Neuland Laboratories Limited (NSE: NEULANDLAB) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Jul. 31, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Abhijit Majumdar — Chief Financial Officer
Saharsh Davuluri — Vice Chairman & Managing Director
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Ravi Udeshi — Analyst
Arun Shanmugam — Analyst
Shyam Srinivasan — Analyst
Ishmohit — Analyst
Naveen Baid — Analyst
Neel Shah — Analyst
Chirag Shah — Analyst
Keshav Bagri — Analyst
Saurabh Kapadia — Analyst
Ritika Agarwal — Analyst
Keshav Kumar — Analyst
Harshad Mehta — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
That. Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to The Newland Laboratories Limited Q1FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode. And there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ravi Udeshi from Ernst and Young. Thank you. And over to you, sir. Ravi sir. Hello.
Ravi Udeshi — Analyst
Hello. Can you hear me?
operator
Yes, sir. Now we can hear you. Please go ahead.
Ravi Udeshi — Analyst
Thank you. Shruti. Good evening friends. We welcome you to the Q1FY26 earnings conference call of Newland Laboratories Limited. To take us through the results and to answer your questions. We have with us the top management from Newland Represented by Mr. Sujith Dawlouri, Vice Chairman and CEO. Mr. Sahaj Daguluri, Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. Abhijit Majumdar, CFO and Mr. Sajib Emmanuel Marikonda, Head Corporate Planning and strategy. We will start the call with a brief overview of the financials by Mr. Abhit Majumda. And then Saharsh will give you broad highlights of the business trends and what he’s seeing in the market.
And post that we will open up the call for the Q A session. As usual, the standard safe harbor clause applies as we start with the call. With that said, I now hand over the floor to Abhijit. Over to you, Abhijit sir.
Abhijit Majumdar — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you very much Ravi. And a very good evening and warm welcome to everyone joining our call. The financials are as follows. For quarter one, total income is Rupees 360 crores. Which is a decrease of 32.4% year on year as compared to 444 crores in the same period last year. The Commercial CMS projects and the GDS client segment were the main contributors to revenues this quarter. As we have mentioned several clients in the past. The inherent nature of our overall business is is uneven on a quarter on quarter basis EBITDA stood at 42.1 crores at a margin of 14.4%.
The decreased revenue has led to impact on margins as a result of deleverage. And there has been no other significant factor impacting the profit and loss account. The gross margin for the quarter was 55.3% and as compared to 56.1 in FY25. This margins as always include manufacturing expenses and other costs directly attributed to the product. The profit after tax was 13.7 crores as compared to 98.3 crores in quarter one and our quarterly EPS stands at 10.7 per share. While our focus on optimal utilization of cash remains a top priority, we have seen a deterioration in working capital this quarter as we have higher inventory due to the uneven nature of order flow.
Working capital stood at 145 days of sales for the quarter and free cash flow for the quarter was negative 66 crores. Our net debt stands at a negative 165 crores. As part of our investment there was a cash outflow of rupees 79 crores towards capex for this quarter. We are committed to balancing growth and profitability by continuously optimizing costing processes to ensure long term sustainability. As we mentioned in the previous quarter, the additional production block in Q3 has been capitalized and we expect commercial production to start later in this fiscal year. Other investments which have been announced in the last 12 months are going as planned.
Given the rapidly changing environment, we continue to evaluate opportunities which will drive long term growth even as we focus on cost optimization opportunities across product and processes which enable us to further strengthen our position. While FY25 was a year of consolidation and Q1 has been a continuation of that, our customer pipeline gives us good visibility. Hence we are confident with the commercialization of unit 3 production block. It will give the business data revenue momentum from the later half of FY26. Overall, we continue to be optimistic about our future and the potential that our business holds.
As in the past, the presentation which has been shared with the press release contains more details. With that, I would like to hand over the call to Sahasra. Thank you very much.
Saharsh Davuluri — Vice Chairman & Managing Director
Thanks Abhijit. Good evening everyone and welcome once again to the call. As you can all surmise from the numbers, the performance has been below par for this quarter and through my commentary I do wish to assure you that we are well on track for achieving both our short term and long term goals. We had previously indicated that we expect our FY26 growth trajectory to resume on the FY24 base and despite a weak start, we remain confident of achieving this objective. Before dwelling on the details of the quarter, I will reiterate a few points which have been made in the past but are still important for investors both old and new to keep in mind.
Over the years Nuland has firmly established itself as a dedicated API solution provider with deep expertise in various complex capabilities. We collaborate with both innovators and generic formulators to create a healthier world Due to the inherent characteristics of the CDMO business and the specialty GDS business which focuses on small volume products, our business can be uneven. Therefore, evaluating Newland’s trajectory on a three year block basis is likely to be more accurate when comparing a Q on Q or a Y on Y basis. There may also be occasional years where the trajectory is unclear due to the specific mix or how the products are taking off.
