Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY24 earnings conference call of Torrent Pharmaceuticals. 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then 0 on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sudhir Menon, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director. Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, and welcome to Quarter One FY24 earnings call of Torrent. While we see-- While we continue to see strong underlying market beating growth in our branded business, on the generic side, Germany has registered a sequential increase in the revenues on the back of tender wins in the last three quarters, while the US business has delivered stable revenues for the quarter. In terms of key financial performance indicators for quarter one, revenues were INR 2,591 crores, up by 10% compared to the previous year, same quarter. Operating EBITDA for the quarter is INR 791 crores. Operating EBITDA margin stands at 30.5% and registering a growth of 16%, adjusted for one-off in the previous year. Now, I would request Aman to give his insights on the business.
Thanks, Sudhir. India revenues at INR 1,426 crores grew, grew by 14.5%. Adjusted for the one-time NLEM-related price impact for the quarter, overall growth stands at 16%. As per the AIS3 dataset, Torrent's growth in Q1 stands at 9% against the IPM growth of 4%. We'd like to share some operational highlights from the quarter. The Curatio business continues to perform well, with 18% growth in Q1, led by the flagship brand, Tedibar. Tedibar is now over an INR 100 crore brand, growing upwards of 25%, and the top five brands of the portfolio all continue to deliver high teen, high teens growth. With the merger approval now in place, we have been able to accelerate integration in the last few months.
EBITDA margins of the Curatio portfolio are now 7% higher than pre-acquisition due to operational efficiencies. Further incremental margin expansion is looking visible in the coming quarters, while longer-term margin profile will continue to improve due to operating leverage. We are on track to reach our base business level margin in the near future, given the current trajectory. PCPM of the Curatio business is now just under INR 5 lakhs compared to INR 3.6 lakhs pre-acquisition, as we have restructured some divisions to focus more on the top 5 brands. move continues to remain strong, and we are ranked number 1 in the branded generic players in the Sitagliptin market. We are talking just around INR 10 crores per month in the 12th month of launch, which is 1 of our fastest launches to reach this scale. Some updates on the consumer health division.
Our first product, Shelcal 500, has shown positive outcomes in our pilot markets, and as a result, we have now spent the last quarter expanding our distribution and reach to 230 sales reps across the country in order to start our national campaigns. We expect the Shelcal national rollout to begin in the coming few months. On similar lines, a pilot for Unienzyme has been launched in some of the key states, and the campaign for Tedibar from the Curatio portfolio is also planned in H2 in the coming year. At the end of the quarter, Torrent has 20 brands in the top 500 of the IPM, with 15 brands now more than INR 100 crore sales as per MAT June 2023. Our field force strength now stands at 5,500 MRs.
We expect the India business should continue to outperform the market growth in the coming quarters. Our focus during the year will remain on continuing to improve our market share in the base business, improving field force productivity in the expanded areas, realize the integration synergies of the Curatio portfolio, and execute our consumer health national rollout. I'll now hand over to Mr. Sanjay Gupta for the international business.
Thanks, Aman. We will start with our branded business market of Brazil. Brazil has reported a 3% growth during the quarter. In constant currencies, the revenues were BRL 114 million, registering a Degrowth of 2%. The reported growth was lower due to revenue getting recognized in July, owing to delay in dispatch to one of our largest customers. Adjusted for this, the underlying growth in constant currency is 12%, and in INR, it is 17%. As per secondary dataset, Torrent's growth is 15% versus branded generic market growth of 11%. Of the 7 brands launched in the last 24 months, we have achieved double-digit market shares in 4 of them. In Q1, we have launched pregabalin, and we expect 5 additional launches in the balance of this fiscal year.
Our generics business is also scaling up fast, and we've achieved an 8.8% volume market share as per IQVIA June data in our covered market. Moving on to Germany, our German business has registered a growth of 21% this quarter. Constant currency revenue was EUR 29 million, up by 11%. Since the last 2 quarters, the business is witnessing steady sequential recovery driven by new tender wins. We also see better conversion of existing tenders. During the quarter, we've launched 2 products, and we expect a similar run rate to continue in the next quarter as well. There were additional tender wins in Q1, which will have a positive impact on sales starting in Q4 of this fiscal year.
