Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Q4 FY 2024 and Annual Results Conference Call of Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited. We have with us today Mr. Pranav Amin, Managing Director, Mr. Shaunak Amin, Managing Director, Mr. Raj Kumar Baheti, Director, Finance and CFO, Mr. Ajay Kumar Desai, Senior VP Finance, and Mr. Nilesh Wadhwa, Head International Business and Strategy. 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 then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Raj Kumar Baheti. Thank you and over to you, Mr. Baheti.
Yeah, thanks. Thank you everyone for joining our con-call. Let me briefly take you through the numbers, financial numbers for quarter ended year ended 31st March 2024. During the quarter, our total revenue grew by 8% to INR 1,517 crores, adjusted INR 263 crores, which is 17% of sales, and it grew by 29% on YoY basis. Net profit is INR 178 crores, grew by 17%. During the financial year, the whole year, revenue grew by 10% to INR 6,229 crores. EBITDA grew by adjusted INR 961 crores, which is 15% of sales, and grew by 41%. Net profit is INR 616 crores, it grew by 80%. EBITDA and net profit for FY 2024 are strictly not comparable with previous year. During previous year, that is financial year 2022-2023, expenses pertaining to new facilities were capitalized up to December 2022, and they were expensed out only from January 2023 onwards.
Whereas in the current financial year, the whole expenses, the full expenses for full year have been expensed out. Also, there were a couple of non-recurring items in the previous year. EPS for the quarter is INR 9.07 per share versus INR 8.33 for last year corresponding period. And for the year is INR 31.33 per share for the current year versus INR 17.40 per share, after the non-recurring items and before non-recurring items of previous year. Previous year it was INR 25.29 per share. So I think, overall we have done well in almost all parameters, and we'll discuss business-wise when we come to that. The company has recommended a higher dividend of INR 11 per share, which is 550% because their share par value is INR 2. Adding a dividend of
INR 8 per share, which was 400% per equity share for financial year 2022-2023. As we have been indicating in last year or so, R&D expenses for the year has been trimmed down to INR 2,475 crores. Last year was INR 722 crores, but INR 722 crores also included one of write-off of Aleor Dermaceuticals R&D expenses. As far as cash flow and borrowings are concerned, the company has generated a good cash flow of INR 900+ crores for the year ended 31st March 2024. After meeting its Capex as well as working capital requirement and payment of dividend, the net cash inflow was INR 436 crores. Sorry, INR 436 crores are before paying dividend. After paying dividend, we could repay we could reduce our bank borrowings by almost INR 200 crores. So the debt equity, which was already pretty low last year, has become even lower. So our net debt now is 400 not net debt.
Sorry, gross borrowing is now INR 430 crores versus INR 636 crores last year. We have INR 120 crores of cash in hand versus INR 75 crores in March 2023. I think with this, I will hand over the call to Shaunak for his presentation on India Branded Business. Shaunak, over to you.
Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Baheti. So the India Branded Business in this quarter grew by 3% to INR 503 crores, and for the year we had a 7% growth leading us to INR 2,200 crores in revenues for the year. The commentary for this is, I think, for all our specialty segments and predominantly in gynecology, gastroenterology, anti-diabetic cardiology, ophthalmology, we have done significantly well. Businesses have continued to perform well, and in many brands we have continued to outperform the market. Along with that, our animal healthcare business has continued to give a very robust performance, for the only challenge this year as well as for Q4 has been the oral and the respiratory baskets, and predominantly in the oral liquids in both antibiotics as well as in respiratory. Both these segments did have a significantly high base both for the year 2022-2023 as well as 2023-2024.
Sorry, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 leading to a significant base correction effect, which you've seen for the market, and thereby pulling the overall growth of these segments down to almost like a flat or a negative growth. Despite that, we have done marginally better than the markets, but at the overall level, the impact of this was enlarged. I think going forward, we expect the base to be corrected now, and we expect even these two segments to give us more growth in line with the market. With that, I think 95% of our overall portfolio in the India business should be doing pretty well and significantly outperforming the market in most cases. So now pass the discussion on to Pranav for the international business.