However, the completion of the manufacturing facilities with coupled with scaling of commercial molecules on the CMS side give us a great deal of confidence in achieving our objectives in FY26 and beyond. We continue to see increased interest in customers wanting to partner with Newland as they look to bring in their innovative medicines to patients. I believe this can be attributed to three main factors. Firstly, our reputation has been growing steadily due to the work we’ve done over the past couple of decades, particularly in the CDMO business. Secondly, our business development teams are increasingly focused on finding opportunities that align with our long term strategy, making us more selective and decisive about our partnerships.
The third factor being the macroeconomic environment being favorable. Of course, this is a rapidly changing scenario which also has worked in our favor. We are excited by the range of customers expressing interest working with us which gives us great enthusiasm for the future of our business. Coming to the quarter’s performance which has been below par in terms of our performance over the last few years because of the flow of customer orders. However, this is in line with our earlier stated expectations on the increase in revenue to pick up during the course of the financial year and I guess the quarter itself has the orders were planned in a way that the quarter itself was always set to perform in the way it has.
This quarter doesn’t change our earlier stated expectations for the financial year as well as the following years. Revenues this quarter primarily came from commercial products in the CMS as well as prime GDS products like Mitizapine and Ezetimibe. The specialty GDS business was also subdued this quarter with only Dorzalamide contributing significantly. However, this is not indicative of the potential of the GDS portfolio and the growth we expect to see. We remain focused on innovating new specialty products while optimizing processes and expanding market share for key commercial APIs. Our dual strategy of focusing on high margin specialty business as well as increasing volumes for the prime API business will ensure growth of the GDS business both in the short and medium term.
On the CMS front, we see short and medium term growth coming from molecules which have been commercialized in the recent past as indicated in previous calls, we also expect the commercialization of another molecule this year. We are also seeing significant growth in terms of new business coming from both existing as well as new customers which should fructify in the numbers over the course of this and next financial year. We are also excited by the range of customers expressing interest in our services and placing first time orders. Apart from commercial projects and the new business, we are also seeing some of our customers assets in the pipeline make progress.
We expect buoyancy in the CMS business to continue going forward and drive the growth over the short, medium and long term. As stated in the past two quarters, our peptide investment plan is on track. We continue to garner more projects in the space which further validates our excitement about the opportunities that the segment holds. Even our peptide scientific team is working on exciting projects. At the same time, they are also developing capabilities that will help Newland further differentiate itself as a Peptide API manufacturer. We will continue to update you on the progress we are making on this front even as we expect the new facility for peptides to be completed in the next financial year.
Another reminder from our previous interactions, we continue to maintain that there are a variety of factors that could influence the projections. These include performance of individual products, foreign exchange fluctuations, raw material cost, volatilities and other dynamics of the business. We are aware of these challenges and continue to monitor these variables very carefully. Regarding capacity building. The new production block in Unit three has seen the validations happening as per schedule and we expect fulfilling orders in FY26. We also continue to work on expanding our unit one by acquiring land which gives us the leeway to add capacity faster than a greenfield expansion or a facility acquisition.
Agility and innovation are crucial for effectively responding to the business environment and we continue to invest in our capabilities and people to ensure we are enhancing our customer experience which we believe distinguishes us as a cdmo. I would like to conclude that Nyland is well positioned to capitalize on long term opportunities and we are also positive regarding the outlook for the year. So having said this Ravi, I request you to open it up for Q and A.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question is from the line of Arun Shanmugam and specialist invest. Please go ahead.
Arun Shanmugam
Hi sir. Am I audible?
operator
Yes sir. You’re audible.
Arun Shanmugam
Right. Hi sir. Good evening. So considering the revenue composition the CMS business contributed around 44% of the revenue in the current quarter. Considering the high margin business, that business cmss. Why is the margin fall so very significant in this quarter?
Saharsh Davuluri
I guess it’s basically the fact that we’ve had low revenues this quarter. The overall there has been a deleverage in terms of our operating expenses, etc. If you look at the gross margins, the business is still indicative of how it was earlier. But the numbers have been suppressed. There has been a hit and it’s. It’s only for this quarter.
Arun Shanmugam
Okay. Okay. And previously were indicated that this financial year we’ll see a commercialization of another molecule in addition to a molecule which was already commercialized in the previous year. So is that guidance to be continued or do you see any other molecule being commercialized in the current quarter?
Saharsh Davuluri
As I had just explained in the opening remarks, we expect another molecule to be commercialized in the course of this year. It has not yet happened but it will be happening this year.