...In the US, we registered revenues of INR 293 crores, down by 2%. Constant currency revenue for the US is at $36 million, down by 8%. Adjusted for 1-off income in Q1 of current year and previous year, constant currency growth is 1%. Our Bileshwarpura onco facility was cleared by the US FDA, and we have now commercialized our first product in the US in the month of July. To conclude, I would like to say that we expect to further deepen our presence in branded generic market, aided by the Curatio integration, new launches, and foraying into new therapies and new divisions. Germany shall continue to witness continued recovery trend, aided by incremental tender wins, cost improvement strategies, and OTC expansion.
Until the clearance of our, our US oral solid facilities, our US focus will continue to be to maintain a niche and profitable presence. Operator, we can open the call to questions now. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-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 two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Damayanti Kerai from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on India business. Can you split India growth into volume, new launches, and price hike? Related question is, although, like, your India business remains very healthy, in recent quarters, but some of the secondary data is showing volume to remain muted for the market. How do you see market going for the current fiscal? That's my first question. Thanks.
The breakup of the AIOCD AWACS numbers at overall growth for the quarter is 9% versus 4% of the IPM. Breakup of this 9 is -3% in volume compared to -4% of the market, 7% in price versus 5% of the market, and 4.5% in new products, compared to 3% of the market. I think this quarter has been slightly weaker in terms of the acute sales that we're seeing trending across most data sets. Probably due to that, it's caused a bit of weakness, but should be recovering in the coming months. As far as our chronic business is concerned, our total chronic piece has grown in double digits.
And our gastro business, which contributes, roughly around INR 1,000 crore for us overall, that had been impacted by this, the seasonality, which hopefully should recover in the coming months. But apart from that, we think there is a positive traction in the market going ahead.
In your view, market can grow at at least in single digits for the current fiscal, and you will outperform the market?
That's correct.
Okay. Just like, my last question is on your consumer health business, which you have recently launched. Which is Shelcal, now you're taking pan-India, but can you just talk a bit about, like, how many products you would like to bring in here, and what kind of cost you foresee for your plans here?
We'll be looking at, by the end of this year, around 3-4 products, and maybe by next year, about five, if all execution is on track. In terms of cost, I think, this quarter and last quarter, a good part of the fixed cost has already been kind of, is part of the numbers. Incrementally, there won't be too much of a higher spend going ahead. It may depend on product wise, if we're launching a pilot, depending on the scale of the pilot, by a few INR crores here and there, but it would not be significantly higher from what we're currently seeing. This is I'm talking about advertising spends.
Also, like, sales rep, you have around 270 people, that will be sufficient for, you know, next few quarters, right? You won't be adding more?
Yeah, this is 230 sales reps for the consumer, distribution, and we will not be adding any reps this year.
Okay, my last question is, your margins are very healthy, like, they are staying in, like, 30s level. How do you see margins moving ahead? Say, like, more efficiencies come from Curatio, et cetera. How should we look at numbers ahead?
I think, Damayanti, this level, I think should be maintained for the rest of the year, for sure, is what we believe, today. Over and above that, there's some amount of improvement can still come, is what we believe, but that, let's see, when the quarter gets reported, subsequently.
Okay. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. Reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Aarti Rai from Equirus Wealth Advisory. Please go ahead.
Hi, am I audible?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. The first thing would be if you could give an update on the FDA issue, on how's that planning?
We would, we're expecting a letter from the FDA at sometime up in September, and that would be, I think, you know, the stipulated time frame for a report on the age. We're kind of optimistic because the last inspection that we had, we had relatively two, I would say, two observations, which were not very, very significant. Let's see where that letter goes. Then for the other plant at Indrad, we are waiting for a re-inspection, and that date has not been communicated by the FDA.
Okay. Okay, thank you. On the India business, you just mentioned that in this quarter, 3% was from volume, in the previous quarter, when we were speaking, you did highlight that at least 2% volume growth is something that you were looking at. Is this something that we look to maintain? I mean, is the view changed there from the last quarter, assuming we have done a 3% volume growth this year? What's the view there for the full year, more or less, both on price and volume?
