Sun Pharma results: Profit down 19% at Rs 2,149.8 cr, revenue up 8%

Business Standard

22-05-2025

India's largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical on Thursday posted a decline of 19 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) for its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2025 (Q4FY25) at ₹2,149.8 crore. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations rose by 8 per cent at ₹12,958.8 crore.
Barring an exceptional item, the company's net profit for the quarter will come to ₹2,889.1 crore, rising 4.8 per cent.
Sun Pharma attributed the lower growth in the quarter partly to softer sales in January and February in the US, which is a typical trend. However, the company clarified that there is no specific product driving this and that overall prescription and inventory trends for key brands remains strong.
The fall in the net profit can also be attributed to the rise in input costs compared to last year.
For FY25, Sun's net profit surged by 14 per cent Y-o-Y, reaching ₹10,929 crore. While revenue from operations also grew by 8 per cent, reaching ₹52,578 crore.
Both net profit and revenue missed Bloomberg estimates, falling short by 23 per cent and 2.23 per cent, respectively.
On Thursday, Sun Pharma's share fell by 0.74 per cent ending the day's trade at ₹1718.70. The results came after market hours.
On the legal front, Sun Pharma reported an exceptional item of ₹677.8 crore for the full year, related to a legal settlement in the US. In a key development, the company — previously awaiting the outcome of the Leqselvi (a hair loss treatment inhibitor) litigation — announced that the United States Court of Appeals has reversed its earlier ruling and vacated the preliminary injunction, now allowing for the commercial launch of Leqselvi.
Sun Pharma will now launch Leqselvi in Q2FY26.
Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharmaceuticals, said, 'The nearterm pipeline in global specialty is promising, with products such as Leqselvi and Unloxcyt — the latter through our recently announced Checkpoint acquisition — offering significant improvements in patient care.'
Sun Pharma announced updates to its global specialty pipeline, stating that it is now seeking a partner for the development and commercialisation of MM-II (used for treatment of knee osteoarthritis pain) in select geographies, following a strategic reassessment. The company reaffirmed its confidence in the product's potential. Additionally, it plans to initiate clinical trials of GL0034 (Utreglutide), a peptide-1 receptor with type 2 diabetes as the first target indication.
The company expects a mid to high single-digit consolidated top-line growth for FY26.
Sun Pharma also plans to invest around $100 million this year to support the commercialisation of a new specialty product. This investment is aimed at significantly strengthening its specialty business in the long term. The company views this as a strategic investment to deepen its presence and growth in the specialty segment.
The domestic formulations sales for FY25 India sales rose by 13.7 per cent which stood at ₹16,923 crore, up 13.7 per cent Y-o-Y. For the quarter, sales were up by 13.6 per cent reaching ₹4,213 crore, contributing 33 per cent to total quarterly revenue. The company launched 10 new products in the quarter.
US formulations sales which accounts for 31.4 per cent of total revenue for the quarter fell by 2.5 per cent to $464 million. For FY25, the sales rose by 3.6 per cent Y-o-Y at $1,921 million.
The global specialty revenue rose by 17 per cent Y-o-Y to $1,216 million for the full year, while for the quarter the sales grew by 8.6 per cent to $295 million contributing 19.9 per cent to total revenue.
The emerging markets sales rose by 7 per cent Y-o-Y to $1,114 million in FY25. For the quarter the sales rose by 6.3 per cent forming 17 per cent of the revenue.
The rest of world (RoW) region accounting for 13 per cent of revenue saw a growth of 2 per cent for the quarter at $200 million. For the year the sales increased by 4.5 per cent at $847 million.
The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) business grew by 11 per cent Y-o-Y at ₹2,129 crore in FY25, in Q4 sales were up by 28 per cent at ₹533 crore.
Sun's consolidated research and development (R&D) investment for the year was ₹3,248 crore or 6.2 per cent of sales. In Q4 it stood at ₹817 crore or 6.4 per cent of sales. The specialty pipeline includes 8 novel clinical-stage entities.