Thank you. There is a decent quarter for the international business, especially the U.S. business, which grew on the back of seven launches. The outlook for the U.S. business also appears much better than the start of the year with the commercialization of new facilities and operations set to scale up. We also don't have any regulatory overhang and have all EIRs in place for all our facilities. Hence, we see some substantial increase in operating leverage along with the continued progress in cost improvements. The ex-U.S. generics were also satisfactory as well as the API business, and they're both on a strong foundation. They continue growing in the quarter. As I mentioned, we have the EIR for our oncology facilities, and all EIRs are in place. R&D expense was 8% of sales at INR 121 crore for the quarter.
We have been working at optimizing our R&D cost, and all improvements sound right. We filed three ANDAs during the quarter and cumulative ANDA filings at 260. We received one tentative approval and launched seven products in the U.S. during the quarter. Since the quarter so since April 1st, we have received five additional approvals, which include the two tentative. As regards numbers, as said, the U.S., we launched seven products, and the business grew by 19% for the quarter, whereas for the year it grew 10%. The ex-U.S. generics grew 5% for the quarter, but for the year it grew at a robust 23%. The API business grew 5% for the quarter with 7% for the year.
As I mentioned in the last quarter call that, API we'll see a couple of quarters maybe a little slower offtake from some customers, but volumes-wise, the API business is still looking good. We take them into the regulated markets, and there's some pricing pressure, but volumes-wise, API is looking quite good as well, moving forward. Now, with that, I would like to open the floor for Q&A.
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 their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use the handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. The first question is from the line of Damayanti Kerai from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. My first question is on gross margins. So very strong margins during the quarter. So, if you can explain what has led to this very strong gross margin during the quarter and how sustainable this would be. So that's my first question.
Yeah. The gross margins were, thank you for the comments. The gross margins were good. I think a couple of things have led to this. I think one is increasing sales and revenue for the U.S. business. Number two, if you saw, R&D costs were also optimized. Along with that, we have some other cost optimizations. So all this led to a higher gross margin. I think all the businesses were growing. The facilities were better occupied. And I think, yeah, these kind of margins are sustainable going forward.
Okay. Just a clarification. So you said, higher U.S. sales could be one of the factors contributing towards it. But quarter-on-quarter, when we look at the gross margin, I guess, U.S. is sequentially down, right? So, is there any element of, like, stocking up there?
No. I mean, no element of stocking. It's just, I think, last quarter we had maybe some more, one-time, buys. Whereas this quarter, I think the volume's a little larger volume's a little higher, so facilities were better occupied.
Okay. So better utilization of facilities is a main reason if we have to continue.
Yeah.
Okay. Thanks for that. And R&D, like, after bringing it down to below INR 500 crore for this fiscal, how should we look at R&D expense ahead?
Yeah. So on, from this level onwards, we will continue growing it. I think, next quarter, I think an absolute amount we will grow it. I think I would expect anywhere between INR 550 crore-INR 600 crore, for the next fiscal depending on how the projects go.
Okay. And my last question, for the U.S., you said now the outlook appears better with the, like, plants getting better utilized. So this quarter fiscal we saw U.S. ranging somewhere in, say, INR 50 to INR 55, 56 a quarter. So should we improve significant step up in FY 2025 and beyond in terms of sales from the U.S. business?
Yeah. Well, we are expecting to launch about 25 products in the U.S. So, I anticipate that we would like to grow the business from here onwards. What percentage depends because it'll be a fraction, it'll be a factor of price erosion in the existing portfolio versus how much traction we can get in the new products. But our goal is to grow the business from here on itself.
25 launches for this fiscal?
For this fiscal, yes. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. I'll get back into it.
Thank you. Next question is from Lana Forum, individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Congratulations on the numbers, and I have a couple of questions. So, my first question: which geographies do we plan to penetrate and expand in FY 2025 for ex-U.S.?
So, I think most of the geographies that are present. It's on an investor presentation and also on the website. I think our biggest territory is the U.S., followed by the ex-U.S. business is mainly Europe, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and South Africa.
How do we see this business growing in FY 2025?
So we don't give a guidance, but generally, if you see our ex-U.S. business over the last five years, it's had a 20% CAGR, and I think that should continue. The U.S. is a little in terms of CAGR, it depends, you know, year to year, but we this year, we've grown it by 10%.
Okay. That's it from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Vipul Jain from Arihant Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yeah. Hi.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. So the price realization decline in API, what do you think about that? Is it going to sustain, or, this is the?