Just, just to clarify, this is the AIOCD AWACS data that we're talking, which shows that-
Okay.
The IPM volume growth is -4%, as against which we are at -3%, so our volume traction is ahead of the market. Our internal volume trend is positive. Our overall growth numbers, when you look at either the reported or the underlying growth, are close to 16%, so obviously, volume will be positive there. What is important for us to look at here is because we are in this phase of high new product contribution, some products will see a slowdown in volume because they're in competing therapies. It's the net of new products and volume that we need to look at, which is actually looking quite healthy right now. Volume trends, we believe that we should be 1%-2% higher than the market going ahead as well.
Okay. Okay, great, thank you. Just the last question, from the Bileshwarpura plant, I mean, I mean, July, we just started the commercial production for the first product, and we are expecting to launch about two to three products every year, is what I understand. Any other product that we are working on or an expected outlook there?
Yeah. I mean, you'll see them once they get approved. For competitive reasons, we don't disclose the pipeline. We have a pipeline of 10 onco assets right now, all scheduled for launch over the next four years.
Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. That's what it from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Shriram Ghate from PNB Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just a couple of clarifications. The staff cost and the direct expenses was slightly elevated this quarter, in absolute amount as well as the percentage of sales. Any specific reason for that, or is this a new normal run rate that we should consider? Or there could be an element that comes into play has been delayed, so Q2 in moving to a percentage of sales?
Shriram, your voice, Shriram, your voice is not at all audible. I'm not able to understand the question.
Sir, may I please request you to use the handset mode while speaking?
Yeah. Is it better now?
Yeah.
Yes, sir, you may proceed.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Just 2 clarifications. Firstly, the staff cost and the other expenses are looking slightly elevated this quarter. Is this a normal increase which was due or there is something more to it?
No, sir. As far as the staff cost is concerned, Shriram, if you look at a quarter four number and apply a normal increment over that and annualize it, it looks similar, I would say. Okay? As far as other expenses are concerned, I think they should be a normal level for this year, I would say, for all the quarters.
Okay. Because, I mean, as a % of sales also, it is looking higher. I mean, is it also because, the Brazil sales have been deployed to some extent, so the expenses might have already been booked in this quarter for those sales?
Yes, yes, yes. That could be one of the reason as well.
Okay, got it. Perfect. Secondly, in terms of tax rate, I mean, earlier guidance was like around 31%-32%. This quarter, we are around 28%-29%. How should we look at for the full year?
I think this is the effective rate which should work out for the full year, and that's how the rate rate has arrived at. I think for the full year, we should hold at 29%.
Okay, got it.
Effectively coming because of the Curatio tax benefit flowing in, right?
Right. Right, right. Lastly, just on India business, ex-Curatio, have we grown in double digits in terms of revenue?
Yeah, that's correct.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one. The next question is from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Given that, the sort of confidence is getting better for the age, would like to understand how the R&D cost and subsequently product filing is going to be.
Last few years, we maintained the momentum in filings, again, now we've guided towards high single-digit filing for the US, so there should be no change. The only thing is that now we'll start getting some approvals, right?
Right.
From the previously filed products, a lot of them have become irrelevant given the, the evolved market scenario. Many of them we would not be bringing to the market, but there are still pockets of value where we can bring some of assets that we... some products that will get approved to the market. You will start to see an incremental pace of launching from September, hopefully September, October onwards.
... Understood. Also on the base portfolio, how has been the price erosion? Is it getting reduced? Is it similar?
Yeah, we, we did not see material price erosion in Q1.
If, if, any broad or as a ballpark range, you would like to highlight?
No, no, it's nothing much. It's, it's not material at the scale of the company, or it's not... Right now, Q1 was, I would say, more a price stability story than a price erosion story.
