Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Alkem Laboratories Q3 and FY25 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. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Sam. Good evening and a warm welcome for Q3 FY25 earnings call of Alkem Laboratories. From the management side, we have Dr. Vikas Gupta, CEO, Mr. Nitin Agarwal, CFO, and Ms. Purvi Shah, Head of Investor Relations. Over to you, Purvi.
Thank you, Tushar. Good evening, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for our Q3 and the nine-month FY25 results call. Earlier today, we released our financial results, press release, and investor presentation, all of which are available on our website and the exchanges as well.
We hope you've had the chance to review them. Before we continue, we want to remind everyone that this call is being recorded, and the transcript will be made available on our website afterwards. Additionally, please be aware that today's discussion may include certain forward-looking statements, which should be considered in light of the risk our business faces. Now, I hand over the call to our CEO, Dr. Vikas, for his remarks. Over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our third-quarter earnings call. We are pleased to share that the actions we have taken to improve the overall profitability continue to deliver positive results. By concentrating on higher margin offerings, better aligning with the market needs, and implementing various cost-saving strategies to reduce inefficiencies, we are seeing growth in our EBITDA margins.
Within the domestic market, our focus is on expandining the presence of our flagship brands and strategically enhancing our portfolio. Looking ahead, we are confident that these initiatives will continue to drive sustainable growth and strengthen our market position.
We have also announced two acquisitions: Adroid, a pharmaceutical healthcare company with a focus on dermato-cosmetology at a cash consideration of INR 140 crores, and second is Bombay Ortho, a manufacturer and supplier of orthopedic implants such as hip and knee implants, which are extensively used in the orthopedic field at a cash consideration of INR 147 crores.
I will now present the key highlights of Q3 and nine-month FY25 financial performance. The total revenue from operations for Q3 was INR 33,743 million, with YOY growth of 1.5%. And for nine months, it was INR 98,208 million, with YOY growth of 0.9%. Q3 EBITDA was INR 7,594 million, resulting in a margin of 22.5% for the quarter and an increase of 7.3% YOY. On a nine-month basis, INR 21,208 million, resulting in EBITDA margin of 21.6% and an increase of 15% YOY. Q3 FY25 net profit was INR 6,258 million, with a YOY growth of 5.2%.
For nine months, it was INR 18,596 million, with a YOY growth of 23.8%. In Q3 FY25, according to IQVIA, the company registered a growth of 6% YOY against a market growth of 7.2%. Outperformance was seen in seven therapies, which are VMN, antidiabetic, GI, neuro-CNS, GYNEC, respiratory, and urology. Our top 50 brands have collectively registered 8% value growth, and 32 brands have increased their market share YOY basis.
Our company registered a positive volume growth of 1.1% in a challenging market that witnessed a marginal 0.3% volume growth in Q3 FY25. Among the top 12 IPM brands, Pan-D has recorded the highest growth rate of 15.5% in Q3 FY25. PAN saw a 1.9% increase in market share, rising from 38.5% to 40.4% YOY, achieving its highest market share to date.
As we move forward, we remain focused on delivering strong results, positioning the company for continued growth, and driving long-term shareholder value. I want to thank our teams for their hard work and commitment to excellence. They are well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunities ahead, and I'm excited about the future. We can now open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session.
Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Participants who have a question may press star and then one on their touch-tone phone. The first question is from the line of Sayan Mukherjee from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you, and good evening. My first question is, I think in the last call you mentioned that there would be some overhead expenses of around INR 70-odd crores. Has those expenses started to come through? And secondly, you had guided for 19% EBITDA margin for the full year. In nine months, it's 21.6%. So it seems like you are on course to sort of beat that number. So if you can give a revised guidance for fiscal 25.
So on the overall margins, I would say we are pretty much on track for the guidance that we had given earlier. Say, as you know, Q4 is our lowest quarter, and we have a lot of filings that we are going to do in Q4 because our spend is also higher in Q4. So Q4 generally is sluggish, whatever, but whatever our estimates are, we should be around 19% guidance. We continue with that guidance. Your second part was on. I think it was about our, say, spend in Enzene US and for medical devices, right? INR 70 crores?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Over it, you mentioned, I think INR 70 crores will start coming in.
Yes. So, at YTD level, both Enzene US plus medical devices together, there was a lost funding of around INR 35-40 crores, including both Enzene US operations because that is yet to begin and also the MedTech division.
