Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NSE: TORNTPHARM) Q2 2025 Earnings Call dated Oct. 25, 2024
Corporate Participants:
Sudhir Menon — Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer
Aman Mehta — Executive Director
Sanjay Gupta — Executive Director, International Business
Analysts:
Tushar Manudhane — Analyst
Damayanti Kerai — Analyst
Amey Chalke — Analyst
Bino Pathiparampil — Analyst
Sumit Gupta — Analyst
Saion Mukherjee — Analyst
Alok Dalal — Analyst
Rahul Jeewani — Analyst
Rashmi Shetty — Analyst
Anubhav Agarwal — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q2FY25 Earnings Conference Call of Torrent Pharma.
As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.
[Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sudhir Menon, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, Finance. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Sudhir Menon — Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, thank you. Good evening, and welcome to the second quarter earnings call for FY ’25.
We continue to see strong performance in our branded businesses, which accounted for 74% of the overall revenue this quarter. India business grew by 13% this quarter. Brazil grew by 17% in constant currency terms. And in terms of INR, it was 4% due to the currency depreciation. Germany grew at 8% in the quarter, and we continue to win additional tenders quarter-on-quarter.
U.S. grew by 8% and was flat on a rolling quarter basis. This quarter, insulin revenues were impacted due to the shutdown taken in the month of August for maintenance activities. The facility will be released for manufacturing in December. Shortfall is planned to be significantly recovered in quarter four of this year. And consequently, there will not be any impact on a full year basis.
Broad financial highlights for the quarter. Revenues were at INR2,889 crores, up by 9%, and operating EBITDA at INR939 crores, up by 14%. The operating EBITDA margins for the quarter stood at 32.5%. This margin accounts for the cost of 300 reps, which we have added so far this year. Adjusted for insulin revenue impact this quarter, the underlying revenue growth is 10% and operating EBITDA growth is 16%. Other income includes Forex loss. Net debt-to-EBITDA stands less than 0.5 times as at end of quarter two.
I now hand over the call to Aman for India business.
Aman Mehta — Executive Director
Thanks, Sudhir.
India revenue at INR1,632 crores registered a growth of 13%. As per the AIOCD secondary market data, the IPM growth for the quarter stands at 8%. Torrent’s Chronic business grew at 14% versus the IPM growth of 9%, driven by continued traction in our cardiac divisions and OAD new launches. The cardiac business, which is our largest contributor, has grown by 15% during the quarter versus a market growth of 12%, due to the restructuring that was undertaken last year along with divisional expansion.
We continue to see positive traction in our Consumer Health business. We have expanded our coverage to 72,000 outlets from 68,000 outlets in Q1. Our key brands, Shelcal 500 and Tedibar, in particular, continue to benefit from focused marketing campaigns across various channels, national and regional.
On a MAT basis, Torrent has 21 brands in the top 500 of the IPM with 13 brands more than INR100 crores sales as of March 2024. Field force strength at the end of the quarter stands at 6,000 compared to 5,700 in the previous quarter. We are encouraged by the performance in the recently expanded divisions and headquarters. This expansion is not only helping us gain regional market share in previously untapped areas, but will also provide a platform for new launches in the near future. We expect the India business to continue outperforming the market growth. Our focus during the year will be on continuing to improve our market share in focused chronic therapies, new launches, improving field force productivity in the expanded divisions and regions, and continuing the scale up of the Consumer Health business.
I’ll now hand over to Mr. Sanjay Gupta for the International business.
Sanjay Gupta — Executive Director, International Business
Thanks, Aman.
We’ll start with our branded generics business of Brazil. Q2 constant currency revenue was at BRL174 million, registering a 17% year-on-year growth. As per IQVIA, market growth was at 8% for Q2. Secondary sales for Torrent as per IQVIA also grew at 8%. During Q2, we launched Dextroamphetamine [Phonetic] for ADHD. It’s BRL800 million market, and we are one of the two branded generic brands.
Our goal is to make this into a large brand, which in Brazil would mean annual sales above BRL75 million. We have a rich pipeline of 21 molecules filed and waiting ANVISA approval. In Germany, our German business registered a constant currency revenue of EUR31 million, up by 6%. During the quarter, we once again won incremental new tenders, which should start delivering incremental sales from Q1 of ’25, ’26. For the last six quarters, we have increased our overall value of wins in tenders.
Moving on to the US. We have registered constant currency revenues of USD32 million, up by 7%. Sequentially US business has delivered stable revenues. During the quarter, the U.S. FDA has issued an EIR with the VAI classification for the manufacturing facility at Indrad, and the instruction has now been successfully closed by the U.S. FDA. The FDA also inspected our manufacturing facility at Pithampur and issued a Form 483 with one observation. Torrent will respond to the FDA observation within the prescribed time frame.