Understood. Thank you. Thank you. That's it from us.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. This is a reminder to all participants present in this conference, if you have a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Ashish Thavkar from IIFL Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I would like to know your views on trade generics, because lot many companies are venturing into it. I, it's obviously, in the core business, it seems that, you know, there's a lot of fighting as far as the volume acquisitions is concerned. Is that a reason why most of the companies are wanting to go into trade generics? Then, at the end of the day, even that would be a saturated market. Would like to know your views there.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely there's space to grow in both trade generics and branded without eating into the other share, because the regional contribution is different and the product mix is different. For example, the reason why we entered some time back was our acute presence in the branded business is very minimal, and we think this is a very good way to enter the acute space and in regions where we're not present with our MRs. For us, it was a complementary portfolio addition. We don't launch conflicting brands in our branded business and trade generics, there's absolutely no cannibalization happening there.
Given that this market itself is complementary to one's regions and product mix, there is very little scope of, kind of, taking away share from each other, and there's enough room for both to grow.
Yeah. Given that we now have a sizable cash on the books, obviously we have turned a lot many acquisitions in the past. This time around, would acquisitions be slightly different in terms of how, what we have acquired in the past? Because there, there was, like, more, more like what we already had, and then we added by acquiring more. Is it possible that you would go ahead and acquire something which is totally a white space, totally a void for you, and then acquire that and then turn around?
No, I would say the acquisition themes would remain similar, in the sense that it will predominantly be focused on Indian branded businesses, either in existing therapies or new therapies. That depends on the quality of the asset and the strategic fit, but definitely still remains an important priority for us. Curatio being the example of how we enter into a new segment, through the inorganic route. That's the preferred, preferred option.
Okay, yeah, fair enough. Lastly, on this capital allocation, at, at, at this juncture, would you be more inclined towards the now putting that extra dollar again in the US markets, or you feel in terms of capital allocation, that part would still be a lot more skewed towards the India markets?
I think we've made clear our priorities in terms of external growth, right? In terms, in terms of inorganic growth, our focus remains on the India market, followed by branded generics in other emerging countries, and then comes generic markets. As of today, our focus is not so much on the U.S. market. We've substantially diversified our ongoing R&D investments also. The portfolio, which used to be skewed a lot towards the U.S., is now kind of evenly distributed across our various geographies. The amount of investment going into the U.S. is considerably lower in proportion to what it was two or three years before.
Yeah, okay. And, and at least in terms of the competition, has, has some fundamentals changed in the US market? Or you feel, structurally or basically, fundamentally, things remain as it is, as they were, like, say, in the last few quarters?
Yeah, we haven't noticed any structural changes, neither on the customer side nor on the supplier side.
Yeah, fair enough, this helps. Thanks a lot. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Jeewani from IIFL. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir, thanks for taking my question. Can you just indicate your new product launch pipeline for the Brazil business? I missed out on that comment. You indicated five launches in the upcoming quarter or for the full year?
For the full year. For this year, we would have a total of 6 launches. We just did 1 in Quarter One and 5 to come in the remaining 3 quarters. These are branded products in the CNS and cardio, in therapeutic areas.
Okay. Are we doing any wet expansion in Brazil to support these launches?
... Correct. We've already added, 77 CNS reps in the last, I would say 18 months, and we are adding another 26 reps in August.
Sure, sir. Sir, on the Germany business, while the YOY growth looks good because the base was depressed last year. But if I look at your euro-denominated Germany revenue, that has been pretty flat at around EUR 28-EUR 29 for past three quarters. When do we see a pickup as far as the Germany business is concerned?
I, I, I would say that you would see a pickup towards the Q4 of this year, because we have new tender wins. Germany business is fairly visible because there is a lag between winning tenders and the start of the business. Whatever the tenders we participated in Q1, they will actually start in Q4, because there's a time difference of six months before your new tender wins start. I can optimistically guide you towards a higher threshold of sales in Q4 of this year, and more or less stable sales for Q2 and Q3.
Sure, sir. Just one last question from me would be on the debt. What is our debt position as of 1Q, and what will be your debt reduction target for the full year? Thank you.
Rahul, the net debt to EBITDA as at 30th June is 1.3x. For the rest of the year, we should be repaying another INR 600 crores.
Okay, sure, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal, from Dam Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you.
