Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited Q3 FY26 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Piyush Nahar, EVP, Corporate Strategy and Development. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Nahar.
Thank you, Ranju. Good afternoon, everyone. Earlier today, we released our financials for the third quarter of fiscal 26, along with the press release. These are also posted on our website. We hope you all had the opportunity to review it. I'd like to bring to everyone's notice that this call is being recorded, and the recording and transcripts will be available on our website. To discuss the business performance and outlook, we have on the call our Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Satish Mehta, our CFO, Tajuddin Shaikh, Full-Time Director, Mr. Samit Mehta, and President, Corporate Strategy, Development and Finance, Mr. Vikas Thapar. Before we begin, I want to remind everyone about the safe harbor related to today's investor call.
Today's discussion may include certain forward-looking statements, which must be viewed in conjunction with the risks that our business faces, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. With this, I'll ask Mr. Satish Mehta to give his opening statement.
Okay, thank you, Piyush. Good afternoon to all of you, and thanks a lot, you know, for joining us today. On behalf of the board, management team, and myself, I wish all of you a very, very happy and successful 2026. I mean, just, you know, step back and look at 2025, and in my career, this has been one of the difficult year, full of challenges, then tariff war pushed all equations, you know, which were established over a period of time, being questioned, geopolitical disturbances, political upheavals. I have not seen something similar, which happened in 2025, in my career.
But at the same time, we at Emcure, I mean, globally, you know, a lot of upheavals, but we at Emcure view this period as one that strengthened our organization, sharpened our focus, improved our resilience, and reinforced our commitment to long-term value creation. FY 26 marks the first year of our 5-year strategic roadmap. This roadmap is designed to consistently deliver higher revenue growth, improved operating margins, healthier returns on capital, stronger cash flows, enabling us to build a more durable business that compounds value, that compounds value year after year. I mean, let me step back and tell you, when I started, you know, promoting our brands, we started promoting our brands in mid-1995. That's the time, you know, as any other company does, you know, we went in for branded generic products.
After that, on the back of science, technology, innovation that we have, about which I keep on talking in every call, what we did, we gave maximum number of differentiated specialty products in last, you know, 20 years, 20, 25 years. And, whether we gave the concept of chirality, we gave, you know, iron, anemia, the market, you know, we dominate because of Orofer, Orofer FCM, and of course, you know, biosimilars. And that's how, you know, we have won the confidence of the medical fraternity, as well as the patients in brand Emcure, and Emcure is synonymous in the doctor's chamber with innovation and quality. Now, this, this is a well-calibrated move to go up the value chain and enhance our margins on a sustained basis.
But during the year, you know, something significant has happened, and that is something, you know, I would like to allude to. Having talked, you know, about branded generics and differentiated specialty products, in this particular year, 2025, late 2025, we entered into exclusive partnership with Novo Nordisk. And let me tell you that as far as this particular partnership is concerned, it was after a fierce competition. There were at least 8 or 9 companies who were interested in partnering with, partnering with Novo Nordisk, and they selected Emcure. And we became the only company, only company to launch the innovative drug in the game-changing semaglutide category. Everyone keeps on talking about a lot of numbers of semaglutide. I wouldn't go into that.
But every reason to believe that the GLP-1, which Novo Nordisk has launched, is going to change the market as never before. It is already a blockbuster. This partnership not only gives us first-mover advantage, but also allows us to bring original innovative product to Indian patients, something that has potential to meaningfully improve outcome for patients suffering from obesity and related comorbidities. As I have been discussing, you know, with Novo Nordisk for last few months, I've been given to understand there are 230 comorbidities which are associated with obesity. So this, you know, is a great molecule that we are promoting, and there is a lot of science and data, you know, Novo Nordisk has. And this being, you know, in the category of rDNA biosimilar , it's a very difficult product to manufacture.
But the beauty is, you know, having started marketing, having started, you know, as a branded generic, then specialty, now, you know, we are getting involved with innovation. And this innovation is just harbinger of many more such innovations to follow, and I'm sure, you know, with the success of Poviztra, our brand of semaglutide, we will have the execution capability to prove to other multinationals that Emcure will emerge as a company that can be associated with for marketing innovation. Our portfolio strategy, as I told last time also, we are uniquely placed, as you know, we are strong in both chemistry and biotech. One of the very few companies in the country which has, you know, both presence in biology and this one.
I think the Finance Bill , you know, the Budget, which was presented on Sunday, first of February, at that time, you know, Honorable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, it was a pleasant surprise to me. She started, you know, with biologics, and now, you know, government has earmarked INR 10,000 crore for Bio-Pharma Shakti, and they want to encourage the biosimilars, they want to encourage, you know, biologics going forward. And I'm delighted to tell all of you that we at Emcure are very well positioned to benefit from the same. As of today, when I'm speaking to you, we have a strong portfolio of 7 biotherapeutics, which we are already marketing, already commercialized, and 2 waiting approval, and couple of more in development. So this is one area where we should be doing well.