I would like to conclude the comments here and open the call up for question-and-answer.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Tushar Manudhane
Yeah, am I audible?
Operator
You are audible, sir. You may proceed.
Tushar Manudhane
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, just on the insulin front, this issue is more of a temporary thing. And you think that this will get resolved soon or it might take longer?
Sudhir Menon
No. So I think the plan is to release the manufacturing in the month of December and then what we said is quarter four. Whatever shortfall has happened for the four months would be recovered. So it’s a temporary disruption and therefore on a full year basis, we should recover the revenue.
Tushar Manudhane
Understood. And sir, if you could throw some light, let’s say in terms of this GLP-1 set of products, as far as India markets, how are we preparing, let’s say to launch in the India market as and when sort of the regulatory approvals comes through. Will the manufacturing per se will be a constraint in terms of having this product available?
Aman Mehta
We are evaluating all options, early days right now. But we are certainly working on possibilities whenever the launch is possible.
Tushar Manudhane
But like just as a clarification, like unlike say other products as far as domestic formulation market is concerned, outsourcing is not that difficult. But do you think that these products, particularly liraglutide, semaglutide will have the manufacturing constraint?
Aman Mehta
We are not manufacturing or planning to manufacture any GLP-1s at the moment, if that’s what you’re referring to. This is a CMO business that we are — the old business that we’ve had with Novo Nordisk for insulin, human insulin.
Tushar Manudhane
Got it sir, got it. No, I meant to say as and when we launch, will — not having a manufacturing facility own or maybe outsourcing, will that be a constraint even if the demand is there? So that was a — that was the thought process?
Aman Mehta
No, don’t think so. But again, early days, we don’t have any specific updates as of now.
Tushar Manudhane
Okay, sir, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Damayanti Kerai from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Damayanti Kerai
Hi, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on gross margin. So we continue to see, I guess positive surprise on gross margin. So if you can comment, what is leading to consistent improvement in gross margins and what kind of further levers are available from here on and where do you see this margin settling in?
Sudhir Menon
So Damayanti, if you look at last year, full year, the gross margins were maintained at 75%. And quarter one of this year we were little higher, 75.7%, and this quarter is even higher. And that’s because the branded mix in the overall revenue base is higher compared to last year as well as quarter one. And that has pushed up the gross margins for quarter two. So it’s basically a function, I would say, of the branded mix in the overall revenue base. But looking to the last year’s base of 75% and quarter one base of 75.7%, I think that should hold.
Damayanti Kerai
So you think current level can be sustained or can we further improve?
Sudhir Menon
Yeah, as of now it looks so. The branded mix will not be changing substantially, I would say, at least for the next quarter.
Damayanti Kerai
Okay, my second question is on your efforts or initiative towards the Consumer Health business. So if you can share like what kind of incremental initiatives are ongoing and what kind of spend you are incurring to really step up the consumer business in India?
Aman Mehta
So spends are two pronged. One is on the ground through the retail activation and our field force. We keep increasing the number of covered retailers across the country. That helps drive greater coverage and visibility. And second is on the advertising which is both traditional media and digital. Depending on the quarter and seasonality and offtake, the spends keep varying from quarter to quarter. But we can indicate that our spends this year so far have been higher than last year because we do see that the consistency of advertising is helping further sales traction, especially in Shelcal 500 and Tedibar.
Damayanti Kerai
Okay, so very broadly, what percentage of sales is currently going towards the A&P for consumer business?
Sudhir Menon
No, Damayanti, it’s difficult to segregate and tell you the revenue numbers because these products are already there on the prescription platform. So we know what we are spending. The only thing what we monitor is that wherever we are doing these programs, what has been the growth, historical growth in these pockets versus the pockets where we are not doing these programs. And we see a good positive outcome happening because of CHC [Phonetic] programs that carried on.
Damayanti Kerai
Okay, my last question is on the US business. So I guess we continue to see a very gradual step up there despite now all the plants, all the key plants being cleared by the US FDA. So how do you see US sales moving up from here on? And if you can also update in terms of the launches which are planning for next two years or so.
Sanjay Gupta
So US we don’t expect a ramp up in the short term, because most of our filed ANDAs are very old. Right? Because of the lack of time the plants are in trouble. We expect a low single digit approval of newer ANDAs and will largely compensate for the price erosion and things of that sort. I don’t expect the US to ramp up anywhere very fast in the next two years. So it will be a slow ramp up unless we get lucky with one or the other opportunities. So we do have a few which might be a unique product but we cannot predict because it depends upon the number of competitors that show up and if we get PBT or not. So I would generally guide towards stable to slightly increasing revenues but nothing more than that.
