Paracetamol maker Granules India posts marginal rise in Q3 profit

Bengaluru: Drug maker Granules India reported a marginal rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by easing raw material costs.

The company's consolidated profit rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 1.26 billion (nearly $15 million), according to an exchange filing.

Granules has seen slowing profit growth since the third quarter of 2022. It reported a fall in profit for the past two quarters as it grappled with soaring costs.

The company reported a 0.6 per cent climb in expenses for the third quarter, helped by a 7 per cent fall in raw material costs. In contrast, expenses ranged between 9 per cent and 17 per cent in the last four quarters.

This resulted in a flat profit margin year-on-year at 11 per cent.

Revenue rose 1 per cent to 11.56 billion rupees, with the fixed dosages segment contributing 66 per cent to the total.

Granules, which focuses on making active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), holds 30 per cent of the global market for Paracetamol. It makes the drug's API and finished dosage, the ready-for-consumption product.

Shares of the company rose as much as 3.2 per cent after the results before paring some gains to trade 2.9 per cent higher.

They climbed about 14 per cent in the December quarter, outperforming a 9 per cent rise in the Nifty Pharma index.

Rival Glenmark Life Sciences is also expected to report its third-quarter results on Tuesday.

($1 = 83.0900 Indian rupees)