Arun Shanmugam
Right? Thank you for taking my question. All the best.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Dheeraj from Alpha Sqr. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi Saharsh. One of my question is, you know across the industry many players today are talking about peptides, right? I mean if I see any con call from any CVMO manufacturer they are now talking about peptides. How should we think about like someone who can build credibility in the space and you know, someone who can really have, you know, who have capability to build a 500 crore or thousand crore revenue out of peptides in the next three to five years. How do you. How do you suggest the. I mean the investors in terms of which Which players do have that capability and how should we. Cut the noise?
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, it’s a very good question. Dheeraj Newland’s been dabbling with peptides for almost 1718 years now. We’ve had a small group mostly working small scale and then in pilot scale. And now with this new investment we wish to embark on large scale commercial manufacturing of peptides. The hypothesis for us has always been that look, we are present in peptides. We understand the chemistry and the techniques of peptide chemistry. However, we never had the large scale infrastructure. What has happened over the last several years thanks to the GLP1s is that peptides have become more prominent in the drug development landscape and peptides are being increasingly used as a vehicle for delivering new therapies.
As a result, what used to be a 1 or $1.5 billion market space is now a 5 or $6 billion market space. And it’s growing very rapidly because more and more drugs are coming out into the market, which are peptides. As a result of this market expansion, a lot of players, not just globally but in India also are showing that enthusiasm and they’re making investments in this space and they wish to participate in this opportunity. And I think it’s a fairly large market and therefore I think there is room for several players. Having said that, I think what makes Newland a strong player in the peptide space is the 15 plus years of experience we’ve had in peptide chemistry.
If you look at the IP landscape, the number of patents filed by Newland scientists over the years, the kind of work we’ve been doing, not just in terms of peptide APIs, but in peptide fragments, et cetera, et cetera, I think that creates layers of depth of expertise that I believe Newland uniquely has, at least from this region in the space of peptides, techniques become that much more important than just knowledge of chemistry. Because when it comes to executing peptide projects, there are a lot of techniques, whether it is purification, lyophilization, precipitation, or different techniques which are very difficult to achieve and apply to projects.
Companies that have years of experience, especially even on the lab scale, they tend to do well. And we believe that’s what gives us the advantage. What was a limitation for Newland, frankly speaking, was that we never had the large scale capacity. Even before four or five years ago, we had been approached by biotech companies for making commercial peptides, but we could not fulfill those projects because we never had that scale. But now with the creation of this capacity, we are very confident that our business will grow. But I also do believe that there is enough space for multiple players to do well.
But you do need strong R and D capabilities in peptides. Just having infrastructure may not be enough. I hope that answers your question.
operator
Hello, Hrithika, ma’. Am. Okay, the next question is from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Snacks. Please go ahead.
Shyam Srinivasan
Yeah. Good evening. Thank you for taking my question. Just the first one. Reading through the press release and the commentary around the outlook remaining the same from a growth perspective of fiscal 26. So anything qualitatively, I know you’re not giving anything quantitative in terms of what the growth outlook is. But you know, if we were to look at Q2, then Q3, then Q4, what are some of the key milestones we need to kind of look forward to. So you talked about the validation at the Unit 3 new production block, but say if you could kind of help us break it down on a quarterly basis, just the qualitative sense of what will help drive a recovery in the revenues.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah. Hi, Shyam. I think we kind of carefully crafted the opening remarks to give as much detail and as much guidance to investors about how we see FY26 unfolding. And we’ve kind of tried to lay everything out there. So I think you’ve kind of caught most of the points that were said. We really don’t wish to break things down at a quarterly level because that’s something that we’ve avoided doing in the past. And we do not want to set a new precedent in terms of trying to break things down. But we do remain very clear and confident that you will have that growth that we had indicated in FY26.
Yes. The validation of our Unit 3 facility for the CMS molecule is complete. And therefore, you know, anticipation of commercial supplies is one milestone, as you have clearly acknowledged. I think the launch of the new CMS molecule, which was awaited for about a year or so, is another milestone which we have indicated. And there’s been another CNS drug which was approved last year, which we are also scaling up. I think these are some of the critical milestones. There are a few on the GDS side, but we would unfortunately not be able to give you a timing indication. You should be able to see progress during the course of the year.
Shyam Srinivasan
Understood. That’s helpful. If you were to look at. In terms of. You also made a comment around the acquisition of land for Unit one. I couldn’t get which unit. And this is outside of the Peptide one, which you have. We are planning. Right. Sorry, what is this for? And you said it’s better to do this than do a green field. So if you could just double click on this, please.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yes. So it’s part of our future expansion plans, Shyam. The Peptide facility is also being built on an acquired piece of land next to Unit one that that has been already integrated and some expansion is going on there. But even beyond that, certain additional pieces of land are also being acquired. The idea is to have an integrated large site rather than have a unit 4, unit 5, et cetera, which might again be operationally challenging and even from a regulatory compliance point of view. So the idea is to try to expand the sites we have rather than try to create new sites.
