESG front, we released our FY23 Sustainability Report and have also taken a target to reduce our GHG emissions by 42% by FY30 compared to FY22. We hope to continue our momentum in H2FY24 and end the financial year with a robust performance.”

Piramal Pharma (PPL) offers a portfolio of differentiated products and services through end-to-end manufacturing capabilities across 17 global facilities and a global distribution network in over 100 countries. PPL includes Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), an integrated Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization; Piramal Critical Care (PCC), a Complex Hospital Generics business; and the India Consumer Healthcare business, selling over-the-counter products.

Shares of Piramal Pharma advanced 3.23% to close at Rs 92.55 on Friday, 27 October 2023.