Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Alivus Life Sciences Ltd. 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 and zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded and I hand the conference over to Ms. Soumi Rao, Alivus Life Sciences Ltd. Thank you and over to you, ma'am.
Good morning everyone. I welcome you all to the earnings call of Alivus Life Sciences Ltd. for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. From Alivus Life Sciences Ltd., we have with us Dr. Yasir Rawjee, our Managing Director and CEO, and Mr. Tushar Mistry, our Chief Scientific Officer. Our board has approved the results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. We have released the same to the stock exchanges and updated it on our website. Please note that the recording and transcript of this call will be available on the website of the company. Now I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that some of the information shared as part of this call, especially information with respect to our plans and strategies, may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainty.
These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks which could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements depending upon the company conditions, government policies, and other incidental factors. Such statements should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute of their own judgment. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements. With that, I invite Dr. Yasir Rawjee to say a few words. Thank you. Over to you, Doctor.
Thank you, Soumi. Good morning to everyone and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. I appreciate you all joining us on early Saturday morning to discuss our results. Before we delve into the company's performance for the quarter, let me walk you through the broader industry landscape that is shaping our business environment. The global pharma industry is witnessing stable growth supported by increasing global healthcare needs, a surge in chronic diseases, and advancements in biologics and personalized medicine. Regulatory bodies are also expediting approvals, particularly for critical therapies. At the same time, the industry is facing headwinds from pricing pressure, patent expiries, evolving compliance norms, and geopolitical risks. Strengthening supply chain resilience is becoming essential for long-term sustainability. With this, let me turn your attention to our performance for the quarter. We reported revenues of INR 602 crore, which is a YoY growth of 2.2%.
This was primarily driven by our non-GPL business, which grew 14.5% YoY and 4.1% QoQ, supported by successful new launches. However, this growth was offset by a 22% YoY decline in our GPL business owing to inventory rationalization by GPL. This consequently impacted our generic API business, which saw a consolidated moderate growth of 3% YoY and growth of 7.1% QoQ. Geographically, regions like India, Europe, emerging markets, LATAM, and Japan contributed to the revenue growth. Moving on to our profits for the quarter, our gross margin for the quarter was 55.1%, up 400 basis points YoY, driven by rationalized input costs and leveraged operational efficiency. Our EBITDA margin for the quarter was 30.1%, up 210 basis points. Our EBITDA growth was 9.9% YoY. Our CDMO business remained subdued during the quarter. Validation batches for the fifth project have commenced. The commercialization is expected in H2.
We anticipate a broader ramp up across all CDMO projects during H2. I am pleased to share that the Jhagadia facility has received the EIR from the US FDA with an NAI classification following a routine inspection conducted from May 26 to May 30 of this year. I would also like to reiterate that our Ankleshwar facility received its EIR earlier this year after successfully concluding a routine GMP inspection in late January. Now this has been a subject of discussion in many calls in the past where our facilities have not been audited for almost six years, and in this last six months we've had both our facilities, our large facilities inspected by US FDA, and we've had successful outcomes of both those inspections. With respect to Solapur, Solapur facility is expected to begin in Q4 of this year.
Our pipeline remains robust with over 569 DMF and CEP filings. Locally, as on June 30, the high- potency API portfolio remains in the development path with 26 products in the active grid representing market size of $61 billion TAM total addressable market. Of these, nine products are validated, three products are in advanced stages of development, and the remaining 14 products are progressing through lab development stages. Looking ahead, we maintain our earlier guidance of mid-teens volume growth for FY 2026. However, due to pricing pressures, revenue growth is expected to remain in the high single digits. We anticipate stronger performance in the second half of the year supported by a recovery in the GPL business and the ramp up of all CDMO projects. We would like to reiterate that margins will continue to be in the 28% to 30% band in the foreseeable future.