No, so I'm just wondering, so you're saying this is for the full year. I mean, in this quarter, is there going to be a step up in the expenses? Because I was thinking there would possibly be a step up.
Yes, maybe in quarter four, it may go up. So at YTD level, it was INR 35-40 crores, and for the quarter, it was INR 15-20 crores. So in quarter four, yes, you can see additional expense of INR 20-30 crores, including both the Enzene US and MedTech.
Okay, additional 20-30. Okay. And my second question would be on launches. So firstly, on the , if you can indicate, if you can name products or otherwise, are you looking at any low-competition, high-value launches over the next 12 months? And also, do you have any plans with respect to GLP-1 in India?
Okay. So first, on the GLP-1, we should be amongst the first wave of players who would come in with GLP-1. We have already represented ourselves to the regulator in India. And I think we are pretty much on track to be amongst the first few players who will come up with semaglutide in India at the time of launch. The other question was on the
In the , we have got approval for sacubitril valsartan. That product is under, I think it's a matter sub judice. So the market should open up by July, and we should be there on day one as far as the new launches are concerned. There are other this year, we had generic Suprep, but if you ask me, there are some other launches like carbamazepine extended release, but it's not a very high this thing, which is in 25, 26.
For next year, we will have topiramate oral solution, which we may introduce, which may come up in the coming year. But no other major launches that we see next financial year.
Understood. Thank you, sir. I will join back to you.
Sure. Thanks, Sam. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Dhamesha from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. So one question on other expenses. Is there any forex-related charge or anything that is baked in?
At the YTD level, we are still. We booked an income with forex gains, but for the quarter, there was a loss. But since at YTD level, there is a gain, so we have reported forex loss under other income. So other expense is not impacted by any forex loss in quarter three. All the losses on account of forex have been booked under other income. So there was a loss of around INR 20 crore because our exposure in Chile is high, and the currency in Chile, the Chilean peso, actually depreciated against dollars. So we booked a loss, but that is reflected in other income.
Okay, sure.
But at YTD level, we don't have any loss. Actually, there is an income on account of forex.
For YTD level, what is the income?
Around INR 10-20 crores on forex.
Okay, sure. And one for Dr. Vikas. The GLP-1, while we are expecting it to be in wave one, in terms of, let's say, manufacturing, etc., how are we positioned? Fully integrated, partnered? And a broader question on India growth that has remained subdued for us, right? So where do we see this growth for India business in the next one or two years?
And what are we doing to combat, Let's say, acute therapies continuing to grow slower? And then let's say if I look at the broader healthcare ecosystem, I would still say quarter two had seen a lot of acute-related infections, at least in the hospital side, but the acute therapies on pharma side were lower. So is there something that is happening at a ground level, which is why the acute therapies are slower? How to think about it?
So Kunal, I'll take it one by one. I think your question is more on the overall growth in India. See, our growth in India, even in this quarter, we have reported around 6%. If you see the branded generic growth, it is even stronger at around 7.5% or so. If you look at even IQVIA in Q3, there has been a general slowdown in the acute market. But in this quarter, our performance has been at far or a shade better than acute market. In acute market, we grew at around 5.7%. We grew at 5.9%. So our growth in India is on track. We are very bullish about it. The difference that you see in the market is because a large part of our portfolio is under NLEM.
If you look at the volume growth, the market has grown only by 0.3%, whereas our volumes have grown by 1.1% as far as IQVIA is concerned. So going forward, I would say, in fact, Q4, we are expecting even stronger growth as far as our portfolio is concerned for domestic. So when it comes to the overall year-end, our sense is that we should be broadly in line with the market as far as overall India growth is concerned.
The market is growing at around 7%. We should be pretty much in line with that kind of growth as far as India is concerned. Going forward, as we make new introductions, as our portfolio continues to become more contemporary with launches like GLP-1s, etc., in times to come, we clearly look ahead to surpass the market growth.
We are also evaluating how the NLEM, how the WPI price, the whole index is moving, and if we get a favorable this year, as you know, we got a 0%, almost 0% kind of price growth on that large portfolio. So I guess our intent has always been on growing the volumes. So I don't see fundamentally anything grossly changing. Of course, there is a generic market.
There is a Jan Aushadhi market. There is a lot of government spending that's happening in healthcare. So I'm sure these areas are also taking away some part of the growth, but I don't think from our business perspective, we have any reason to worry about it or slow down because we are in branded generic business. And all our top brands, as I mentioned, they are gaining market share in their respective categories.