Mr. Nitin Agarwal, we are unable to hear you well, requesting you to please use the handset mode while speaking.
Hello, is this better?
Yes, sir, you can.
Hello.
Please go ahead.
Yeah, Amit, on the US business, given, you know, with the plant clearances and all beginning to come through now, and the changed market dynamics right now, I mean, where do you see the US business for us settles in next 3, 4 years from a scale perspective?
The contribution of the U.S. business to Torrent is quite low. If, if you look at it, this quarter is about 10%, right? I, I would say that given the, the amount of growth that we are seeing in the other territories and the current issues that we have with the plants, I don't expect it to go up in a very material fashion as a share of the overall business. Our goal right now, till the new product approvals start to come through, is to maintain profitability and to try to maintain top line to the extent possible. Once the new product launches comes, I think we, we can be back on growth. Growth in the U.S. from the very low base we have.
If you look at a base of about $35 million a quarter, I don't think in the next couple of years, it'll be difficult for us to reach, you know, $50 million-$60 million a quarter with the new product approvals on hand.
But then, you know, but are we looking at, like, are we getting to a $100 million-$150 million number over the next 3-4 years? Is that something that, you know, we working towards, or this is something which is not, you know, where the capital allocation is going to be happening to us?
At Torrent, we have a lot of priorities. I think the, our, our key priorities remains our expansion in the branded generics market. we, we are kind of investing in new reps, as I had highlighted, to the person who asked the question before that in, in Brazil. All in all, we have added about close to 100 reps in the last 18 months. We have a lot of places to invest in. We are investing in the US, high single digit ANDAs per year, complex ANDAs, onco ANDAs, some speciality drugs. But I would say that, you know, it's not going to be a disproportionate share of investment towards the US.
Secondly, on the India business, I mean, what's been the experience with Curatio in terms of things which have played out and which haven't quite played out as per expectations?
What we have done in the last few quarters is, you know, increased our coverage of pediatricians and dermatologists and increased the number of calls in per day compared to earlier. That has kind of given a pretty good initial result in terms of sales pickup in those regions, led by the key brands, Tedibar, Ogla, which are the two largest brands. In terms of the overall growth profile, we would say this has done slightly better than what we anticipated so far. In terms of the operational synergies, we had merged one division in with our existing base business. That was also part of the plan.
Merging a few brands with our existing derma coverage has given a good result there as well. Overall, I would say that a few positive surprises, no real negative kind of surprises at all, and we believe this trajectory should continue from here.
Amit, are we calling out the number for the Curatio business for the quarter?
If we look at the overall underlying growth adjusted for the NLEM impact, it's at 16%. Roughly 5% contribution is from Curatio on that.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alok Dalal, from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hey, good evening, everyone. The gross margin for the quarter is 25% at a multi-quarter high. Do these margins essentially capture price increases, lower raw material costs? Do you think this kind of margin is sustainable?
Yeah, I would think so, this is sustainable at this point. What we are seeing is, basically, the margin improvement of 3% has two components. One, I think, because of a better branded mix and price increases playing out across our branded generic segments. Plus, in terms of generic segments also, we've seen some amount of good product mix playing out, which is adding to the margin. The third is, there were some cost efficiency measures which we had undertaken, H2 of last year, which actually has played out, now in quarter one. So I think a substantial portion of this, should be sustainable from here, Alok.
Okay, great. Other income is also slightly higher than previous quarters. Any one-off here?
Yeah, there is a one-off in the other income of roughly, I think INR 20 crores.
Okay. Sanjay, for the US business, do you expect prices to remain stable over the next one or two quarters?
I think, Alok, we'll take one quarter at a time. Q1 was stable. I, I, I, I am very reluctant to provide you for guidance going forward, right? It can change on a dime. As you know, it depends on a product-wide basis as to how many new approvals come through, et cetera, right? It's not generalized for a portfolio. So far, we are seeing a decent amount of stability. I'm just hoping that it continues.
Yeah, because, you know, if there is no structural change in the market, then there is no reason for prices to also remain stable, given the way the US has behaved in the past.