With this, I now turn the floor to our CFO Tushar Mistry , who will walk you through a detailed financial performance for the quarter. Thank you,
thank you Dr. Yasir. Good morning everyone. Welcome to our Q1 FY 2026 earnings for us. I would like to briefly touch upon the key performance highlight for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, before opening the floor for questions and answers. For Q1 FY 2026, revenue from operations stood at INR 602 crore, a growth of 2.2% year on year. Gross profit for the quarter was at INR 332 crore, up 10.2% year on year. Gross margin for the quarter stood at 55.1%, which is well within our given guidance. EBITDA for the quarter was at INR 181 crore, up 9.9% year on year. EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 30.1%, up 210 basis points year on year, driven by weight loss margins.
This is on the higher side of our given guidance. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 122 crore, with PAT margins coming at 20.2%. Chronic therapies contributed 70% to the topline in Q1 FY 2026. CVS and CNS therapies continued to reach the growth during the quarter. R&D expenditure for Q1 FY 2026 was at INR 21 crore, which was 3.5% of our sales on the balance sheet and cash flow movement. Speaking of capital expenditure, CapEx for the quarter was INR 52 crore. CapEx guidance, we have a CapEx approval from the board of INR 600 crore, including carryover of INR 190 crore from FY 2025.
We continue to remain a net debt-free company and I'm happy to inform that we have generated strong cash flow from operations of INR 100 crore in Q1 FY 2026 with cash and cash dividends of INR 660 crore on the books as of 30 June 2025. In conclusion, we remain optimistic about our growth prospects supported by strong demand trends, the addition of new capacity, and a robust order book. With that, let us open the floor for questions.
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 the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to raise your hand to call us for a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
The first question is from the line of Ahmed Madha from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Good morning, Doctor. First, I have three questions. First, on Solapur, you mentioned around the Q4 timeline for the TSX. How do you see the product filing from this facility coming up in the next year or so and when can it start contributing to the topline? Can you give broad guideline on the timing over next year or two? You want to finish all your questions? Oh, this is it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Second, on the business mix between the landmark, you spoke about it's coming back in second half. I'm just trying to understand if you are guiding for a high single digit number for the full year. Are you assuming the landmark business to be flat or slight decline?
Because we haven't seen such a blip in last 8-10 quarters. Just to understand how you are thinking the growth rates between both these businesses, landmark, non-landmark, and lastly, very small proximity numbers. Right. I see OpEx is up materially while topline growth is 2%. I think OpEx is up some 14%. Is there anything material to take note of? Yeah, that's it.
Okay. Solapur will come online in Q4. We'll have to file products probably in the first half of next year to trigger inspections. We do have a plan for Solapur to do some ROW business. It's not as if we capitalize and then there won't be any business done out of Solapur. We plan to start ROW business from in first half of next year. Coming to the GPL and non-GPL, I'm not sure what you meant by the blitz.
The reality is that our business overall is not a quarter on quarter business. Let's understand that. There is weaviness in the demand pattern from GPL. We expect that GPL business will also grow. We are pretty confident that this high single digits growth overall that we are forecasting is very likely to happen. With respect to the OpEx going up, Tushar will take that. There is no exceptional item on the OpEx front. In fact, it is in line with, if you look at our Q4 numbers also last year, it is in line with that. It's the normal growth that we have seen in our OpEx. Thank you. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Tarang Agrawal from Old Bridge. Please go ahead.
Hi team, good morning. Just a couple of things on your Denmark business.
I understand that we can't look at this business on a Q on Q basis, but overall, if overall on a year on year basis, if you were to see this business plus two, three years, we've seen this business not growing materially.
Is that the new normal that this part of your portfolio? Probably it's logical to see it growing at maybe 4% to 5% on a year on year basis. How should we look at this? The green market moves.
It is lumpy. There is growth. We've also highlighted the fact that there is a contractual obligation in place for that GPL business. We are pretty secure in that sense due to that. Overall, they have a pretty good business globally and we do supply to GPL for their global markets. I'm not particularly concerned about this quarter being lower than what we normally see.
Coming to the entire year, it's difficult to say. When you look at last year, it was okay. The GPL business grew reasonably, mid single digits. I think it could be between mid to high single digits, but difficult to say at this point.