We are going pretty strong on our big brands getting even bigger, starting from whether it is Pan, whether it is Clavam where we have outperformed, whether it is Uprise-D3 where we have outperformed, whether it is A to Z where we have outperformed. All these big brands that are there for us. In fact, the 32 brands amongst the top brands for the company have gained market share on a YOY basis.
So I think our brand business story is pretty strong, and we will see growth getting even better in times to come as far as that portfolio is concerned. So India, we are very bullish. We are going strong. We are introducing new launches. With regards to semaglutide, I think we are fully prepared.
I cannot divulge where we will manufacture, what we will do, but I can tell you we are fully prepared with our strategy to get to the market. So it's a product which our R&D has developed, and we will be launching it. I will say we will be first amongst the equals. That's the way I look at it.
So sir, just to follow up on that, if let's say our branded generic was up like 7.5%, then probably our state generic would have regrown in a way because state generic is roughly 20%.
It has been flat.
Okay, so what has changed here? Because this business used to grow at least slightly faster than prescription business. Not just you, but one of your big peers as well.
Yeah. So in generic business, actually, a lot of newer players have come. And there is a lot of pressure on the pricing, and there is a lot of competition. Our emphasis there has been to not dilute our margins. In fact, we have improved our margins as compared to previous years as far as generic business is concerned. So we are not going after a top line, but we want to have the right balance of a top line growth as well as the margins. So earlier, the margins were very low as far as this business is concerned. Now, our margins are only a shade lesser than our overall corporate margins. So that's why you can see that. And of course, in generic, also a large part of it is acute.
So when the overall acute market has slowed down with increased competition, there is this pressure on top line growth for the last one or two quarters that we are seeing. But I'm sure going forward, that business should also continue to grow at the pace of the market.
Sure, sir. So margin is a shade lesser than consensus margin or the India margin?
Console margin.
Console margin. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rashmmi Shetty from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just again on India business, earlier we used to basically be very strong in the pain segment, but we have underperformed this entire year. Also, in your cardiac and dermatology therapy, we are underperforming the market. So what are the challenges over here, and how should we really look at this? Is it a temporary thing which we are faced in this year, and it's going to be strong next year, or how should we look at it?
Yeah. So two reasons. As far as pain is concerned, last year, we had taken certain price corrections in our portfolio. So if you look at our volume growth, especially in brands like Gemcal-XT, we have reported significant growth in volumes. And that price should now, it should start reflecting in the coming quarters in terms of the overall growth in terms of value as well.
Right? So I think that was more of a strategic call to grow the volumes and to grow the units. So on that front, I don't foresee any challenge. When it comes to cardiac, we have never been a strong cardiac player, and this is what I think I have always maintained on the call. Even in our CVD portfolio, diabetes is our major player. And if you look at the anti-diabetic market, we are outperforming.
So wherever we are present, we are going pretty strong over there. Cardiac has never been a very strong play for us in which ways, though internal numbers are different from IQVIA numbers, and we have no reasons to worry as far as cardiac growth is concerned. But anyways, to the overall scheme of things, it doesn't because cardiac, we are not a strong player in any which way, so it doesn't affect us much. We are going strong where we are present. So that's how I'll address it.
Understood. So your domestic guidance for this year is around 7%, right?
Yeah. Yeah. In light of.
Okay. And on , any quarter-on-quarter improvement in the growth is due to any launch, any new particular launch you have done in quarter three? And if you can also comment on the price erosion in the market for your portfolio.
Yeah. Price erosion is to the tune of around 5%, though in the NRV basis because we had some forex gains because of dollar, it's 2.5%. But if you look at it's backed by more of our supply getting regularized. Like I had mentioned last year, if you look at March, till March, we used to have 38% back orders in This quarter ended, we have only 2% back orders in So if you remember Q2, we had reported a degrowth of around 22% as far as the market is concerned, but this quarter, it's only minus 7%. So I can say that because of our improved supply, that it's not backed by any new launch that we have done in
It's just that some of the contracts that we had got out of, some of the accounts that we had got out of, we have again slowly and slowly getting back. So if you look at even for Q4, we are expecting it to be, say, flat because as we are moving ahead from a minus 22, we are at minus 7. My sense is that by Q4, we should be neutral as compared to last year.
So that's the kind of outlook that I have for And for next year, again, that market has its own challenges. The market has its prices keep getting eroded. We look at price erosion at mid-single digit kind of price erosion, and we expect that to continue even next year.