Damayanti Kerai
Okay, sure. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Amey Chalke from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Amey Chalke
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. Our first question on the India business. So in India business, we have been growing well for last few years, we have gained market share in value which we can see the data provided by AIOCD. However, is it possible for us to give some clarity on the prescription market share again in our top 10 to 15 products over the last one or two years? How has been the trend there in some of our key products?
Aman Mehta
Prescription share has also gained. I don’t remember the exact numbers offhand, but most of our focused brands in chronic divisions and sub-chronic divisions have gained higher market share compared to the relative market, the covered market. So obviously the prescription growth has to be followed by the market share growth otherwise it’s not possible.
Amey Chalke
Got it. And the second question I have, is it possible to provide margin drivers for next three years? So far we have — like we have reached around 32% plus now. So going ahead, what will be the key drivers from here? Is there any geography where you think if the ramp up happens, the margins could improve or anything — any margin drivers we could highlight?
Sudhir Menon
Amey, two, three things. Right. So I think as far as branded businesses are concerned, some amount of reinvestment keeps on happening every year. And that’s something which I said in the opening call where the quarter two P&L has already absorbed the full cost of 300 medical reps, which we have added this year. Right? So to that extent, the reinvestment from margins will keep on happening. But in spite of that, I think the general guidance which I’ve been giving is that we should see anywhere between a 50 basis point to 100 basis point improvement happening every year. I think the way I look at for the next three years, as of today, I don’t see some major investments happening in the branded business.
As far as Germany is concerned. Germany is good, I would say in terms of winning tenders and there’s a good amount of visibility for the next two years. So I don’t see any additional incremental spend happening in Germany as well. US as Sanjay talked about, I mean it’s a slow ramp up which would happen over the next two, three years which is only going to be positive on the overall performance of the company. So nothing negative from there as well.
Amey Chalke
Investment pace is coming down. So that’s why the operating leverage will play out and that’s how the 50 to 100 bps margin improvement will happen.
Sudhir Menon
So there are two inherent levers which we’ve always talked about. So one is branded businesses’ price increases which we take every year. That’s one lever. And the second is the operating leverage which plays out every year for us.
Amey Chalke
Okay, and the third question I have is on the R&D spend, we have been doing 5% of our R&D — 5% of our top line on the R&D. Is it possible to give clarity on in what areas we have been spending? Because this has been quite consistent even during the time when we had issues with the U.S.
Sanjay Gupta
Correct. When we had issues with the US, what we did is we actually diverted a decent piece of the R&D budget towards the markets of Brazil, Mexico and Germany. And so we maintained the R&D spend and we cut down the part of the R&D devoted towards the US. So hence, we don’t intend at least as of today to substantially change the ratio of R&D to sales.
Sudhir Menon
Yeah, Amey, two, three things actually. So in terms of absolute value, if you see the R&D spend has been going up. On the other hand, the branded businesses share has been going up. Right. I mean, for example, Curatio acquisition which we did in 2022 increases the revenue base and therefore as percentage to revenue, it’s around 5%. Okay? If you look at an absolute value, it’s been going up. Okay. The only thing which is why it is not going up on relative basis is that the spend on the US, we had lowered. Right? Because of the internal issues which we’ve had. So I don’t see substantial increase in R&D at least over the next one year. But if everything is starting to go right for US, we’ll see how to incrementally allocate the R&D for US.
Amey Chalke
Sure. And in terms of formulation, what all types of products are we putting this spend on like in terms of injectables or anything else which we are trying at this point?
Aman Mehta
I think most of the R&D spend which is done in-house is on oral solids. The other types of platforms are partnered.
Sanjay Gupta
Oral solid or oncology, dermatology, classical oral solids.
Amey Chalke
Sure. Thank you so much. I will join the queue.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bino Pathiparampil from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Bino Pathiparampil
Hi, good evening. Could you please text this insulin issue in a big detail, what exactly happened and how it will get…
Sudhir Menon
So as I said, right, I mean there’s a shutdown taken for some upgradation and maintenance activities. This was something which was scheduled earlier, right? And what we said is, it’s getting released in December and we should recover the shortfall in quarter four, most of it.
Bino Pathiparampil
Oh, it was just a shutdown for a plant upgrade. That’s it.
Sudhir Menon
Oh yeah, yeah. Upgrade and maintenance activities, right. And it happens once in two years or three years.