The second question is on your pipeline. If I look at your HP API pipeline, it's been moving up reasonably well. I just wanted to see, given the last two years, the kind of investments that you've done in basically adding molecules to your grid, how are you seeing them getting active in the. I mean, have commercial supplies started for any of these molecules? From a timeline perspective, is this the timeline that you would always bake in in terms of these molecules coming to fore or has there been a slight delay in terms of commercial activation of these molecules?
We have, of the 26 high potent products, 12 already have got firm customer insight. That's why we are validating. Otherwise, we wouldn't be validating in the plan. There is firm customer interest and this customer interest comes from across the geographies. With respect to their commercialization, that all is signed by the patent expiry. We should see commercial activity on our Encore pipeline, on our high potent pipeline from late FY 2027 as the patents in some early markets start expiring. The remaining 14 products that are progressing in the lab, there is significant customer interest in those as well. We've not generated R&D revenue from those as yet, but got it.
Got it. I noticed that you're in advanced stages of adding one more iron focus molecule. If you could comment something on it.
Yeah. That's going pretty well.
We have another one about to get filed, an iron complex molecule, and we've got very significant customer interest for that as well. We've got a total of three, but we are actively considering two more to put in the grid. That's again a pipeline that will become pretty significant in the near future. From a FY 2026 vantage, how are you looking at CapEx, sir? CapEx, see Tarang, there is an overflow from last year of INR 190 crore. We hope to start our R&D project this year as well. That plus Kolhapur coming to completion as well as two big brownfield projects, both in Ankleshwar and Jhagadia, also have to complete. When you put it all together, we expect to spend about INR 600 crore with the INR 192 crore overflow. Got it.
That plan, that means, I mean this is what you communicated in CO as well so that it stays flow that remains FY 2020 phase. Correct.
That's that phase.
Perfect. Thank you for all the best.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions, refresh star and one at the end. The next question is from the line of Bala Murali Krishna from Oman Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. [audio distortion]
Could you please come closer to the mic and repeat your question?
I'm asking you a particular CDMO business. Now our purpose is running and we are average of INR 40 crore per 100. Even if the sales project is commercialized, by the time maybe we can have a number like INR 50 crore per quarter or there is some more room also for improvement. Do you expect any other projects to commercialize in this year?
We have another two projects that are in the pipeline. These five projects by H2 should all be commercial. With regard to whether we will clock INR 50 crore per quarter, that's a very strong possibility. I'm preparing for this year we are going to add around 40% margin and so if the revenue potential is proportional to the capacitance or like reactor capacitance or do we see any incremental revenue compared to current capacity? Not immediately. Solapur is starting off, that will be a large capacity. A good portion of that capacity is for backward integration. Like I said earlier, we are going to start ROW business or rather move ROW business to Solapur. Solapur will contribute to revenue but it obviously won't be at the level that we get per kiloliter from let's say Ankleshwar or from the Jhagadia for that.
It will kick off, it will kick in but it will take some time to bring it to the same level. We do expect that our FATR will drop a little bit. That's a very normal thing. The Jhagadia 260 KL will contribute to the same level or it is also, it is not a backward integration. I know Ankleshwar and Jhagadia is not backward integration. The Jhagadia is largely being done to facilitate our fourth project on CDMO because that demand is going up very quickly. We hope to be able to complete the Jhagadia in time to be able to facilitate that business. Ankleshwar has got so many products and like I said and we said in our communication that we do have launches, we did have launches in the last two quarters and we do have upcoming new molecules that we'll have to service.
Ankleshwar is largely for that. In terms of revenue, we expect revenues should come through.
Understood. Next year was adding all this. What kind of numbers do you maybe expecting? In fact, 28.
You asked for FY 2026, FY 2027, FY 2028, FY 2027. I think we'll at least maintain that at least. There is upside potential because, like I said, a lot of the pipeline is maturing in FY 2027, FY 2028. I even said even on Encore. Right. Encore will start giving us the second half of FY 2027. We'll start seeing even our Encore pipeline going commercial.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions may press card and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Bharat Sheth from Quest Investment Advisors Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning sir, and thanks for the opportunity.