But that should be offset more or less by the new launches that we would do one or two, and the volume growth because of the better stock situation that we have in market now. So next year should be better than this year as far as market is concerned.
Product launches, you are saying we'll be doing only one to next year?
Yeah. But there are one or two products like Varenicline where we are doing pretty well over there. Product launches will be one or two, but because of a better supply situation now, which we had, our stocks in had come down to very low levels. Now we have good in-market stocks. So whatever orders we will receive, we will be able to sell. So I expect that also to contribute in the coming year. Of course, it will not be a very high-growth market any which ways. What I'm saying is our performance will be much better than what it has been in this year as far as the market is concerned.
Okay. Got it. And one last question on the margin. You said that guidance is around 19%, and your quarter four FY24 EBITDA margin was around 13.7%. So even if I take no expansion and a flat margin, still our average EBITDA margin goes beyond 19%. So is it fair to understand that quarter four EBITDA margin, there would be a contraction YOY?
There may be a slight contraction, but while we will try, we are still in the quarter. We are making efforts because there are certain expenses that we are going to do in quarter four because of additional filings. So there may be a higher R&D spend that we may have to do because we have to file a lot of products in Q4. We are looking at least five filings in Q4. Because of that, our spend may look a little more, which, so we may be a shade lesser than last year as far as our margin expansion is concerned, but we are making efforts to see if we can keep it at that level.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amlan Das from Nomura, India. Please go ahead. Mr. Das, the line has been unmuted. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. I just have my questions regarding QS. So have you done any filings in this quarter? What is the number of filings, YTD?
Three filings we have done so far in this year and total till Q3, and we are expecting another five to happen in Q4.
Okay, and sir, any launches this quarter?
This quarter, no. No launch.
Okay. And sir, my next question is regarding the acquisitions. So regarding Bombay Ortho, so I've seen that you recorded for around INR 147 crores, which is a turnover around INR 5 crores. So how do you expect this business to pan out in the near future?
A few months back, we announced our entry into ortho business by licensing the Exactech technology. Exactech is one of the most popular hip and knee replacement brands in the So in the premium segment, we continue our strategy to launch Exactech, which will be sometime in December 2025. We are going to launch that product. But that will be in premium segment.
Bombay Ortho, we are required to actually capitalize the growth in the value segment because the value segment in medical devices is growing at a very fast pace, and we wanted to capture it. And so this particular acquisition gives us a manufacturing capability also because we didn't have any manufacturing setup for our ortho business.
This will give us a capacity of around 2,000 hip and knee replacements, which can be manufactured on a monthly basis, and will allow us to reduce our cost of production of these instruments further or these implants further so that we can capture good market share over the next five years in the value segment of ortho hip and knee replacements.
So just to give you the market size, it's around INR 2,400 crores annual market, which is in India for hip and knee. And if you look at the segment, the value segment is growing at a very fast rate. And also maybe going forward, this implant can also be covered under Ayushman Bharat. So considering all these factors, we have acquired Bombay Ortho. Again, I'll repeat.
One is that it provides us manufacturing capability, and second is since we want to also get into the value segment and also maybe gradually into ROW market because the Exactech deal which we signed was only for India market, but this deal will allow us to manufacture and sell our hip and knee replacement products also outside India, mainly the ROW market.
Okay. And the market size is INR 2,400 crores today, right?
In India. Only of India.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bharat Culli, Tommy Kuris. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. So sir, I just wanted to get a sense on the overall margins. So since we are expecting our domestic growth to be almost like 7% for this fiscal, so we are expecting almost like 10%-11% for the fourth quarter. And probably our expenses also is going to take it will be so how we are projecting it to be 9% margin for the year because unless we achieve 10%-11% margin in the fourth quarter, that sort of margin or 19% margin will not be possible. So are we expecting fourth quarter margins to fall as much as to 11% for the fourth quarter?
To Bharat, I'll be very happy if we are able to report more than 19. At this stage, what I said, our guidance looks like which we had given earlier of 19 stands still. But if we may see we are going ahead with these filings in Q4. So if our R&D spend gets to be in control, then we may even go ahead. But at this stage, I would refrain myself from giving any guidance beyond 19. That's the whole intent because in Q4, we have a lot of expenses any which way that we have to cover.
Yes, on the overall growth guidance, that's fine. We do not know how international business is going to share. We should be a bit better on that front. So our product mix might change. There may be a change in the overall margin profile for Q4.