Yeah, I think it just depends upon where the people are investing, on the what type of products, and how many players are coming with new products, and how many people are going after older products. I would say there's a point beyond which price erosion doesn't make sense, because I've seen that buyers have had difficulties with supply in the last 6, 9 months, based on going after the cheapest supplier. Very often, as a buyer, you get tempted to go with a lower-cost supplier, and then you get your fingers burned. I think we are currently in that phase where people with a reliable supply are not being squeezed to the last cent on prices.
Okay. And from the Dahej side, any, any meaningful products, any products that are currently in the shortage in the US, and where maybe you could, if you get clearance, then you can come in?
We'll see that. Alok, we can't comment upon it, because also it's not automatic. Assuming that we get a Dahej EIR in the September end timeframe, product approvals will still take some time. It can range from, like, one month to three months to six months. There's a big queue of products at the FDA. We hope to start getting approvals, but I don't know the exact timing by product. Based on that, we'll see the potential, but we would be trying to launch at least, let's say, a mid-single digit to close to double-digit number of products which are pending from Dahej.
Okay. Okay, guys. Thank you for taking my questions.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. Good evening to everyone. Just the, on your investor presentation, I'm just looking at the last two lines of the revenue, right? Other countries have grown 16%, and other others has declined. If you could just comment about these two, line items.
Others, category is basically, the insulin manufacturing business, which we have for Novo Nordisk, and another portion of the Europe B2B business, which is there. That, that two put together is the others. Other countries, basically, other than what have been stated above, which are.
No, I was looking at the growth rates more rather than the classification.
Oh, okay.
why we have seen... Okay. Yeah, sorry.
I think the major, the major reason for the degrowth you, which you're seeing in others category, is the uptake in terms of the insulin business has been lower compared to quarter one of last year. Because there has been some amount of inventory rationalization step, which Novo Nordisk has taken from quarter four onwards. That should.
Got it.
That should come back, maybe in a quarter or so, I would say.
These other countries, it's like a... Is there any country that stacks up higher in terms of concentration, or it's like a bunch of many countries you have put together in that line?
Mostly bunch of many countries, but, essentially, if I can name one or two markets which are reasonably bigger than the other markets, I would say Mexico is one, the other is U.K., and the third is Philippines.
Got it. Helpful. My last question, I think in the opening remarks, there was a mention about 33 SKUs being launched. Just, I, I was not sure whether I got the comment right. What's the kind of, you know, trajectory we are looking at for the remainder? Is there any, any areas that we are focusing more on?
Not sure this is related to India, but.
Yeah.
have not mentioned anything about 33 SKUs. We were mentioning about our diabetes launch, traction being strong. In terms of new products being launched in the quarter, I would say it's about 4 to 5, which has been our usual run rate. Going ahead, this year, no real meaningful new launches are in the pipeline, but last year's launches are giving us enough kind of headroom to continue the growth for the next 1, 2 years. The next wave of launches will likely be in the chronic segment in the next financial year.
... Got it, sir. Last question again in India, just on the in-licensed portfolio, what's our contribution, if any, and any, any products that you will likely see go off patent, in the next 12 months? Thank you.
Yeah. In-license portfolio as a empagliflozin brand, which is from Boehringer Ingelheim, they are performing as per our expectations so far. This has already been a relatively kind of entrenched market, so we are being a late entrant. We didn't expect this to be a very large brand, but it's still an important entry for us into this segment before the patent expires in 2025, and that's when we really hope to leverage the brand and brand recall when we when the generics enter the market. It's more from a future horizon that we're looking at this, rather than a current contribution. In terms of other launches, there are a few in the diabetes segment, but will not be very large in this coming year.
Great. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rashmi Shetty from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. On the Curatio, you mentioned that, you know, EBITDA, you all have improved by 7% versus pre-acquisition. Is there a further scope of improvement in Curatio with the cost efficiency and the productivity, or you feel most of the thing is done?
No, there is still significant headroom left here. This is just in the third quarter of integration that we've been able to achieve this. A lot more will come from operating leverage, that will be the ongoing annual kind of margin improvement that we hope to achieve. Incrementally in this year also, we feel there is further scope as we continue to realize the operational efficiencies of synergies. As I mentioned, some of the division had been merged, so that should give a further benefit. Definitely a lot more scope to increase margins from here as well.
