Indian drugmaker JB Chem posts first-quarter profit jump on strong domestic demand

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(Reuters) -Indian drugmaker JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals reported an 8.9% higher first-quarter profit on Wednesday, led by healthy domestic demand for its drugs.

The maker of “Rantac” antacid reported a consolidated net profit of 2.02 billion rupees ($23.02 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 1.77 billion rupees a year earlier.

Its overall revenue climbed 14.5% to 10.94 billion rupees, boosted by demand in its key domestic formulations business.

KEY CONTEXT

The Indian pharmaceutical market grew 8% in June, led by drugs treating chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, benefitting drugmakers specialising in such treatments.

JB Chem’s revenue from its chronic and acute portfolios surged 15% and 12%, respectively, while an 8% climb in its contract drug manufacturing business also aided its results.

PEER COMPARISON

Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment

months)

RIC PE EV/EBI Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to

TDA growth (%) growth rating* analysts price

(%) target**

J B Chemicals 31.99 20.99 12.41 18.95 Buy 12 0.87

and

Pharmaceuticals

Ltd

Glenmark 32.30 19.29 12.66 27.16 Buy 9 0.99

Pharmaceuticals

Ltd

Torrent 46.35 27.76 12.48 25.42 Buy 29 0.99

Pharmaceuticals

Ltd

Mankind Pharma 46.66 27.87 18.00 13.98 Buy 15 0.96

Ltd

* The mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL TO JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

— All data from LSEG

($1 = 87.7400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)