So that might impact maybe a little bit here, but let's wait for Q4 to really get over on that front. 19 is what we are because we had given a previous guidance of around 19. So that holds, the probability of that is very high, is what I mean.
Right. And sir, how are international ex-US margins look like, whether those margins are far lower than our consolidated margins or probably in line with what we report consolidated?
You're saying non-US?
Non-US margins are better.
Much better than the margins and much better than consolidated. Yeah. Much better than our corporate EBITDA.
Right. And are we calling out our trade generics business for this quarter if we could?
Sorry?
How big is our trade generics business?
I can memorize it for seeing are we keeping it separately? So, separately, since this business is being carved out from first April as per the estimation, so we have separately reported in our notes to accounts the numbers for this business because in standalone, this is considered as a carved-out business for us. So, the numbers are available in the notes to accounts for standalone business.
Right. But can we call out how big was trade generics for the third quarter if possible?
So the last quarter was around INR 488 crores. INR 488 crores for quarter three. And at YTD level, it is INR 1,378 crores.
That's it. That's it from my side. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhav from Fidelity. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Thank you so much for your time once again. On the semaglutide launch, I just wanted to understand that given that a lot of companies are planning to be in the first wave of launch, obviously given it will be a large opportunity for the country, I'm just trying to understand what is the right to win for any player? Is it manufacturing capability to sort of being backward integrated to make the product, or is it prescriber access where you kind of I'm assuming you would need to have specialty doctor or KOL access to kind of get the initial share given it will probably be a slightly more premium product, at least in the initial years? So what will differentiate one player versus the other as this kind of launch comes through next year in the country? That's my first question.
See, we are looking at a big opportunity in the market, and I don't think any one player will be able to service the entire market fully. So there is enough opportunity for many players as far as this market is concerned. As you rightly said, it's both. It's the ability to have your own product with, of course, good relationships with the prescribers in the market, which will ultimately define how big or how small any player would be in that market.
My sense is it will not be as crowded as any other oral antidiabetic that gets off-patent, and then there is a sea of players. You see almost 50-100 players entering with any molecule that goes LOE. My sense is that this will be not as crowded, but of course, still there will be many players.
But I'm sure the opportunity for everyone is quite substantial as far as this market is concerned. Balance, we will see how it goes when we see the different players coming in.
Are we planning to have any production in-house or any? I mean, there's a fairly maybe three, four different parts of the value chain that helps you make the final product, but will we do anything in-house or it will be completely outsourced from Alkem perspective?
We have all of this solved for. We'll give you the details closer to the launch. But our strategy is very clear as far as this product is concerned.
Got it. And my second question was just, please correct me if I'm wrong. Has there been a rise in Pen G prices recently, and if there has been, how do we anticipate impact from that? And just on the second one, based on the Forex. There's a Forex appreciation. Is it net positive or negative from Alkem's perspective? Thank you.
I'll first take the PEN G part. PEN G, we see in the last two months, the price is going up. There is around 20%-25% price increase from where it used to be a couple of months ago. We are seeing that trend, but we have not had a recent, as I always said, month-to-month fluctuation that doesn't affect us to that extent because we continue to hold certain inventory. I think if this trend continues over a period of time, then we will have an impact. Our sense is that it should stabilize at some level going forward. What was your other question on?
Just on the Forex bit, there's been 45% depreciation in the country. So for our business, given that we have some export, but we also probably import some raw material given we have a large India business. So is Forex a net positive or negative for us, or is it neutral? It doesn't impact us much?
Our international business is around INR 4,000 crores. So definitely, it is positive for us because our export is higher than our import. So on an average, it's 1%, say, appreciation in dollar. We gain between INR 10 to INR 20 crores depending upon the mix.
Okay. Got it. Got it. Understood. 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. Sir, I just wanted to check on the trade generic comment that you made. If I look at the year-to-date number, we seem to have grown about 7% in this business. And I think there was a presentation that you guys had put up where you said that you expect the market growth to be more in the low to mid-teens sort of a number.
So is it just the competition that is impacting the growth, or has the overall market growth slowed? And as we think about our Alkem's trade generic business, should that then, therefore, because of this competition, continue to lag industry growth? Just trying to understand how I should think about the trajectory for this business.
So in the absence of any organized data being available for trade generic market, I can't give you specific numbers, but what I can tell you is what we are seeing in this business. In this business, we see one because the large part of this business is acute business. The large part of this business is in tier two, tier three business. Sorry, tier two to tier three towns.