I think we have a very good quality API business with all regulated market customers. I've said in the past also, and if you can see that we like to compete at a higher level, we focus more on compliance and better quality. Having said that, there has been some more pricing pressure in the market, so there's nothing you can do about it. But it's still a very good margin business for us. The API margins are quite high, and it'll continue growing.
Also, will this business be led by volume or product mix? How can we expect?
for the API business?
Yes, sir.
API is a combination of both. I think we're growing in terms of volumes as well as new products as well.
Okay. Thank you, sir. That's all.
Thank you.
From my side.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Abdulkader Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello. Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So just from a, you know, from an FY 2025-FY 2026 perspective, so R&D was something what, we were able to curb in 2024. So when you look forward, I mean, what are the few key priorities, you know, when we look, forward for growth or in terms of cost optimization, you know, which the management would be targeting for the near future?
Sure. Yeah. So it's a good question. So I think what will happen in R&D-wise, historically, we see all our approvals and bulk of our R&D spend was on oral solids. If you see that now, it has gradually moved part of it, has gone towards injectables, complex injectables, derm, ophthalmic, and a little bit of inhalation. So that's what we've and oncology, sorry. So we've moved towards that. If you see in the future also going forward, the R&D investments, what we've done is, we reduce R&D because we cut out some projects which we thought because the returns have come down in the U.S. market compared to five years back. So we've optimized our portfolio, but more share of it is going towards these new areas I spoke about.
In terms of cost optimization, not just R&D but across the board, what we're looking at is, as I mentioned, better utilization of our facilities, higher batch sizes, better volumes, keeping the facilities leaner and better occupied.
Okay. And so in terms of the margins, would you like to guide, you know, number for 2025-2026 in terms of what is the kind of expansion we should see because of this optimization?
You know, we don't really give a guidance, so sorry about that.
Sure, sir. And, sir, one more question on the India business. So, you know, this quarter growth was largely, you know, impacted because of the acute therapy needs. But, for the next year, or, you know, or two, I mean, how should we, look at your India growth? Would it be in line with the market or slightly ahead of that? And, you know, in terms of your field force, are you looking to add further here?
Yeah. So, I'll just answer the question. I think from a India business point of view, I said and I continue to maintain that if the market continues to perform normally, we should expect outperformance, like I said, in almost all our key product therapeutic areas. So that we maintain as long as the market shows some sign kind of signs of returning to normalcy. So I think they are quite confident on that piece at least. And, consistently, I think, outperforming the market in all our therapeutic segments, I think that's something we are quite confident to deliver this year.
Sure, sir. Understood.
I have an expansion. Sorry, I forgot the expansion. On this year, there's been no manpower expansion in the India business, just some routine adjustments. But beyond that, there's no actual manpower expansion.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Bharat from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. So, sir, just wanted to understand, graph, just a minute.
Bharat, sorry we are losing your audio. Can I request you to come in a better reception area, please? Did you not respond? We move on to the next participant. The next question is from the line of Rashmi Shetty from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Just, on the gross margins, we said that, you know, the gross margin would be sustainable. So, you know, in quarter four, we did around 75% gross margin. But for the full year, we did around 72%. So which number is sustainable, the 72% or 75% what we did in quarter four for FY 2025?
I said in the past that we'll be happy with our kind of product mix and territory mix. We'll be happy with about 70% margin. And we have been more or less, we have been maintaining north of it.
Sorry, sir. I didn't get it. What is the number which you called out?
Yeah. I said that we will be happy with 70% gross margin, and we have been maintaining that.
Okay. Okay, sir. Is there any geopolitical risk, you know, you are seeing, for your, supplies or in terms of cost increase? Anything in FY 2025 you would like to call out?
No. I think nothing on the geopolitical side. I think all our facilities are in Baroda in India. So no issues there. I think we have just seen a little bit, disruptions in terms of the shipping due to the Middle East. Apart from that, nothing else.
Okay. So my second question is related to the U.S. business. You know, this year, how many launches we have done and what kind of price erosion, on an average we have seen?
So we've launched 27 products in the U.S. At the start of the year, we had guided for about 25 or around that much. So we've launched 27. Next year, we launch expect to launch another 25 or so. Price erosion, it's there. It's tough for me to give that figure because it's very tough to calculate price erosion. But my, as it is, it'll be in high single digits or low double digits, somewhere around there. It depends product to product. Some products, it's a little higher as well, and some it's more stable.