Sir, if we have to think from stepwise perspective, like CDMO is a bigger opportunity in emerging. How do we plan to—one is that you are doing physical CapEx that will help us in giving a more sustainable supply to the customer, but developing a pipeline. Second thing, on investment in developing a new capability like ADC for biotech. Third, on the process efficiency portfolio, chemistry investment. How should we think and when do you think we are and how is—the second thing is our acceptance as a CDMO player by our customers.
Let me go step by step. Let's talk about CDMO five years, right. I think we will be a very credible player in the CDMO space in five years simply because we are already seeing that momentum.
I just mentioned that apart from these five commercial projects, we have two now in active discussion and very likely that we will get those two projects. If we keep that kind of foot rate, we are talking of a pretty significant number of projects in five years' time. Now, with respect to ADC biotech, these are all good things, right, but we feel that the terrace 2 platform is something that will give a faster payback on our investment if we continue to stay with the chemistry platform and leverage that to build an even bigger portfolio. This again has a benefit for our CDMO business as well. We don't anticipate getting into any kind of biological, biologic platform at this point because the number of opportunities that are available on the chemistry side are also very significant. I mean, to flow chemistry. We've had some very good.
In fact, one of our flow chemistry projects is now commercial and we've made a huge impact in terms of cost. Our confidence level in leveraging flow chemistry is very high. We currently have three projects that are in the pipeline in flow chemistry. What this does is that it gives us a very strong position in some key molecules. It will impact our bottom line very significantly. As we gain more market share because of our cost position, we are likely to impact topline as well. The thrust will be in flow chemistry, and that could just continue.
What kind of investment may that require again? Building a normal chemistry process chemistry vis-à-vis flow chemistry, and how do we for next three years. We have a strategy to invest.
The good news, though, Bharat, is that in flow policy, the investment typically is about one third of what we were batch. The payback on that investment is also very quick. This is the experience. I'm saying one third, but it could be even half, depending, 50%. I don't expect it to be more than 50% of a batch. On the commercial side in R&D we have to make investments, but then those are small. Once you've made the investment in R&D and built a broad platform for flow chemistry equipment, then that keeps getting used for newer projects as well. It's investment light also. It's not investment heavy flow capacity.
When do we see at the end of the third year? This is a kind of a benefit that you expect, maybe a broader contour if you can give, that is one.
Second, now with network integration of Solapur, what kind of benefit do we expect in 2027?
Like I said, it would be initially a bottom line improvement because of backward information and because of the use of this technology. Topline benefit would take a little longer to come as we gain more and more market share. That's where we believe that we'll get benefited. Three years, definitely we'll see a very significant benefit.
Last question, if you want,
Mr. Bharat, may we request to return to the question? Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital Advisors Ltd. Please go ahead.
Doctor, good morning. It's been about almost a year and a half now since the ownership change happened. You had time to sort of read things through, how you're looking to grow the business and the opportunities which have been there.
I mean, is there, while you've been communicating the same since, for the last few quarters, is there any dramatic course changes, any improved opportunity spaces that you're beginning to see that can impact our business as you go forward? What I really need to ask, is there a major difference in the way you're looking at the business as we were probably six months back in terms of the opportunity?
Definitely. Nitin, look, we spoke about this, but the thing is we've got to look at different things and many things before we make a jump right into something because then we are committed to that. We've been evaluating quite a few things and our net cash position is pretty strong. You can expect that we would be making some very deep plays depending on our evaluation and how we move forward.
It takes a little bit of time because, again, the one thing that you've got to understand about Alivus Life Sciences Ltd. is that we've got a very deep pipeline. I mean, 165 very good molecules, right, and we've seen with the launches the kind of response that we are getting. We want to be able to not leave that as is, but in fact use that pipeline that we've built over these last five, six years to leverage other things. I refer to CDMO as one area, but that's only one area. We are in the process of evaluating what we need to get into apart from what we already do. It's work in progress. I can't say much more.
Now, just really trying to keep some contestation around with whatever the way you're thinking, two things.
One is, how big do you think CDMO gets as a business view in three to five years as a proportion of business?