We have seen a slowdown over there in the last two quarters, owing to either you may call it a seasonal slowdown or you may call it economic slowdown, whatever may be the case. We are seeing some pressures on that business in the last two quarters. I don't think going forward on a long-run basis, there could be a big slowdown over there because traditionally, this business has behaved in line with how the branded generic business has been.
Of course, there were certain internal measures also that we have taken, as I mentioned, that our focus was not only on top line, but also on improving the margin profile, which meant that we wanted to maintain pricing, which meant that we didn't want to do business at certain level of margins. So I guess that is the reason that the recent quarters have shown some sluggishness over here.
We are pretty bullish about this business in the coming years. Of course, it will not be a very high mid-teen kind of growth business in the coming years, but yes, somewhere a high single-digit kind of outlook is what I will have for. Mid to high single-digit kind of growth outlook is what we will have for this business.
Understood. And for the branded generic business, just wanted to understand what's our MR count now, and do we plan to increase that given the volume-focused growth that we have?
So our count has remained the same. It's not a very high expansion that we have done. Going forward, I've always maintained as in when there will be a right opportunity, we won't shy away from adding people because this is our core business. This is our highest priority business. So whenever there is an opportunity to add people over there, whenever there is a business need to do so, we would do that. Nothing in the near term is what we are doing. In fact, we will add maybe when we will be launching some new products which need different deals.
Even with the acquisition of the dermato-cosmetology, you don't think any incremental investment in terms of field force, etc., is required to grow that business?
Along with that business, we are also getting a team of around 90 people. I think that should be sufficient to run that business. There may be minor 10-20 people here and there that we may need to add or track, but nothing that puts a very high load on. Of course, that's a strategic move that we were looking for since long. It's a good business. It's a nice brand that's there in the market. Dermato-cosmetology was one area where we wanted to enter since long. I believe this is a tight strategic fit for us. This acquisition really gives us a better foothold as far as the dermato-cosmetology market is concerned. I think it will add a lot of value to our business.
Understood. And my last question from a capital allocation perspective, while these deals are fairly small, we have a fair bit of cash. How should we think about Alkem looking at slightly larger acquisitions? I understand your priority will obviously have been India, but is there any comfort level that you're looking at from an acquisition perspective, and could we even look at larger deals probably in MedTech?
So we've always said we've clearly defined our focus areas. Our first priority would be anything that we get in India formulations business because we believe that at our scale, we can clearly add synergy, clearly add value to any acquisition. And like you rightly said, we are building the war chest as well. We have good cash on our balance sheets.
In fact, our cash position has improved substantially in the last one and a half year. So we won't shy away from anything that makes it the right fit for us and adds a lot of value in the times to come. Of course, MedTech, we have just made one small, I would say, acquisition, but going forward also, it's an area of priority for us. If there is anything that comes at the right value, we would definitely consider.
Between branded Rx and MedTech, your preference would be for which? I mean, if I have to just rank the order of priority.
See, of course, branded Rx is our core. Branded Rx is where we can create more value, but acquisition is not something that you can do it at your will. And there has to be a seller for there to be a right buyer. Of course, the seller has to have the right price. So we are not going after any and every asset that's there. We evaluate, we look at the strategic fit, and then we look at the various funding options. But if there is something where we feel that we can create more value in terms of even on the MedTech side, we would parallelly evaluate that as well.
Understood.
To give more clarity on MedTech maybe over the next three, four years, we may not go beyond INR 2,000-INR 2,500 crores of investment. That is what is the plan that at max INR 2,500 crores is what we are going to do in MedTech. And that is, I think, good enough considering the market size of Ortho and cardiac in India. And also, currently, we are at zero leverage. So we don't have any loans in our books.
The net cash position is around INR 4,700 crores. So still, a lot of cash is available, and also we can go for leveraging our balance sheet. So it's all about the right opportunity which we are looking for in branded pharma business.
What's the investment we made so far, sir, in MedTech? The two acquisitions, the cost, it wouldn't be more than INR 2,300 crores, right?
Exactly. We was for around INR 133 crores, and this is INR 147. so altogether, it is INR 270.
Got it. Okay. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Forum Parikh from Bank of Baroda Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on semaglutide. If you all can just explain or throw some light, what is the market size you are expecting in India? And since there are many players who want to enter in the first wave, so how are we strategizing? Is it end-to-end manufacturing, including the device, or through some strategic partnership? Some sense, if you could give us on semaglutide?