That was the idea. The greenfield can be also challenging because acquiring A piece of land, building infrastructure and then seeking approval. Since mostly our business is in the regulated market, we believe could take us anywhere up to five years. But being able to acquire land integrated into your existing FDA approved side, creating additional facilities is a much shorter time frame. So that’s the advantage that we were talking about.
Shyam Srinivasan
And my last question is just on the GDS segment. I know there was a reclassification from Specialty prime for writing asset mis, if I remember right. You know, even with that we have seen a decline for the quarter. So I’m a little confused there. So just is there something specific or is it again the spacing of supplies or you ramp up GDS supplies later in the year? Sorry, if you could help us because that’s a little bit ongoing business. Right? That’s not. That’s maybe less lumpy. Less lumpy. So.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, it’s the right observation. Shyam. I think Ezetimibe was classified from specialty to prime and I think for us the quarter itself, irrespective of that, I think we’ve had products like paliperidone, etc. Which have been contributing to the growth of the specialty segment. It just so happens that we’ve not planned for dispatches of this product in this quarter along with some other changes and that’s the reason why. But I think for the year itself we don’t see any concerns with regards to specialty and Ezetimibe is a prime product and we expect to see good growth in Ezetimib also going forward.
So I think overall we have no concerns. But yes, I think Specialty has degrown for Q1 and it’s for. I think it’s just how things have stacked up for us. Shyam.
Unidentified Speaker
I think to add to what Sahaj has said and also what he indicated even during his opening remarks, the fact is that a lot of our GDS specialty products are relatively small volume products so they are not necessarily regularly produced and regularly shipped. So there’s always that variability even when it comes to our GDS specialty products which we have seen this quarter.
Shyam Srinivasan
Understood. Helpful. Thank you and all the best.
operator
Thank you. A request to all participants. Please restrict your questions to two questions per participant. If you have any more questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Ish Mohit from SOIC llp. Please go ahead.
Ishmohit
Hi, thank you so much for the opportunity. First one is, are we also looking. At CMS opportunities in the peptide landscape over next three to four years?
Saharsh Davuluri
Yes, I think the portfolio of projects for us will be GDS as well as peptides and we have several projects which are likely candidates for the peptides business.
Ishmohit
Basically are we looking at the contact manufacturing opportunities in the CDMO space for peptides.
Saharsh Davuluri
So we have several CMS molecules some as late as phase three and several in earlier stages which are peptides and they are part of our portfolio and they are also part of that table that we keep disclosing every quarter in cms.
Ishmohit
Right, right. That’s interesting. And the second question is just over a broad direction over next two to three years do we see that as CMS business will start Moving towards like that 65 to 70 percentage marks towards the overall sales contribution? Not like I’m not holding you to a quarter because that is anyways not the nature of our business but anyways like next 2, 3, 4 year basically dictionary.
Saharsh Davuluri
I think yes we don’t want to give the classification but I think definitely this year next year I think the CMS growth will be quite strong and therefore we expect it to increasingly contribute to the total revenues. I think the GDS also has its poised for growth but I think being a more mature established business I think growth will come more on the spin maybe little less on the prime side. So we’ll have to watch but it’s slightly more difficult to ascertain. But overall you can expect the CMS contribution as an overall sales to increase compared to the past years but we don’t want to really specify how much.
Ishmohit
Right sir, all the best in the coming quarters.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Naveen Bed from Noama Asset Management. Please go ahead Naveen. Sir, Please go ahead.
Naveen Baid
Yeah, Am I audible?
operator
Yes sir, you’re audible now.
Naveen Baid
Yeah. Okay, thank you. So in the molecules table that you provide so I see one of the molecules dropping, you know from 9 to. 8 in the pre registration phase. Is this a dropout or have you reclassified this?
Unidentified Speaker
So I think Naveen in terms of the product it is a product which I think it was an intermediate which we’ve seen that the customer is not really looking to move forward because it hasn’t picked up the volume that they expected Even us they had done work with us in the R and D. So since we no longer see that possibility we have kind of dropped the product. But that doesn’t really impact anything much in the overall scheme of things.
Naveen Baid
Is it in this like kind of give some sense in terms of what kind of revenue. What was it doing? Like was it like sub 50% for you?
Unidentified Speaker
No, it was, it was A very. I think it was a very small molecule which used to probably contribute only once in two, three years, but again. It doing much so. Yeah.
Naveen Baid
Okay, thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Neil Shah from Karta Investment Advisors Private Limited. Please go ahead. Yes, sir. You’re audible.
Neel Shah
So you did mention in your introduction that we should consider FY24 as a base and not focus only on quarterly variations. So that’s fair. But can you guide on the growth in the top line for FY22 even if it’s like over FY24?