Bino Pathiparampil
Got it. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumit Gupta from Centrum. Please go ahead.
Sumit Gupta
Hi, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I have three questions. First on the domestic, India side. So now that 300 MRs are added, so what’s the plan ahead? Do we plan to add more towards it? And what kind of MR productivity can we see over the next two to three years?
Aman Mehta
So, 300 have been added this quarter compared to 5,700 the previous quarter, which is what we had also shared last time. I think given how we are encouraged by the performance, we will be looking to add incrementally from here. So maybe 100, 200 more end of this financial year and potentially a similar number next year.
Sumit Gupta
Okay. And the kind of MR productivity that we can target is?
Aman Mehta
More or less should touch, I mean, anyway, currently it’s around INR9 lakhs, if I’m not wrong, between INR8.5 lakhs to INR9 lakhs. Within the next 18 months possibly should be between INR9.5 lakhs to INR10 lakhs. It’s a broad range.
Sumit Gupta
Okay. And so second question on the US. So like, what is the profitability? Like, is the US business profitable post R&D?
Sanjay Gupta
So we don’t disclose profitability by [Indecipherable]. What we said is that the US is at a breakeven pre-R&D.
Sumit Gupta
Right. Okay. So like post R&D, like what, by when can we expect the profitability to breakeven?
Sudhir Menon
So the expectation is at least over the next three years, we want to make it to profitable business.
Sumit Gupta
Understood. And sir, last question is on the capex. So how much of capex, we plan to incur over the next two to three years?
Sudhir Menon
Around INR250 crores to INR300 crores [Phonetic] per annum.
Sumit Gupta
Okay, cool. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Saion Mukherjee from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Saion Mukherjee
Hi. Thanks. Just one question. It was this insulin, can you share what’s the revenue on an annual basis and is it fair to assume there was no revenue this quarter?
Sudhir Menon
Yeah. So ideally per quarter revenue ranges between INR75 crores to INR80 crores. And this quarter is a shortfall of almost INR40 crores.
Saion Mukherjee
Okay. And just one last question on Brazil. You had good growth but if I look at the first half, I think the growth is around 12% odd. Is that the right thing to look at? Because I understand there was some disruption in Q1 and you know, there was spillover of sales, etc. So just want to understand the underlying trajectory because you mentioned IQVIA is indicating an 8% growth?
Sudhir Menon
Correct. I would say that it’s somewhere between 8% and 12% but closer to 12%.
Saion Mukherjee
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Alok Dalal from Jefferies India Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Alok Dalal
Yes, good evening. Aman, can you provide a split of volume price and new products for India?
Aman Mehta
Yeah. So as per the AIOCD data set, our growth for the quarter is 12%. Breakup of that is 1% of volume versus 0.2% of the market, 8% price versus 5.5% of the market and 3% new products versus 2.4% of the market.
Alok Dalal
Okay, thank you. And Sanjay bhai, what will be the guidance for Brazil for the full year? You expect growth to remain in this range only?
Sanjay Gupta
Correct. So I would go with the double digit top line growth. I mean in Brazil, traditionally, historically, the second half is a little better in the invoice sales just the way the wholesale has worked, if not. So yeah, I think the market should continue to be 8%, 9%, and we should be higher than the market growth there.
Alok Dalal
Okay. And what is the plan for new launches in Brazil?
Sanjay Gupta
We have aggressive plan. So we have three teams in Brazil, two CNS teams and one CND team, and then on top of it, we have a generics division. So ideally, we’d like to launch at least one to two products a year for each division. And for generics, about I think five products a year, five to 10.
Alok Dalal
All right, okay. Thank you very much.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Damayanti Kerai from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Damayanti Kerai
Hi, thank you for the opportunity again. Coming back on India, so I guess, we continue to see very muted contribution from the volume expansion, low single digits. So what is the outlook here? Should we assume, going ahead, also volume contribution will remain muted in low single digits and majority will be contributed by price and relaunches. How do you see like volume moving up in the market — the broader markets?
Aman Mehta
So compared to the AIOCD data, our reported growth is higher by, I think, about 1%. So that we attribute to volume. And we have to look at it from a combination of volume and new products growth because in our case, it’s some of our mature products, which are now being — the share is now shifting to the newer products. So once the new product growth normalizes into volume growth, it should all be volume. So if we look at right now, the breakup is about 4% between new products and volume. So our estimate is somewhere around 3% is what the volume growth should be, and that should continue.
Damayanti Kerai
Okay. Understood. But what are your thoughts, like in the India market, obviously, we are seeing this low contribution overall for last couple of quarters. So what is attributing mainly for this kind of muted, I guess, contribution from the volume?