If you recall, we had said that today it's about 6% to 7%, but we'll take it to around 12% to 15% in four to five years' time, and that confidence level is very high because we are seeing more and more projects getting added. The potential is pretty strong, both in life cycle as well as specialty.
On the non-CDMO part of the business, I think that was the business where, relatively speaking, we've had more. CDMO was lumpy, and once the contracts are signed, you know it's going to take off. The non-CDMO part of the business, most of the peers also have been struggling with the generic API growth in general, structurally.
Is this a double-digit growth business, or is this the growth business on a more sustained basis? How should we think about this business with our pipeline?
It's definitely double digits in the future. Now, of course, there's a GPL element, right, and they don't have that many launches as we have seen in other markets with our non-GPL business. That's okay. We did the seeding, we did the work. That work continues in terms of seeding, and we're seeing that already. You've seen the last three quarters of Q2, Q3, Q4 last year, plus this year we've had a good number of new introductions into the various geographies. The API business with us is, again, due to a fairly deep pipeline and a good geographic spread, likely to continue pretty strong.
Just for recap, obviously CDMO typically takes its own course as the contracts get signed up.
I have to assume, with the confidence that you are indicating, the scale and size of some of these newer contracts will probably begin to inch up as you go forward, right?
Yes.
You still believe that API, despite the GPL scale down, scale up that keeps happening, is a double-digit growth business on a sustained basis for us, at least for the possible future. Thank you.
The margin should be in the.
Same 28, 30% bracket around that. We should be such a model that is continuing.
We lost PLI, right, but we are still delivering those margins. I mean that should give you some idea, right, in terms of the, basically the strength as well as the sustainability. The point of.
Yeah, thank you so much. Best luck.
Sure, thanks.
The next question is from the line of Avnish Burman from Vaikarya. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good morning team. Just one, one very respectful from my side. I just wanted a little bit color on the CDMO business. Doctor, you mentioned in the last call that it's more of a life cycle management business. Can you just talk a little bit more about that? I mean, are all your customers innovators?
When you say life cycle management, are they approaching you more for cost reduction or are they approaching you when, you know, the patients have, I mean, just a little bit more color on that cycle?
Yeah, you're right. I mean in life cycle the cost reduction element plays a big role. Okay, and obviously we've got to, you know, demonstrate sustainability as well because typically these life cycle management projects come from the innovator who is moving from an in-house API to a different API. You know that element is important, cost is important, sustainability is important. I think we've proven that to our customers. Project four, Project five are both life cycle projects and they are significant in terms of their value, right. Like I said, there are two more active projects that we are discussing and those are specialty and life cycle.
We are seeing a reasonable traction even on the specialty side. The good thing about specialty is they do get a period of exclusivity, right, and so margins can be very good in that space. We are open to both. The thing with specialty is that we need to do a fair amount of optimization on the molecule, whether it's polymorph, whether it's a salt, whether it's the certain very narrow particle size range to help the formulator. There are all kinds of nuances that have to be built into the API in order to facilitate a good formulation that is being targeted.
Typically the innovator takes decisions from moving from insource to, let's say, a CDMO partner when the patent expires. There could be other reasons also.
That depends on how conservative they are, right. I mean, like you have this Japanese innovator that is project number five.
You know about this, right? That they took that call only after the patent expired, right? There are other innovators who come in earlier and sort of want to be ready with the variation approvals, site additions and stuff just before generic launch.
Makes sense. Last question on the API side, if you can just give a little bit color on the product concentration. I mean, top five products would be what percentage of the revenue?
35%. I'm making an uneducated guess. Okay. We're not very—I mean.
No, no, I just wanted a ballpark figure. That's fine. It works.
Thank you so much. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tarang Agrawal from Old Bridge. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Just a follow up.
You made a comment in your initial address that the gross margin expansion is a function of lower pricing of raw materials and at the same time some operational efficiencies getting created. If you could just elaborate a little bit more on that. Second, it does seem like there is pressure in the API market, but simultaneously, the pricing in the intermediates and raw material market is also very favorable for you. Does that mean that you're deploying more to corner more inventory? How are you looking at it?