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, unfortunately, I think we’re just using words as guidance. So I think. What’s the word we’ve used, Sajiva? Healthy growth. Strong growth is the word that we are leaving you with. So please forgive us for not being more specific than that.
Neel Shah
I mean that said that strong growth implies something about 10, 15%. Can you give a certain range? Maybe.
Saharsh Davuluri
See, I think what we’ve said is a couple of things, you know. One, we should look at a three year perspective. Second is we also mentioned in the past that over 3 to 5 year 20% CAGR is a reasonable number to look at for a company like Newland and the kind of phase that we are. But yeah, I don’t want to connect the words with the number, but yeah, we expect to see a strong growth in FY26 as well.
Neel Shah
Okay. And do you expect any recovery in the margins?
Saharsh Davuluri
I think we see margins also recovering because the margins have been suppressed because of the poor sales.
Neel Shah
Okay. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Chirag Shah from White Pine Investment Management. Please go ahead.
Chirag Shah
Thank you for this opportunity. Two questions. First is a different question from this quarterly stuff. So I wanted to understand what is required for a higher conversion for us from FAC to commercial, especially in Big Pharma. Because it appears that we are not been able to participate on the commercial side with Big Pharma in a way in which we would like. So what is required or what changes you are making to be a part of the supply chain when it becomes a commercial product?
Saharsh Davuluri
It’s an interesting question, I think to work with Big Pharma, whether it is for early stage or late stage. I think building those relationships require time and they require certain kind of infrastructure, capabilities, etc. I think as we’ve always mentioned, Newland has traditionally worked a lot with biotech companies. Even today most of our pipeline comes from biotech companies. Not a lot comes from Big Pharma. I think Big Pharma work is either coming through peptides or when a biotech company is getting acquired by big Pharma. So frankly speaking, we don’t have a lot of experience to speak about what it takes to convert, you know, phase three projects from big Pharma.
But our approach has been to kind of, you know, keep investing in capabilities, infrastructure, which we have been doing and engaging with big Pharma for unique technologies. So for example, Newland is in contact with several Big Pharma for areas of peptides or deuterated molecules because these are capabilities that Big Pharma does not find from their traditional API suppliers. And in that pursuit we are looking at some early stage projects. We are occasionally also finding opportunities on the late stage, but it’s really too early for us to comment on whether they will rectify into business or not.
But yeah, I think Big Pharma is a very important target segment for us and there is a lot of effort for the medium to long term to. Build. Large businesses with big Pharma and I believe we are making good progress.
Chirag Shah
Is capacity in advance of constraint for you? Because even when you work with biotech and when they are taken by big Pharma, is capacity upfront being available is a constraint and how should we look at it?
Saharsh Davuluri
Yes, I think it’s an interesting question. I think capacity is not, I would say directly it’s not, because even in Newland, if you see we have been investing in capacities ahead of the curve, we have been creating one or two production blocks ahead of a demand surge. Even today in unit three, we are creating additional production block which is, which will be available in August or September for production. But we have not really mapped any products over there. So we are creating capacities and if a big Pharma or any other client were to have a project, I think they would find capacity in Newland.
So I don’t think that is directly a concern as of today. But yes, perhaps two years ago, three years ago, maybe we would not have that. But what we also see mostly is whenever you engage with any biotech or big Pharma, unless it is a late lifecycle opportunity where there is an old molecule which is nearing patent expiry, a Big Pharma is not really looking for huge capacity straight away to be available. We have seen some opportunities slip from us because some large big companies have looked for large volume APIs which, which are nearing patent expiry for which they needed some ready capacity.
And I believe we have lost one or two of those opportunities. But again, we also feel From a scale chemistry point of view, those are not really great fits for us. The way we have been building our business is to start partnering with molecules which are late in the clinic or in the middle of the clinic or maybe early commercial. And for those kind of opportunities, you really don’t need to showcase so much capacity ahead of time. You need to show your ability and bandwidth as a company to create appropriate capacity in time for the scale up of the molecule.
But more importantly, you need to show the technical capabilities for handling the process and designing the process which we have. So it’s a very finished approach where we need to find the right kind of project. And I think Nuland as a company, although we want to work with big Pharma, we’re also very careful not to approach big Pharma for the wrong kind of projects because then we would end up competing on capabilities which we are not very strong at. So we are very careful in that approach.
Chirag Shah
Thanks for the second question is lot of Indian companies.
operator
Could you please follow the queue for further.
Chirag Shah
This is the second question I had actually. It’s a small one. If I can.
operator
Management. If they allow you, then you may.
Chirag Shah
Okay. So can I ask one more question? If it’s a big fine, yeah, go ahead. It’s a very basic question that a lot of Indian pharma companies looking to enter into the GFP generic space. Are we engaged with them in any way, either in small or a meaningful way apart from the that we are kind of aware of because a lot of companies were looking at and see a good amount of capacity being created. In that sense,
Saharsh Davuluri
it’s not coming out clearly. You’re not able to hear it. If you don’t mind, let’s just get back into the queue because we have a long queue today. Maybe we’ll take the question later. Sorry about that.