Okay. Got it. So, sir, what I want to understand that, you know, we already have 147 products in the U.S. We have done roughly, you know, $208 million-$210 million in the U.S. market. So roughly, revenue per product on an average, we are doing around $1 million-$1.5 million because I understand that we have launched many products, and that would gain share in FY 2025. And plus, price erosion is also high single-digit, plus we are also adding another 25 products. So don't you think that, you know, we would be actually able to do, you know, double-digit sort of growth in FY 2025? I mean, you know, U.S., we can see a big, growth coming in.
So, it's. I agree. With these kind of launches, we should see a decent growth, in my opinion. Having said that, you know, the one unknown or the variable is the price erosion. I don't know how the price erosion is gonna fare on some of the high-margin products. As you know, that we do, like to get higher margin rather than pure volumes. And that's a strategy that we've built in the U.S. business, that we focus more on the profit and the higher prices rather than the margins. So it really depends. You know, if there is erosion in some of the high-volume high-value products for us, then it eats away a lot of the margins. And we continue to look for short-term opportunities as well. So sometimes there are supply constraints. We do get a bump up.
And so just a combination of that.
Okay. Sir, another question, last question is on CapEx. What would be the CapEx investment in FY 2025, and what would be your task force?
It's so, as you know, we've come off a large capex cycle last couple of years. So we have no further, like, brownfield or greenfield expansions. I think at the most, what we'll do is within the existing facilities, maintenance capex and capacity debottlenecking. So I anticipate capex should be about INR 300 crore or so.
Okay. And so tax rate for FY 2025?
Sorry, I couldn't hear that. What'd you say?
Tax rate. Tax rate. Tax rate.
Tax rate.
So we'll continue to be under MAT, and the tax rate would be about 17%.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Nihar Gupta, individual investor. Please go ahead. Nihar, may I request you to unmute your line and go ahead with your question, please? Nihar, if you can hear us, may I request you to unmute your line? Did you not respond? We move on to the next participant. Next question is from the line of Agraj Shah from Tata AIA Life Insurance. Please go ahead.
I hope I'm audible.
See, your voice is coming a little muffled. Can you speak through the handset?
Is this better?
Yes.
Okay. So three questions, more like clarifications from what we had guided last quarter. So firstly, on the U.S. side, we had kind of mentioned that for FY 2025, we expect 10-15 launches, and now we are guiding more than 25 launches. So what helps you give us that confidence and what changed during the quarter?
So I think, the U.S. is not a question of, what gives us more confidence. It's just a matter of, as you know, we've, it matters to, how many approvals that you get and how many, products were launched. We don't always launch if the product is late. We don't always launch it on day one of the approval. So just sometimes it bundles up, and we launch them together. So it's just a question of how many approvals that we get and when we, when we launch it. The confidence that we have in, launching more products this year is we're seeing the pipeline of products that are pending and what we expect from the target action dates. Also, our facilities, as I mentioned, there's no regulatory overhang. So those, approvals and the new filings should also flow through.
Okay. Got it. And my second question was on the US base. So last quarter, again, we had guided that $57 million was a new base. And this quarter, we already reported on a $51 million, but probably you said that there was some one-off kind of an opportunity last quarter. So if you can just clarify that, what changed there?
On the base business, it's tough to give a guidance for the base businesses. I think the best we are seeing it is what's happened last couple of quarters. I think 50+ is what we're looking at. Q3 was a little higher. We did have some more one-time opportunities in the market. I guess what we see now could be the base, and then we build it up from there.
Okay. Thanks on all the discussion, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Desai from Turtle Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Shaunak So my first question is, you know, if you go back in time, I think, you know, three, four years back, before, you know, sartans opportunity and the capex, I think with the 70%-72% gross margin, we were doing 20%+ kind of an operating margin. So, considering that we are doing now complex generics in U.S. market, is it a fair assumption that as operating leadership team, we'll go back to those kind of numbers? I'm not saying which timeline, but, it's directionally, is that a right way to think?
So, no, your observations are right, but you also appreciate the fact that we have. I mean, as compared to the pre the period which you are referring to, we have commercialized four new facilities. And the cumulative expenses on, on not cumulative. The yearly expenses on these four facilities are about INR 300 crore, including with depreciation.