So I think I've already answered this question. Only thing is, on the market size front, see, currently, the market is around INR 500 plus crores already, right? But it's a single-player market as of now, and it's only orals. The injectable GLP-1 is not even introduced in India. We expect that to be another large market in line with what the oral market is, right? So I think that is on the market front.
With regards to our strategy, like I said, we have developed our own product. Our R&D has worked and made the product. So we are in full control of this. We are not depending on any; it's not a P2P kind of product that we are looking at.
Our files have already been there on the regulator side where we will have to conduct a clinical trial, which we will do and introduce the product to the market.
Okay. So since now we are guiding for in line IPM growth, which is at 7%, so once the semaglutide gets launched, do we anticipate growing higher than the IPM because of the demand and maybe going north of 10% or so?
Of course, not 10%, but yeah, because they will also add to the market growth as well because it will be a new market which would have come. So I am hopeful that the market growth would also move up. But like I said, yes, these launches would definitely help us in growing faster, especially on the chronic side. And my expectation is that we should be surpassing the market growth by at least 1% or 2%.
Now, that also depends on the NLEM side, what kind of price lever we get in the coming year as a growth because a large part of our portfolio is NLEM portfolio where we have only volume growth as a lever. And in volumes, we have surpassed the market. But if that is more favorable for us, then our overall value growth also goes up.
But yes, that's how we anticipate this to play out.
Okay. And so could you please quantify your NLEM portfolio percentage to sales right now? How much would it be?
Around 30. Around 30%.
30%. Okay. My second question is on the non-US side. So I see there's a degrowth there. So could you please explain what went wrong? I mean, why is there a negative growth this quarter?
Largely from one of our large markets, which is Chile. In Chile, we have two issues: one, some tenders that we came out of, and second is the exchange rate, so the currency actually played spoil sport over there. So because of that, Chile, which is one of the largest non-US markets, has shown almost 30% degrowth, which is where our overall non-US growth is looking sluggish. But if you look at the other markets, say Australia, we have grown pretty strong. If you look at some other non-US markets, our growths are fine. It is largely on account of, I would say, Chile where we have had this.
So has the situation stabilized, or do we expect the same kind of situation and therefore even in Q4 also, should we anticipate negative growth?
So it should not be negative in Q4 because we expect the situation to be more stable. Of course, currency, nobody can predict how that will move. But our sense is that the overall position should stabilize. So Q4, we should have better performance as far as non-US markets are concerned.
Okay. And one last question, if I may. So since we are talking about five filings in Q4 and increasing the R&D spend, so could you please throw some color? What is the R&D percentage to sales we are anticipating? I mean, is it likely to go up than the normal trend? And the five filings?
We are looking at around 4.5%-5%.
Okay. And the five filings that we have done, could you just give us some nature of what are the filings? I mean, is it a pure generic one or a high value?
So far, we have done three filings right now. We'll tell you the filings after we file the other products. But as of now, it's largely generic in nature.
Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pan-D from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. First question is on Pithampur unit. So we have recently divested that unit. Sometime back, we also divested St. Louis, after which there was a lot of cost optimization benefit that we have got. Any such opportunity because of Pithampur unit?
So we have entered into a agreement for selling off the Indore Srirangpura unit because for the last four, five years, we're not using it. So strategically, it was not making sense for us to retain that unit. And it was a kind of inoperative asset. And so it was decided to sell off. So I don't see any impact on our operations because of this sale because there was no sales happening from this unit for the last few years. I think your question is around OpEx. Is it?
Yes, yes, yes. On the cost optimization benefits.
We spend around INR 8-10 crores a year. That was also mainly on account of depreciation. So at EBITDA level, there will not be any significant growth.
Understood. Now, on the Enzene, now that our CDMO unit will be becoming operational in FY26, now how should we think about the overall business? Because we have a Pune unit which has just broke even, I think, before R&D. So how should we think about this unit?
Talking about Enzene ?
Yeah. No, Enzene Pune because that is still struggling with respect to profitability.
Enzene, including sales of products which we do for Alkem, for products which are manufactured at Enzene, we have done a sales of around INR 200 crores at B2B level. Our estimate is to close at around INR 300 crores for FY25. We can assume growth of around 15%-20% in next year from the Pune unit. We are also expecting approval for a few countries outside India. Maybe in the next analyst call, we'll be able to share more visibility on this.