Chirag Shah
Yeah, sure.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Keshav Bagris from many office.
Keshav Bagri
Hello. Hi team. Am I audible?
operator
Yes sir, you are audible.
Keshav Bagri
Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. I have two points I’d like to raise. First, regarding the Expo data, we noticed a resurgence in volumes for xanuline and bempedoic acid. Could you provide some color on whether the demand for these molecules has indeed picked up meaningfully and if we expect this trying to continue in the subsequent quarters? The second question would be with regards to Corona Therapeutic being acquired by abm, can you share some insights on how your relationship with this large pharma partner is evolving or strengthening post acquisition? And if providing details on specific molecules isn’t feasible due to disclosure constraints.
Could you please at least confirm whether your company served as a sustainable supplier for these molecules?
Unidentified Speaker
So in terms of the question on export data, we usually don’t want to comment on export data because that data itself is not a complete representation of all that is there. So I think we’ll just leave it at that. And I think with regard to the question on the relationship with Big sum of search.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, I think for us, broadly speaking, you know, whatever business we currently have, which we are scaling up, I think we’re on good, we’re on the right track. Hi, can you hear. I hear something. Yeah. So I think the relationship is on track, but obviously for confidential reasons we will not be able to disclose too much. But I think we’re in, we’re doing well and we expect our Big Pharma relationships to be really fruitful as we go along.
Keshav Bagri
Okay. The last question would be on the topic of EBITDA margins. Like in a previous conference call, you had highlighted that FY24 was an exceptional year for margins driven by multiple factors aligning simultaneously the lower raw material cost, stronger CDMO sales and other contributing elements. You also noted that replicating those margins would require single similar conditions to converge. Could you provide some guidance, perhaps the ballpark gains to give us a greater clarity on what we might expect for EBITDA margins in the current fiscal year and subsequently for the later years.
Saharsh Davuluri
We won’t be able to provide any guidance on the margin front. But I think, yes, you, as you rightly recall, FY24 was in some ways exceptional in terms of very good margins. I think 30% or upwards, I think for a factor, various factors, I think we expect as our business ramps up, we should go back to very strong EBITDA margins. How they will be exactly, I think is something that I think we would not comment on right now because we have a very fledgling portfolio of molecules. We have very young molecules which are just scaling up in size.
We are also kind of dealing with various dynamics on the commercial side. But we do believe that we will have strong EBITDA margins. But we also don’t want to get ahead of ourselves by giving any kind of guidance at this point. And we also don’t want to comment on whether they will be similar to, closer to etc of FY24, but so it should be comparable.
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the current participant has been disconnected. The next question is from the line of Jazdeep from Cloak Wine. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello, sir, am I audible?
operator
Yes sir, you’re audible.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah thanks for taking my question sir, just a small question. What, what’s going to be the capex this year for FY26?
Abhijit Majumdar
So the capex this year would be around 250 crores.
Unidentified Participant
Got it. And this is primarily and how, how. What’S the breakup of the capex abroad in very broad terms if you could explain.
Abhijit Majumdar
is you know we have broadly. Been in the range of 60% is growth capex and 40% is maintenance.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir, got it. Thanks lots. That’s all from my side.
operator
Thank you. I request to all participants please restrict your questions to two questions for participants. Our next question is from the line of Saurabh from Sundaram Mutual fund. Please go ahead.
Saurabh Kapadia
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. First question is on cms. Do we have any plans to backward integrate in any of the molecules what we have right now?
Saharsh Davuluri
I think there’s always some opportunity for backward integration either for control or value addition but yeah, I think we definitely keep that that kind of a lens open and there are a few opportunities definitely.
Saurabh Kapadia
Okay. And second on the more we are looking at the strong growth on CMS for next couple of years. So are the facilities or the capacities available for next two, three years or we will have to further invest in the capacity for CMS molecules.
Saharsh Davuluri
Next two to three years. The capacities are mostly in line. We have to constantly monitor and see if there are any tweaks to be made. But yeah, most of the capacities for next two to three years are in line available.
Saurabh Kapadia
Okay, thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ritika Agarwal from Veluquest. Please go ahead.
Ritika Agarwal
Thank you for taking my question. So two questions. Firstly a few quarters back you had alluded to getting commercialized soon for the company. Could you talk briefly about this opportunity without giving anything really specific?
Saharsh Davuluri
I think we’ve just mentioned that it’s in the CMS space. I’m sure in another one or two quarters once the exposure data comes out everyone will kind of know exactly everything about the molecule. So maybe not much I can add at this point.