Aman Mehta
No, we still believe that the market growth cannot be as low as 8% and volume growth cannot be this low, because we simply cannot grow volumes at that rate, as we are reporting if the market growth was that slow. So our estimate of the market growth is higher than what’s in the data says by at least maybe 2%.
Damayanti Kerai
Thank you, all the best.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Rahul Jeewani from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Rahul Jeewani
Yeah, hi sir. Thanks for taking the question. Can you quantify the quantum of Forex losses, which is sitting in other income for this quarter?
Sudhir Menon
Yes, it’s around INR22 crores, Rahul.
Rahul Jeewani
Sure, sir. And sir, on the debt position, at least if I see the 1H numbers, our net debt is largely flat versus FY ’24. So what kind of repayment have we seen in 1H?
Sudhir Menon
So, if I correctly remember, Rahul, the gross debt was roughly INR3,900 crores as at March ’24, which has come down to INR3,000 crores. So the gross debt is INR3,000 crores. On a net debt basis, it’s become INR1,800 crores. So we’ve repaid actually INR900 crores in H1.
Rahul Jeewani
Okay, that’s why I asked. That’s it for me. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Rashmi Shetty from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Rashmi Shetty
Thanks for the opportunity. Just a follow-up on gross debt, INR900 crores we have repaid in H1, any more quantum repayment expected in H2?
Sudhir Menon
Yeah, yeah. I think we could be repaying around INR500 crores to INR600 crores at least.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. And what about FY ’26 similar annual number?
Sudhir Menon
Yes, I think FY ’26, we should be net cash.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. And just one on U.S. business. With the Indrad also now coming out and receiving the EIR, how many new launches or clients at the company level from these facilities as well as your partner products or put together?
Sanjay Gupta
So it would be a single-digit number of launches.
Rashmi Shetty
Single digit. And this would be high single-digit launches?
Sanjay Gupta
I actually cannot say because we’ve got the EIR where it takes several months post the EIR for the FDA to approve the products. So we have — we think at least mid-single digits should get approved in the 12-month period post the EIR.
Rashmi Shetty
Understood. But otherwise, this base case of $42 million quarterly run rate, it would be maintained in the subsequent quarters also?
Sanjay Gupta
Yeah. It’s to maintain and to enhance this new product.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay, got it, sir. Thank you. That’s it from my side.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Anubhav Agarwal from UBS. Please go ahead.
Anubhav Agarwal
Hi guys. Just checking, am I audible properly?
Operator
You’re audible sir, you may proceed.
Anubhav Agarwal
Cool, thank you. Just one question from me on the India business. So the expansion of sales force by like the high single-digit percentage on an annual level, what is the primary government factor there. For example, are you increasing your doctor service here predominantly? Or this is largely for the new launches in the same divisions? Or are you increasing more divisions?
Aman Mehta
It’s a combination of all three, more divisions, more coverage, more territorial reach, all three together. And we have seen pretty good results in the expansion done in the last 18 months as a result. So wherever we see, whichever divisions of brands are yielding results within a certain period of time, we decided to take further expansion actions, if required as well.
Anubhav Agarwal
But on the first point on the doctor coverage, do you think that there is a potential to cover significant more number of doctors that you’re covering right now and therefore, this equals for you instead of — is there a merit first of all, instead of growing the [Indecipherable] by 7%, 8% versus growing at 12%, 13% or thereabout, for example, taking more doctors you’re taking more market share from the smaller companies.
Aman Mehta
Yeah, because we are just not adequately present in some non-metro towns where we believe that there is a justifiable reason for us to enter.
Anubhav Agarwal
Aman, can you give us an example just to understand a little better, for example, when you say non-metro towns, for example, I mean, let’s take Mumbai, just take an example, [Indecipherable] for example, what do you [Indecipherable]
Aman Mehta
So if I look at Ahmedabad, for example, the nearby towns would have been covered from Ahmedabad historically, and that kind of compromises your frequency of coverage and total kind of extent of coverage. But if you have a full base in a nearby town, which now has adequate population, I mean, population was never a concern, adequate doctor presence, that’s where you can increase and it justifies the need for your presence full time in that regional headquarter. And that is where we are seeing that that addition is really helping some of the chronic divisions, the subchronic divisions, particularly in gastro, where we are seeing a significant uptick.
Anubhav Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have no further questions at this point. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjay Gupta. Executive Director of International Business for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Sanjay Gupta
Thank you. I would like to thank you for your participation today. We continue to remain focused to grow the company in our branded generics market, and to remediate and start growth in the U.S. market as soon as possible, and thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]