Is it good to say that, you know, FY25, we could actually see the overall margin improving at least 100-200 basis points from the current levels?
So, uh, I think, uh, two pointers for you. One is, uh, I think the branded segment for us, uh, constitutes roughly seventy-two, seventy-three percent of our overall revenues. And, uh, there are two levers, um, uh, which play out every year for us. Uh, one is the price increases, uh, which we take in all our markets, and the other is the operating leverage. And typically, uh, uh, we find that if, uh, there are no negatives, uh, uh, from, uh, the other segments, which is the generic segment, then I think seventy-five basis to hundred basis points, uh, uh, should, should come as improvement year on year.
Okay. Yeah, understood. On Brazil business, when you said that, you know, the sales have been slipped to quarter two, this entire sales would be recovered in quarter two, or you might see some loss of sales also?
No, it's already booked in, the first week of July, I would say. This, this, this went into July because of the revenue recognition principles under the accounting standards. There was a delay in dispatch, so it couldn't get delivered to the customer, and therefore, the revenue had to be booked in July and not in June.
Accordingly, we should see a much higher growth in quarter two, FY24?
That's right. That's right.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you so much. That's it from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Vora from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. Two from my end. First on the Brazil business. Adjusted for the delay in shipment, roughly INR 215 crores of sales is what it looks like for Q1. Is that the run rate on which we should kind of build on? Does Brazil have a stronger second half versus first half from a financial year point of view? That's my first question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good question. Traditionally, Brazil always has a stronger second half. Q3 and Q4 are where we do the larger proportion of our sales, and that's just due to the structure of the market. You know, the there are some strong sales coming before Christmas, and then Q4 is linked to the price changes that usually take place in April. Structurally, Q3, Q4 is higher. In terms of run rate, it's hard to give you a run rate. What I would tell you is that besides the sales that we do and book in our books, there are two other criteria. One is we can use the IQVIA data, and one is what we also get from our distributors, is sell out data.
Both of these indicators are pointing towards a 15% type of growth. If you look at the branded generic business, which is the bulk of our, 85% of our business, IQVIA is showing a 15% growth for Total compared to a 9% growth for the market. If I look at the sell out data, I see a similar trend. What I can tell you is that the underlying trend, trend is healthy double-digit growth, and that is what we should see things balance out over two or three quarters. Quarter on quarter, it changes because of what has been invoiced, what has been received, the inventory management on the part of distributors. Over an annualized basis, healthy double-digit growth is normal for business.
Okay. Okay, clear. on the, on the India business, I guess you mentioned around 1.5 percentage point impact on growth due to NLEM. that should stay, as in that, that should keep impacting the future quarters, as in the base will not have that impact, right? Can you highlight as to which products or which therapies were highlighted for, were impacted for us?
Our NLEM contribution is just about 10%, right, overall to business. Specific product-wise, I don't have the exact details, but whichever products have been impacted, the price one-time reduction has been factored into Q1, which I will no longer continue from Q2. It was a one-time impact.
Okay. Okay, got it. And lastly, on Curatio, also, you mentioned the significant headroom for margin improvement. Any, any targets in mind as to, by, say, in one year or two years, you would want to reach the India base business margin levels?
It all depend on the growth trajectory that the business shows. No real kind of hard target that we have set, but directionally, we do believe that the performance so far gives us the confidence that this can reach up near our base business margins. Whether it's two years or three years, that's something that we haven't really put in as a target. Directionally, all we can share is that it's all on track.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. You know, on the India business, if I were to, you know, given we also have contribution from Aid Generics, if I were to just, you know, some numbers and adjust that, is it fair to assume that the domestic formulation business is growing below the 8% run rate? That seems particularly low, given what we are seeing from some of our other peers, that are reporting. Just wanted some color on, you know, what we think will be the X to ratio growth for the branded business in India.
I don't know which 8% is being referred to, but base business growth is above double digits. Maybe trade generics adds 0.5% or so to that growth. If you break it down from the 16%, 0.5% is contributed by trade generics because the base is small, so the growth is faster, and Curatio is adding about 5%.