Ritika Agarwal
No sir, not the CNS that we are expecting commercialization this year. But what I meant wanted to ask about COPD Drum that also you had mentioned few quarters back that that will also get commercialized soon. COPD Drum.
Saharsh Davuluri
Actually what we had told is that that is the next big opportunity in the radar for us because it’s kind of late in the clinic and at least it looks like there’s a high probability of success but it’s still maybe I think a couple of years away. We expect to, you know, make large scale API, but I think commercialization is still a little bit way. And also just given the sensitive nature of that business and way that molecule is, we don’t want to talk too much about it at this point in time.
Ritika Agarwal
Right. Could you highlight which stage is it in? Would it be in phase three stage or.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, essentially.
Ritika Agarwal
Okay. And second question also from the number of projects in the CMS, we see a new phase 3 molecule getting added. This would be the phase 3 which would have moved internally. This particular is what we should understand.
Saharsh Davuluri
No, that’s this one is a new, new phase three. Like so we got the project while it’s in phase three. So it’s, it’s not a move from phase two to phase three.
Ritika Agarwal
Okay, so. And this COPD phase three.
operator
Sorry to interrupt. Please follow the queue for more questions.
Ritika Agarwal
Sure, I will get back in the queue. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you, ma’. Am. The next question is from the line of nilabzab Day from an individual investor. Please go ahead. The line for the current participant has been disconnected. We have the next participant, that is Atish Rai from Fortress Group. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Hi, good evening to the team. My questions are pertaining to the GSE1 opportunity. I believe you’re currently in the process of developing semaglutide and liraglutide APIs. Just wanted to know where exactly you are in the development process and when you expect sector commercialize these APIs.
Unidentified Speaker
So we have, we have in the past looked at both liraglutide and semaglutide, but we are not really moving forward with them. I think the molecule that we are looking at in terms of our GDS business is tirzepatite, while semaglutide is a molecule which we have developed in the lab. But we decided not to move forward unless we have someone partnering with us on that molecule. Thanks.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay. So have you been in conversation with any pharma manufacturers for the semaglutide opportunity? Because semaglutide is going off patent in several geographies next year. So just wondering on that.
Unidentified Speaker
So in terms of the way that we have prioritized our molecules, I think we have not really prioritize that molecule. So we don’t really have anything active going on with respect to that molecule.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay. Thank you and good luck for the forthcoming quarters.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Nilabza Day. An individual investor. Please go Ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello sir, can you hear me?
operator
Yes, we can hear you.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir. My question is that I am not interested obviously but I do not want to understand anything on the guidance and my only question question is that and this for last four quarters of this flat because of the lumpiness, everything is acceptable. But my only question is in terms of the capability and point of view, what kind of investments you are making. So this lumpiness is significantly reduced over a period of time because demand is not an issue. First of all, I am not a very not a performing industry. But my I understand demand is not issue and most of the Indian companies are telling they are doing good tractions with the innovator molecule, innovator companies and everything.
So from a generic point of view, I just like to know what you are doing in terms of capacity anyhow. You may have, you have or something from the capability point of view are doing so that this lumpiness can be effectively tackled in the next one, two to three years point of view. This is my only question. Can you please help me to understand.
Saharsh Davuluri
Thanks for the question. I think the question about lumpiness and how do we tackle lumpiness and what kind of capabilities we are building to address the lumpiness, I think it’s a challenge and I think that’s why we’re very careful in all our investor interactions to highlight the nature of the business. We do believe that as we grow in size and achieve larger scale, the lumpiness should slowly come down. And I think as we have a stronger base of commercialized products, there should be less lumpiness. I think even if you look at the last four, five year journey of new link, I think some of the biggest contributors for lumpiness have been the skill scale ups or the gaps in production of our specialty and CMS molecules.
I think we’ve had periods where we made validation batches and there were quarters where we had very strong revenue because we were shipping validation batches. We’ve had periods where we’ve had strong revenue performance because we’ve had launch quantities being shipped. But things start to stabilize when you are in a commercial mode. I think today if you just kind of zoom out and look at the commentary of the management over the last three to four years, you can recognize that there are perhaps three or four new molecules including the GDS side which are driving the growth of the business.
Maybe five molecules. Now these molecules are all very early in their life cycle and therefore there has been different factors driving the lumpiness of these molecules at an individual level. For example, we’ve had capacity Constraints. So we are adding new capacity now. That capacity has not come online yet and now it will be coming online. These kind of factors which unfortunately we cannot be very transparent and associate these factors at a molecule level and that makes it very difficult, difficult for you as investors to understand, but at an aggregate level, because we have a small pipeline and these pipelines are contributing to the growth and this pipeline is young, we are seeing this lumpiness.
But if you go fast forward, maybe two years from now, three years from now, I do believe and at least instinctively that this lumpiness should come down. You should not see the kind of swings that you would see when the company or the business is at a smaller scale. Unfortunately, I cannot give a more quantitative.