I think, Tarang, you answered your own question, really. There is a benefit on the raw material side, but it doesn't all come from there, like we said, right? We've had launches, very good margins on the launches. Operationally also, we've been working on newer infrastructure.
All that is now kicking in in terms of better energy efficiency, better realization on second gen processes and so on. All this has come together, and that's why we were able to see 55% gross margins as a result of.
Got it.
When we see the non-GPL business growing by 14%, that would have probably been a function of almost 20-25% volume growth in that business, correct? Would that be the right way to look at it? It's actually 18% volume growth in the non-GPL business. Is it? Yeah. There hasn't been much erosion.
Would it be because of the market dynamics or would it be because of you having launched new products? [crosstalk] Okay, got it. Super. Thank you. Thank you.
Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question.
The next question is from the line of Ketan Chheda, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity. Doctor, you talked about how bullish you are on the CDMO business and you also mentioned that on a scale basis you can be a double-digit growing business as well. From a slightly mid to longer-term perspective, say like, you know, five years out, I just want to get a sense, not really a guidance, but a probabilistic scenario. Is there a possibility that we can probably cross the INR 1,000 crore mark on a net profit basis, say five or six years out? Is that a possibility on a consolidated level?
Yes. Yes. Yeah, I think so. I mean, overall, overall basis, totally. Yeah. We are already INR 700 plus, right? I mean, yeah, comfortably. Guys, I think we can do it. Not a problem.
I mean, look again, right? Ketan, we focused on the pipeline. It's a pipeline that addresses global market needs. There is a level of value addition that we are bringing through CDMO. There are other things that we are also looking at to create further value on the pipeline that we have. I am pretty confident that we'll be able to achieve that. I'm not giving guidance. Like you said, you're not asking for guidance. I mean, this is for you as well as for everyone and for the call. Sure, absolutely.
Just on clarification, you mentioned some figure by net profit. I didn't get that. Right. I mean, FY 2025 net profit. What I see is we are about INR 486, INR 485 kind of net profit. You said 70% something. Did I hear that? Not the profit. No, I was talking about net profit. Sorry.
When I asked for the thousand number, INR 1,000 crore number, I was saying from a net profit basis, double in five years, kind of. Yeah, approximately. Yes, we could be close, but let's see. Okay. Okay. The other question I have is, you know, in the past you mentioned about something you're probably looking at, some new avenues, and you alluded to that in some commentary a few minutes ago as well. Is there a possibility that we could also do some kind of an acquisition of a company where we see a lot of potential? Is that a possibility?
Yeah. Inorganics is definitely on the table. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions may press. Starting off at this time. The next question is from the line of Alankar Garude from Kotak Institutional Equities.
Please go ahead. Hi, good morning everyone. You mentioned about commercial launches for the high potent API segment starting from late FY 2027. Similarly, can you comment on the broad timeline of the one filed DMF complex and the two in advanced stages of development?
Alankar, one is being reviewed. One is under review, but with these molecules, there's a lot of back and forth that both the end player and us are sort of right now addressing with the U.S. FDA. On the optimistic side, I would say six months, but it could even go beyond that. There's a lot of characterization work that the FDA comes back and asks for. Similarly, when I said the other two projects are also moving in a good direction, the customer interest here is very high. Again, it relates to the API characteristics.
While there are different APIs out there, our API in both these projects is in early formulation development work and is extremely amenable for the right kind of formulation in terms of bioequivalence. At the end of the day, it's all about bioequivalence that the U.S. FDA cares about. Obviously, you have to demonstrate that. Here, the traction is good as far as approvals go. It's basically when the agency comes back and says, okay, you're approved. Again, like I said, it's both the end players and us that are working simultaneously to satisfy the queries raised by the U.S. FDA.
Got it, sir. The second question, when you say inorganic is definitely on the table, can you elaborate on this? Which areas are you looking at? Is it more on the capability side and less on the capacity side? Any color on that would be helpful, sir.