Understood. And one last question following up on GLP-1. Now, this looks like a large opportunity because when we see the numbers in the in the last two years, they have substantially grown. Now, do you think that even in India, once the generics appear, substantial volume growth is possible and you might consider potentially the other ways which are used to lose the weight, so that will also get converted in volumes?
Sorry, I didn't get you. You mean it's a large opportunity? It might turn out to be a big opportunity?
Yeah. Substantially large, leading to maybe three, four, five growth within a couple of years in volumes.
In terms of volume?
Yeah, yeah. For the drug, for the molecules.
I would say let's wait for a few more months. We'll get to know how large the opportunity turns out to be. Of course, it's a no-brainer and no secret that world over, the acceptance of GLP-1 as a category has been very good. I don't see any reason why India should be any different. But of course, it will have to be used for the right patients. And that is what we would advocate moving ahead. So let's see how it turns out to be. Our sense is also that it should turn out to be a fairly decent opportunity.
Understood. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Participants who have a question, may press * and 1 now. The next question is from the line of Naman Bagrecha from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yeah. Hi.
Hello, madam. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity. So just one clarification. I mean, you guided for 7% growth in the India business for full year. And if you look at the first nine months, I mean, we have grown at only around 6-odd%. So I mean, the implied growth for fourth quarter comes at around 11-12%.
So just wanted to know what are the growth levers for the same and is my understanding correct or not? So I think calculations are fairly close. It comes to around 9.5-10% on the overall domestic side. And we are pretty confident of delivering the same because of a lot of reasons, like I said, our secondary optics are good.
Currently, where we are standing in terms of the monthly run rate, if we just extrapolate that, I think we are very hopeful we should be able to touch that kind of performance in Q4. Also, last year, quarter four was not that good for us. So it's also maybe.
Misrepresented.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay. Secondly, on ROW markets, you highlighted there are some issues in Chile. So I mean, is it that we didn't have any tenders and we are going to get some, let's say, contracts or supplies? I mean, so can you help me on that front? And how should we look, let's say, on a sustainable basis, this piece of the business?
So in the previous year, we were supplying because we had qualified for one tender. Now, this year, the pricing has been such that it didn't make sense to participate in that tender. So that is why we've not had that business in this year. But otherwise, if you see on the retail side and on the other side, our business continues to do well.
The other reason has been on the currency side, which I also mentioned, which is a reason for the overall degrowth for Chile as a market. But I think that is also getting stabilized now. So that's why we are pretty hopeful that Q4 should be better as compared to Q3. And overall, I think for the non-, I think we are given a guidance of 13%-14% growth going forward.
So you expect to participate in tenders, let's say, in FY26?
Tender plus retail. Certain markets, certain tenders keep coming. So it's more of that.
Okay. Okay. And on the piece, I mean, we had highlighted in earlier call that there is one CGT exclusivity product which might come in 3Q or 4Q. So I'm not sure if that I mean, definitely, I mean, 3Q, we haven't launched. So what's the, let's say, I mean, which product is this? What could be the, let's say, our sales opportunity?
You're talking about azilsartan?
आपण ज्या व्यक्तीशी बोलत आहात, त्यांनी आपला कॉल होल्डवर ठेवला आहे. कृपया लाइनवर रहा. आप जिस व्यक्ति से बात कर रहे हैं, उन्होंने आपके कॉल को होल्ड पर रखा है. कृपया लाइन पर बने रहें. The person you are speaking with has put your call on hold. Please stay on the line. आपण ज्या व्यक्तीशी बोलत आहात, त्यांनी आपला कॉल होल्डवर ठेवला आहे. कृपया लाइनवर रहा. आप जिस व्यक्ति से बात कर रहे हैं, उन्होंने आपके कॉल को होल्ड पर रखा है.
So please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes. So there was a participant who had kept the line on hold. Please go ahead.
Okay. Understood. So I think the question was on CGT exclusivity of some product. Is it?
Mr. Bagrecha?
I think he's not here.
He's moved off the call.
Okay. Yeah.
Participants who have a question, may press * and 1. As there are no further questions, I would like to hand the conference back to the management for closing comments.
Yeah. Thank you all for participating in today's call and contributing to a meaningful discussion. If you still have any unanswered questions, please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you all.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you. That concludes this conference call on behalf of Motilal Oswal and Alkem Laboratories. Thank you for joining the conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.