So, that, that charge is hitting my P&L, whereas the revenues from these facilities are still very small. So as these facilities, more products get approval and the products get traction in the market, I think you'll see a better improvement in margin scenario. Right. But I'm talking about when all those facilities are optimally utilized. I'm not saying next quarter or two quarters. I'm saying two, three years, whenever. I think I mean, we hope to be again back to 20% + kind of margins once we get this traction from these facilities. Okay. And I think we spent around INR 2,000 crores on all these facilities. So, what kind of capex terms that we were thinking earlier. I think at that time, the U.S. generic market context was slightly different.
So given the situation today, have we kind of, you know, changed our assumption on that, if you can talk a little bit about that? Yeah. Obviously. So, the currency in the U.S. generic market has gone down. But let's say this market is a little cyclic. I mean, if your facilities are compliant, if your supply chain is smart, and nimble, we'll, we'll keep finding opportunities, and we'll, we'll keep, what do you call, seizing those opportunities as and when they present themselves. So is it safe to assume two-times effort term for this facility, or that's on the higher side? As you asked, no. It's a very hypothetical question. It's a little distant period question, so I won't comment on it.
Okay. Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Vivek Jhala from Jhala Investment Advisory. Please go ahead.
Sir, I have recently started tracking the company. I basically have three questions in regard to the U.S. business. First is if you could please give some information on how the new launches have been performing in the past few quarters.
So, yeah. So I think new launches have done pretty okay. It depends product to product. As I mentioned earlier, Alembic, we focus more on trying to get the maximum margins rather than getting market share for the sake of getting market share. So it depends on the competitive scenario in each product. And we like to get ready and be there. And when we as Mr. Baheti said, when we see shortages, that's the that's the time when we ramp up our market share. So it's gone satisfactorily. I think we're waiting and seeing whether we can get more opportunities. We do have a robust supply chain. We'll try getting additional picking up additional share.
Okay. Thank you. Second question is, how optimistic are we in regards to our performance in U.S. in FY 2025?
I think we're fairly optimistic. As compared to a year back, I think U.S. had come off of massive price erosion, and there's a lot of bloom in the market. Compared to that, I feel a lot more bullish now, especially with the new facilities coming up on stream, the new approvals coming up, and the launches that we have. So while there is pricing erosion and the market is, there is a lot of buying concentration on the buying side, which is driving down prices. But I think there's still opportunities if you run a good business.
Okay. What would be our focus therapies in U.S. for FY 2025?
I think it's a generic business, so we don't go therapy-wise. I think it's just on the capability-wise. Our capability is that we're part of our oral solids. Increasingly, you've seen more approvals on injectables, on oncology, on ophthalmic, and derm as well.
Okay. And just the last one. Are we observing any price erosion in injectables?
Yeah. There's in the U.S., you're seeing price erosion across the board, everywhere.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from me.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Bharat from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead. Bharat, may I request you to unmute your line and go ahead with your question, please?
Yeah. Am I even now?
Yes.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats for the great set of numbers. So I just wanted to understand on the gross margin part, we have seen almost like 400 basis points improvement sequentially quarter after quarter. So I just wanted to understand what exactly led to this margin improvement?
So, quarter-on-quarter, as you know, a good sign of doing a comparison. A whole-year comparison is much, much better, more balanced. And as I said, I think the gross margin hovers at around 70%+, and we are happy about it.
Okay. And on pricing pressure in the U.S., so how do you see this pricing pressure to pan out in the current year or probably years to come? And how do you see this shortage with the US market? Is it largely led by people pruning their existing portfolio because of low margin, or is there something else to read out?
Bharat, it's both those questions are very hard, hard to predict because I don't know what's gonna happen in terms of the price erosion in the market or the other bits because it's it really depends on the competitive pressure where people go, how they lead to, how much they drop prices, how aggressive a player is in the market. And shortages also, it depends on a factor, you know, if someone's supply chain is working, if someone has a regulatory issue. So it's very tough to predict those. But, however, we like to stay ready for whatever opportunities we see in the market.
Right. Perhaps this what I was trying to understand, whether these shortages are because of some shortage in the market or sorry, because of some regulatory issue, or people are drop pruning their portfolio?
I think, not so much pruning the portfolio. Yes, pruning the portfolio will be there, but I think it's just a matter of, one, would be the regulatory actions, and number two, would be just them being able to manage the supply chain. As you know, the U.S. is large volumes, and it's quite dynamic. Sometimes if they're not able to manage the supply chains, for whatever reason, then you may see some shortages.