The capacity, we have enough capacity, I would say. Of course, it would be nice to have an additional U.S. FDA site of the H size also, just to be very safe with the way the portfolio is growing. At this point, we've done so much work at both Ankleshwar and Jhagadia to build capacity that we have a good two-year runway there. We would not be looking in the capacity space for sure. Unless something really cheap came along. I mean, we'd rather spend our money to sort of enhance the platform and create business opportunities that are beyond the current type of opportunities that we chase. That's all the color I can give you. Fair enough. That's it from my side.
Thank you. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Abhishek from Padmaja Investments. Please go ahead.
Am I audible first?
Y es.
Yeah.
So, nice, question one, move on that. I'm looking for presentation. I see as per investor, I can see 2 to watch, 3.4, and now it is right now in the 2.5 range. Is there a reason why it is coming on and what is the number that we can be going forward? That's my question mark and question. Can you comment on the news? Blackstone? I remember you mentioning that. Was this just in the past two conference calls and confessions?
Yeah. Hi Abhishek, on the FATR. We have been seeing in the past that while you are a part of Denmark pharma, the investments were not very high and that was the reason why the FATR was that high.
Now we have got into the investment phase and building capacities for our future growth and we have been guiding to this kind of FATR going forward until the time we will remain in that investment phase. You will see this FATR slight quicker on the APTR going forward as well. We don't expect that to go below 2 at any given point of time. We are trying to manage our CapExes in that manner.
There is, for instance, slap in capacity because that will be used going forward because you have a strong price. That's the reason why it is down as of now.
Look at the industry. We are still at the top of the table in terms of our asset utilization. Just compare us with anyone, right? Most companies are hovering around 2 or less than that.
Even the top companies in our area, in the API business, are between 1.5 and 2. You'll have to give it to us that we've been pretty efficient in our utilization of CapEx and because our capacities are utilized pretty efficiently.
I'm just trying to understand the reason for the problem. I do get the look at DV for advanced platform. Trying to understand that.
Look at the CDMO companies that you're talking about in terms of assetages, they are not at 2 or so. Okay.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of K etan Chheda , a retail investor. Please go ahead.
Hi, sorry for the opportunity again. Doctor, I have a question on the GPL contract. You mentioned there is an obligation from the GPL. Could you specify by when does that obligation end?
The obligation is for five years.
We have completed one year on that. We still have four years as a part of the contract. Okay.
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhishek from Padmaja Investments. Please go ahead.
Actually, we didn't get the answer from the second question regarding the new platforms that you are planning for.
Sorry about that. Yeah. With respect to new platforms, one thing that we are very clear about is that we are not going to move away from the chemistry platform. I mean, there are good opportunities on the biologicals and stuff, but we'd be going too far away, and then that's like running two platforms simultaneously. That doesn't make sense. The whole idea is that genuine, that's money, R&D as well as in on the commercial facilities.
You want to be able to have synergy as well so that it's not a one plus one two game. You want to have one plus one to be more than two. That's the way this business works, and again it addresses the earlier thing about how much do you sweat your assets. We are clear that we want to be able to stay with the chemistry platform, leverage the portfolio that we have built even more, and basically do more with less.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bharat Sheth from Quest Investment Advisors Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi sir. Thanks for the again opportunities. Earlier you said this, this 4 CDMO project that we are running, that is largely on life cycle management, is that correct understanding?
No, the first two are specialty, the next year, and then the third one is life cycle and the next two are also life cycles.
Is that fair understanding? Life cycle management is the most stable revenue than the kind of specialty where lumpiness or how should we think about it?
See, what happens in specialty is that they're breaking into the market with something new, right? Correct. It does take a little bit of time, right? Okay. To stabilize the business. Right? Correct. Life cycle, there is already a market that the innovator has. In fact, they are trying to keep as much of it with, you know, lower cost API. Correct. There, it's different. They're trying to basically compete with the generics. Right. On the life cycle side, the sort of outlook on the market is more stable, I would say.
On the life cycle part, but on the specialty side, it's a bit lumpy. I do agree. The margin profile is very different. You have a significant difference on the margin side.