Unidentified Participant
That’s not an issue. That’s not an issue. I’m not asking for any what kind of project, but this particular, this is, I think I, as I understand from. The investor point of view this is a very important partner that. What kind of vision? Not only the vision part, the execution and ability to execute with the right kind of talent hiring. That is also very important. Currency capacity. Obviously you have the money, you can invest, but obviously. Right kind of. Okay, fine. Okay.
operator
The next question is from the line of Keshav Kumar from Rackson Investors. Please go ahead.
Keshav Kumar
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. So a pair, a pair of ours has been very bullish about late stage opportunities coming to Indian CDMOs due to China plus one and all that. So as per our strategy and with whatever opportunities we are seeing, what’s your view on whether we should see a. Better late stage accretion to the pipeline. Going forward than we’ve seen in the past? Like we’ve onboarded a phase three molecule this quarter. So. Yeah, your views on that please.
Saharsh Davuluri
I think definitely we do completely subscribe to the bullishness around business and I think that’s why I think a lot of CDMOs, including Newlyn, are investing in capacities and new capabilities. So definitely we do believe that there’s a lot of business coming our way. I think it’s also evidenced in some of the early stage small scale projects that are coming in. I think when it comes to late stage clinical projects, I think they’re not going to be too many of these opportunities because if you look at it from an innovator’s perspective, trying to find a CDMO when the molecule is in phase three is not really an ideal place for an innovator to be in.
An innovator ideally tries to place a molecule in phase two, early phase two and expects the CDMO to take the molecule through commercial launch. It’s only when there is some sort of a bottleneck or a setback on the manufacturing front does the innovator pivot to new CDMO in phase three. So we must also recognize, and this is our experience, that there’s not a lot of phase three outsourcing opportunities out there, although they would be very attractive because it means that you are having faster access to business. But yes, I think we always are open to those opportunities.
I think the real sustainable way for long term growth is to have a mix of early stage projects and late stage projects. Because the early stage projects give you the opportunity to build a process where you have mastered the molecule and the expertise. You also have the first supplier advantage. There are even pricing and margin advantages. And if you continue to scale up well as a first supplier from phase one, you tend to have certain advantages. So I think for Newland it would be a mix. And yes, while we continue to look for phase three opportunities, we recognize that they are not going to be too many of them coming our way. And therefore we will need to have a balanced, healthy mix of phase one, phase two and phase three, and maybe even some earlier strange molecules.
Keshav Kumar
Okay. So sir, do you think appreciably rebasing. To a higher base in the CDMO. Will take medium to longest?
operator
There are more participants in the queue. Please rejoin the queue for more questions. The next question is from the line of Harshad Mehta from Safety. Please go ahead.
Harshad Mehta
Yeah, hi.
Ravi Udeshi
Thanks for the opportunity. Although I would like you to comment. On the kind of revenue growth and the margin expected during the current year and the next coming few years which the previous participants have tried to get from you and you’ve been candid enough not to, you know, give a very specific answer. So I roll back to something that. Most retail investors are, you know, questioning. Is a split or a bonus something. On the mind of the management and if not, so why?
Saharsh Davuluri
I think at the moment we have not really examined the possibility of a split or bonus, but definitely we are. We will consider and discuss it and see if there’s something that can be done.
Harshad Mehta
Yeah, because basically I don’t think it’s. Just a book entry and it doesn’t really cost or charge it into the company. Right. But it will surely short up some investor interest into the stock.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, no, I think it’s a very fair point. So definitely we can approve it. Yeah.
Harshad Mehta
All right, I’ll join the queue again. For the next question. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next follow up question is from the line of Dheeraj from Alpha Sqr. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for my previous question. Just to follow up on the same question. Do you think the work we are doing in peptides is margin accretive or dilute the margins?
Saharsh Davuluri
It’s a good question. We have seen there’s not a critical base. Right. We have maybe 10 to 15 projects in peptides and if we look at how the margins play out intuitively you would think that they are in line with the margins of the CMS projects. So I think it should be in line with what we currently do. Yeah.
Unidentified Participant
And is there any way you can have some investor day for our factories who would love to really come and engage like one day? Is there any possibility or.
Saharsh Davuluri
Yeah, I think we’ve. We’ve never had something like that. But definitely we would be very happy to plan for something. Maybe so. Yeah, I think now that you’ve given the suggestion, let us also figure out and get back to you. But definitely something we’d be happy to do.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Unidentified Speaker
We want to thank you for the interest in UN Due to the limitation of time, we couldn’t take all the questions. But we hope that our answers have addressed a significant portion of your concerns. In case of further questions, please do reach out to Ravi Udeshi of ey. Good evening everyone. Good night.
operator
Thank you. On behalf of New Land Laboratories Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.