Mm-hmm. And I understand we can't share geography-wise margins, but what I'm trying to understand is what sort of margins will be there for that for a product where the competition will be, let's say, almost too intensive, like almost like 10 players? Whether the margins are below gross margins are below 40% in those cases, or it will be higher? Just directionally I'm trying to understand.
It's very tough to generalize. We generally, as you said, we don't give product-wise. But it's very tough to generalize, right? Depends on how efficient you are on any one product, how much you're backward integrated on whether you're backward integrated on the API, what kind of scale do you have. So it's very tough to say. It depends product to product.
Actually, I was trying to understand more from the perspective whether these products are turning negative or, let's say, unviable at a gross margin level also, or it is just at a fixed level these products are?
So we generally don't like to sell anything at a negative margin.
Okay. Last year this quarter, we have seen that Acute has been peppered. What has been the key reason for that, Acute Therapy in the domestic business?
Sorry? What did you say?
So, Acute Therapy for this quarter in the domestic business has been weak. So what, what led to it? Is there a reason?
Yeah. I think if you look at the base of 2021, 2022, and 2022, 2023, you can, I think that gives a clue as to why, the base has been weak. So it's predominantly driven by that.
So, as far as I remember, in the past years, we had super growth of sartans growth in Azithral. So that is the main cause of depressedness for this quarter?
Yes.
Because the base is very high.
No, no, no. I think Azithral as well as the, like I mentioned in the call in my opening statement, the both antibiotic basket and the respiratory basket, and predominantly more gravitated towards the liquid preparations both in both antibiotic and respiratory. And yes, Azithral would be a significant chunk of that.
Right. And last one from my end before I move through to you. On the U.S. business, you mentioned that in the past quarter, we have seen some one-time supply. So in the fourth quarter, was there any one-time supply, or it was completely a base business which we have seen?
It was just a regular base business.
Sure. Thanks a lot. I wish you best of luck. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes.
Sir, just on the animal health business, there has been a very good scale-up. Even fourth quarter, we ended doing almost 30%-34%. So just to understand here, what is it that is driving? Is it more volumes, or is it regional expansion, if you could elaborate?
No, it's a mix of both. I think last financial year, we have added additional division in the vet business in the livestock segment. It's a combination of that, setting up performance which we see. So there's a trend line both in the last three years which shows that we continue to perform, and maybe the rate of growth keeps accelerating because it's a combination of both, I think, quantitative expansion as well as qualitative operational execution going up.
So this, the benefit of this new division is now fully reflected in the numbers, or we are yet to see the entire benefit in the coming quarters?
We have started seeing good impact on that, but I think it continues to play out even this year as well as next year, I think.
Sir, broadly, how much investment you would have done in this, animal health segment till date?
In terms of investment in terms of manpower?
Both, manpower and if any of manufacturing if we do in-house.
No. So I think the manufacturing is supplied through the existing plants with a combination of internal as well as external, third-party suppliers. So there's no additional capex expenditure from that point of view. And in terms of manpower strength, I think, like I mentioned in Q4 and investor slide, we've added, I think, close to 280 people in the business in the FY last financial year.
Understood. Lastly, on the specialty segment also here on yours if I look at it, it's 5% growth. While I understand seasonality and higher sales of some select product in the previous year impacted Acute, but specialty also has been quite moderate. Any particular reason you would like to attribute?
No. I think if you see both, even the whole IMS performance in the last four months has been quite subdued. So I think it's just a factor of that.
In fact, so at the industry level, what do you think, you know, what kind of numbers are we thinking of for FY 2025 at the industry level in terms of growth?
You know, it's something it's very hard for me to predict that, but, I mean, honestly, we have some internal working, but it's very hard for me to make a comment on the overall industry growth. But like I said, I think I expect this base impact of previous years to get moderated out. Or rather, most of it has got moderated out in the 2023, 2024. So I expect 2024, 2025 to be more towards a normal year in terms of growth. So I think you can expect maybe anywhere from a high mid- to high single-digit performance for the overall market, I think, next year.
Understood. And lastly, on gross margin, has there been so, as you also witnessed in the API segment in terms of the price erosion, so is that also benefiting us on the formulation side and so partly driving better gross margins? Subsequently, is it sustainable?