On the second side, there could be some price pressure every year for this life cycle management for product vis a vis specialty. Is that a fair understanding?
No, I don't necessarily agree there because what happens is usually with both specialty as well as life cycle, we have longer term contracts. We also have built-in clauses for price escalation or cost escalation and so on that help us to retain the margin.
Second question, sir. Our pipeline of 5, 6 projects that we are there, if you can give more color, how much could be on the life cycle and how is the specialty size?
Right now with five projects, the first two are facilities and the next three are life cycles. What was the question?
What would we ask, the projects which are in pipeline for the future?
Pipeline. Right now we are engaged in one life cycle. The project six and seven, it's not yet enough in the bag. By the way, we are in advanced queues. One is life cycle, one is specialty.
How are we developing the capability and what would be our strategy in the CDMO business? How to look at M&A especially vis a vis the life cycle?
What will be our effort in life cycle? There are already dossiers that are filed in all geographies or various geographies. The key here is to basically push through regulatory, the variation filing.
That has to be done in terms of the product being similar, the API being similar to the existing API that they use. We have to mimic the API of the innovator in all ways, especially physical properties. That is one thing you have to do. There is also, you know, hand in hand with that, like what is the faster way to get through our API, you know, into their file and then they get the approval. Those are the challenges. Of course you have to meet cost. I said that earlier. The cost is done. Otherwise you're not going to get selected also. This is. Yeah, go ahead. On the specialty side, basically it's all the customization that they need.
What are the major challenges that you see current. I mean in our generic side as well as. I mean this whole overall major challenge.
If you can elaborate. 2, 3. To grow at faster pace. Yeah.
Can you come back? We'll take it. Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. All the best.
We'll connect separately. There are people on the queue and we have shortage of time. Sure.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Hirshal Patil from Mirae Asset Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Sir. Good morning and thanks for the opportunity. Sir. Yes, one of the hills project is basically aimed at catering to the TVMO project for Nigerian. Sir, once the brownfield is done, would it take some time to really start the commercial supplies for the project or it can be VAT and immediately wanted to know if there would be any valuable food for the brownfield or something like that or it can immediately start off.
In this case it's immediate helpful because while commercial we are sort of tight on capacity.
Right, got that. The second thing, just you know your colleagues within the CDMO space we've been talking about life Outlaw. Just wanted to know in a, in, in a year or four quarters, is there any seasonality or any demand? You know, talking friends from our customers, there is a need for these price project or it's like, you know, it could be depending upon their production. How does that, what any market flavor happen?
There is I would say seasonal. What has happened is that two of our specialty projects, you know, the customers have gone for a new indication for both of them. Those are taking a little bit longer to materialize in terms of, you know, having new indication. This is the challenge. It will.
I mean, look, there is an established market. They have a good footprint. It's just that the growth that we expected is not there at this point. That's what I'm saying.
Got that. That helps. Thank you. Yeah,
thank you. The next question is from the line of Alankar Garude from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
One question on R&D. If you look at our R&D in the last few years, especially after the change in ownership, it's increased a bit both on an absolute basis as well as a percentage of sales. If you look at the absolute quantum, maybe INR 65 crore in FY 2023, it was like INR 80 crore in FY 2025 and maybe INR 21 crore that you reported in Q1.
The question is, is this enough to keep on growing our generics business at a fairly strong pace and at the same time increase the CDMO contribution to that 12-15% in the next four or five years, which you mentioned, or do we really need to increase our R&D even further if we have to keep on growing at that pace?
That's a very good question, Alankar. On CDMO we will have to add a little more muscle. For generic, we are good. In fact, there has been a kind of shift internally in resource allocation for generic where we are doing more backward integration projects and more CEP projects on next gen processes. While we are continuing to build the pipeline, I think there would be a slight uptick in terms of R&D spend just so that we have enough strength in all these platforms.
The reason why it has gone up is also because of the platform going forward. I don't think it'll exceed 4 to 4.5% of revenue after everything we do. Sorry.
Thank you for sharing it. That's helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that was the last question for the day. On behalf of Alivus Life Sciences Ltd., that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your line. Thank you.