Yes, sir, but that does not include the NLEM impact, right?
That's. No, that does not. That's right. When we look at without adjusting for NLEM impact, the, it's about 16% growth, whereas the reported growth is 14.5%.
Yeah. That was my point, that if I, on the 14.5, if I were to adjust Curatio and adjust the, you know, trade generic, the growth seems probably closer to 8.5%-9%. Probably not 8, so 8.5%-9%. Given our chronic exposure, you know, and the fact that we're gaining market share, doesn't it seem particularly low, or is this the growth that we should be building in for the base business?
No, that's what I mentioned, that because, our gastro business has such a high contribution, that market was slightly weaker in this quarter, which should hopefully recover in the coming quarters. The chronic business was not really impacted in that sense, so it's a matter of the seasonality, which should hopefully bounce back.
Understood. Then for the full year, we should still assume, you know, higher than market growth for the branded generic business?
That's right, that's right.
Understood. Sudhir, on the other expenses, sorry if I missed this number, was there any one-off in the quarter?
No, no, no one-off, Neha.
Oh, this is the base that I should be building going forward.
Right.
It seems to have jumped pretty significantly quarter-on-quarter.
Yeah, it was INR 620 in Q4, now it is INR 651. INR 30 crores more, yeah.
Okay, thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tushar Manudane from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity again. Just on the India business, if you could also highlight about the business breakdown in terms of the tier of cities, say metro, tier one, tier two, tier three, and how has that changed over, say, last five years?
That's a number that I don't have right now, but, directionally, what we can share is that, our metro contribution is much higher than industry average, and, tier 2 to 6 is lower than industry average because we historically haven't had the coverage and presence in those regions. But in some divisions and certain brands, where as part of either life cycle management or, routine expansion, we are entering into these areas, particularly covering, GPs that we have not covered before. That should help us increase our contribution from tier 2 to 6 as well going ahead.
Understood. Particularly here, the thought process was that once the super specialist prescribes and automatically the tier two, tier three cities doctor sort of gets acquainted to that prescription, and that is how it drives the business without much of the marketing spend. Do you see change in this philosophy, or it is more like the tier two doctor have also got certain super specialists where it becomes more important for MR to reach out?
Yeah, I would say the latter, because, already there is an increasing presence of, the industry, in, in these regions. To grow there further, you definitely need your presence and reps on the ground.
Okay. So, from that perspective, then, scope to add MRs, particularly to expand the reach, or existing MR force, which is sufficient to drive that business?
For, for now, we don't see any expansion need, because already in the last 12-18 months, we've added more than 1,000 MRs. That some of it is for regional expansion as well, so it's already covered. As we see some progress in PCPM and sales growth in those regions, maybe next year onwards, we can look at the further expansion.
Understood. That helps. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shriram Ghate from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the follow-up. Just 1 question on Revlimid, I mean, when are we planning to launch? Will it be FY24 opportunity for us or not?
I, I'm sorry, which product?
Revlimid, Revlimid.
Revlimid. For which market?
For U.S.
For US. No, no, no. Right now, it's not an opportunity for us, in the 2023, 2024 or 2024, 2025 time frame. We are, we are a late launcher.
Okay. Okay, got it. Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. Reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Binu from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Just a follow-up on Revlimid. Will you be launching it at all before January twenty-sixth, when it becomes completely generic or after that?
We have a settlement. You know, so before us, there will be all these limited quantity launches. So we will see the state of the market when we come to market. We have the approval already from the FDA. We have tentative approval. I mean, we have approval on three of the strengths. I think the only barrier to us is the settlement date, which we've not disclosed exactly when it is. Yeah, we'll be coming to the market, but it'll still be most of the people before us would be the limited quantity folks.
Okay. When you launch, you are not limited by any quantities?
We haven't disclosed exactly the terms of the settlement.
Oh, okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Executive Director, for closing comments. Thank you.
Thank you very much for attending our call today. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Thank you. On behalf of Torrent Pharma, we conclude today's conference. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.