No, actually, not really because most of the API we sell to is two separate things, right? This API is all to regulated market customers all over the world. So it's not really made it's for one and the other, it hasn't. And I actually, I said in the last call that some of it is a little lumpy because it had to do with a few particular customers, and then there's a little lower uptake. That's one of the reasons.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Saion Mukherjee from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Perhaps just one question, you know, on your comment on price erosion in the U.S. I, I mean, high single-digit, low double-digit seems to be on the higher side. You know, in the backdrop of disruptions and shortages, you know, that most people talk about, how are you reading the scenario? I mean, why are we not seeing better pricing environment? And your comment also, you know, seems like, you know, it's uncertain in terms of how the prices will evolve. So any comments there? How are you reading the dynamics given that, you know, you have a large portfolio and across formulations, you are present?
Yeah. So the way I'm seeing the dynamic is compared to about five years back, the market is much better supplied than what it used to be. We do have a very high supply percentage, you know, that we order on time. But the market is generally supplied a lot more, a lot more players with a lot more product in the market. So that is one of the reasons why I'm saying this. Number two, compared to about two years back, I'm saying the erosion is less because about two, 2.5 years back, we had a whole bunch of that sartans portfolio which we were selling at very high prices due to some short-term benefits. So that has really come down. Having said that, we still, I still see price erosion. It really depends how aggressive the competitors are and to get market share.
Number two, you're on the buying side. Nothing has changed, right? Your buyers still remain the same. So they can try, negotiating harder whenever they can. It is a buyer's market.
Understood. And just one last one on the U.S. itself. You have launched 27 products last year. How are you seeing pricing on these products or these new launches? Are they better than what the trend has been in the past or versus your expectation, or the erosion has been higher? I mean, for the new launches?
Yeah. I think, I think depends on product to product. On some injectables, it was fairly good and much better than what we anticipated. On the rest, we're seeing that buyers do look for sometimes a reliable supply partner which we've been able to build ourselves up. So it's been a mixed bag. I think by and large, we've been okay. I think, I mean, the portfolio gets to where we thought it would, but it's balanced across ways. So I don't know where the I kind it's very tough to predict which ones will actually end up with a better margin and which one with a lower erosion.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking the question. Perhaps, where do you see the R&D expenses and revenue settling down over the next two, three years?
As I just said, someone had asked earlier. For the next for this financial year, FY 2025, I see that R&D should be anywhere between about INR 550-600, in that range, somewhere around that, that range.
And this is where you see it settling in general, on a way?
No, no. I think, marginally, it'll keep going up, right, as the business goes up, as so we will keep increasing. And I think within R&D, the spend will get reallocated. So as I mentioned, that from OSD, we'll spend a little bit more on injectables, on complex injectables, ophthalmic, derm. So that'll get balanced out. And also, part of it will go to the other territories. We've recently been, spending a little bit more on the rest of the world territories as well.
You know, does this change in R&D strategy? Does it really imply any large chunks of CapEx also on the next two, three years?
No. On the R&D side, there's no large CapEx. At the most, it'll just be maintenance CapEx and equipment upgrades, but no large CapEx on the R&D side.
You know, what I meant is for the products that you're looking to produce, you know, perhaps you be since we're shifting focus now from a new product perspective, does it imply any meaningful expenses on newer products getting done?
No, no. No, no, not on the R&D side. I think whatever expenses we have to incur, we've already done it, in terms of R&D as well as the plant side. So I think bulk of it is already done.
Secondly, Mr. Baheti, how should we think about our overhead costs from here on? I think they've been, you know, a little, volatile. I think after the big plants are all out in the base now, should we be looking at what an inflation-driven sort of price hikes in our, overhead going forward?
Yeah. I think so. I think 2023, as I said in the beginning, 2023, 2024 seems to be a normal year, and, from here, it could be, I mean, the comparison will be much more easier to do.
Okay. And lastly, perhaps on the U.S., the 2025 product launches that you're talking about, I mean, are there any assured sort of exclusivity, semi-exclusivity positions for you, you know, that will play out during the year?
No. I think nothing of that sort.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as a last question. I'll now hand the conference over to Mr. R. K. Baheti for closing comments.
Thanks. I think there are a couple of other guys in the queue. We could not take it just because we were running out of time. Would request them to send a mail to me, and they'll be happy to respond to you. In the meantime, thank you very much for attending this call as usual. As always, it's a pleasure talking to all of you. We've got a lot of insight and learning, and look forward to your continued support in coming years. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.