Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd Q3 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd (TORNTPHARM) Q3 FY23 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• [00:05:39] TORNTPHARM said the company expects to file about 5-6 products in FY23.

Q&A Highlights:

• [00:06:50] Saion Mukherjee of Nomura Securities asked about the organic growth without Curatio. Sudhir Menon CFO replied that the base business growth is 12% and the reported growth is 17%. Therefore, 5% is Curatio.

• [00:07:07] Saion Mukherjee from Nomura Securities also asked about the Indrad outlook and timeline. Sudhir Menon CFO answered that it received a letter stating that the facility is OAI, and the agency will take official action within 45-90 days from the date of letter. Torrent would wait for officials to decide before taking any further action.

• [00:08:17] Damayanti Kerai with HSBC queried about the split of base India growth into volume price and new launches contribution. Sanjay Gupta ED International Business said the AIOCD growth for Torrent in 3Q was 12%, with 0.2% of that coming from volume, 8.1% from prices, and 3.5% from new products. The 8.1% is in line with the 7% market price growth, and is expected to continue in the next few quarters.

• [00:09:21] Damayanti Kerai at HSBC asked about the contribution of new launches. Sudhir Menon CFO said the new launch contribution is calculated on a trailing 24-month basis, and recently there have been launches of Sitagliptin in the chronic segment, Pregabalin in the CNS segment, which are strengthening market share and doing well.

• [00:11:50] Damayanti Kerai at HSBC asked about supplies for new tender starting for Germany, and the duration of the tender and if more tenders are expected in the next 2-3 quarters. Sudhir Menon CFO replied that in Germany, tenders typically last two months and are implemented six months later. This has contributed to single-digit growth for the company, as new tenders won in the current quarter will start in the next quarter.

• [00:13:07] Sumit Gupta with Motilal Oswal asked about the price erosion trajectory in the US market and the overall capacity utilization. Sudhir Menon CFO said that YonY, Torrent is seeing high single digit erosion. Capacity utilization depends on the plant. Indrad is in the high 70s% and Dahej mid 55-56% range.

• [00:15:29] Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs enquired about the debt position and cash flow. Sudhir Menon CFO answered that by March 31, 2023, net debt should be around INR4,300 crore. And next year, Torrent should be repaying about INR1,200 crore. And in FY25, a chunk of cash flow will get allocated towards prepayment of the loans.

• [00:21:13] Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital asked about the drivers of strong growth in the ROW market in 3Q. Sudhir Menon CFO answered that the quarter was quite good, with incremental opportunities in Russia helping to contribute to a strong growth. Mexico has been growing high-double digits for the last 4-5 quarters.

• [00:33:20] Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal asked what triggered the inspection at Indrad and if it helps inspection of the other site. Sudhir Menon CFO replied that one site is not linked to the other and the current inspection is a follow up on the inspection happened in March 2019.

• [00:35:04] Kumar Saumya at Ambit Capital enquired about the forex loss during 3Q23. Sudhir Menon CFO answered that it was INR40 crores.

• [00:37:54] Saion Mukherjee from Nomura Securities asked about cost pressure trend with China reopening. Sudhir Menon CFO answered that the input cost increases was not a significant impact for the company.

• [00:40:22] Saion Mukherjee from Nomura Securities enquired about US revenues given the price erosion and new launch from other facilities.  Sudhir Menon CFO replied that it’s too early to tell. But at the most, US would be flattish to declining sales for the next one year.

• [00:45:59] Prakash Agarwal from Axis Capital enquired that on the margin side, if Torrent is seeing levers for margin expansion given profitability of Curatio will increase. Sudhir Menon CFO answered the company does believes so. There should be two levers that come every year due to the branded generic piece, which are price increase driven GM improvements and operating leverage.