We have given a lot of products, you know, which are chemistry-driven, like, you know, I talked about chirality, I talked about, you know, products like your, say, anemia management, you know, Orofer XP or Ferium Orofer FCM. Now, you know, I see a lot of future going forward by working on biologics as well, and this also has blessing from Government of India. Having said all these things, now let me turn my attention to Q3 results. Already posted, most of you must have had a chance to go through this, but let me briefly summarize what has happened. Our Q3 FY26 performance is a clear reflection of the strategy that we are executing. During the quarter, all our businesses delivered strong growth while we remained firmly on track with our margin objectives.
We delivered 20.4% year-on-year revenue growth, with profits up to INR 31 crore after a one-time impact of Labor Code , translating into 48% growth in PAT. Adjusted PAT, excluding Labor Code , grew by more than 65%. EBITDA margin, sorry, expanded by 110 basis points to 19.5%, despite investment in new initiatives and impact of Sanofi diabetes in- licensing portfolio, demonstrating the underlying strength and operating leverage that we have in the business. In India, I'm happy to state our margin continues to build a healthy momentum. The domestic business has recorded a growth of 15% year-on-year. Our growth was led especially by our chronic therapies, as in cardio, diabetology, CNS, oncology, while new areas, the derma and consumer, about which I spoke even in the last quarter, continue to scale in line with our plans.
During the quarter, we further strengthened our team, especially on the acute side. We remain confident that we will continue to grow above industry going forward. Moving to international business, the quarter saw strong performance across all international businesses along all verticals, which helped us to deliver 24.5% by the way of growth. Europe is seeing strong traction with very strong growth of 29.6% in the quarter, led by a ramp-up of base business. They're realizing the benefit of Amphotericin B and the acquisition, bolt-on acquisition that we did in the form of Mantra. We expect Amphotericin B to see launches across Europe by end of the year. Our Canada business continued to have its growth momentum and grew by 13%, led by market share gains and new launches.
Our rest of India business grew by 30.7%, led by strong growth, both non-ARV and ARV businesses. We have a robust portfolio pipeline and very positive about the growth, very positive about the growth going forward. Before I conclude, let me say from the bottom of my heart, patients come first in everything that, that we do. We take pride in telling everyone that we are driven by quality and patient care. The philosophy of patient first will continue to drive our aspirations and the work, you know, that we are doing in R&D, whether chemistry, biologics, or even for that matter, when we meet the doctors, that is going to be the core part of our philosophy as we serve billions of people at the global level.
While it is early to provide specific guidance for FY 2027, we believe the company is well positioned to continue delivering consistent performance, supported by multiple growth levers, about which I've already talked to you, and disciplined execution of our strategy. Let me tell you, being in the industry for last so many years and being the founding member of Emcure Group, execution, in my opinion, is key to success. That plays a very, very important role, and that's one area where we are going to be absolutely laser-focused going forward. I believe this is only the beginning of our five-year journey, and we remain confident that our best is yet to come. I'm grateful to all the Emcurians for trusting me and, obviously, my new stakeholders, including the shareholders who have joined the Emcure family.
As head of the family, I would like to assure, reassure you, I'm extremely conscious of my responsibility towards the shareholders, and everything will be done keeping in view the interest of the shareholders who have reposed their faith in Emcure. With this remark, I would now pass on to call Mr. Tajuddin, my CFO, to share the financial details of the last quarter with you, before we open the floor for question and answer. Once again, thank you.
Thank you for patient hearing, and, I always look forward to this call, and now, you know, over to Taj.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Before we move to the Q&A, I will take you through some of the key financial highlights for the third quarter. Revenue from operations for the quarter grew 20.4% year-over-year to INR 2,363 crores. The domestic business grew 15.4% year-over-year to INR 1,025 crores, driven by strong performance across all key therapies. International markets maintained their strong growth momentum, growing 24.5% year-over-year to INR 1,338 crores. Of which, Europe grew 29.6% year-over-year, reaching INR 464 crores. This was led by business base growth and Manx acquisition.
Canada reported a healthy 12.8% growth to INR 397 crore. We remain on track to grow in mid-teens for the year. Emerging markets saw strong growth, 30.7% year-over-year to INR 477 crore, with both ARV and non-ARV seeing strong growth. Gross margins for the quarter stood at 59.3%, versus 60.1% in Q3 of 2026. The decline was largely due to the in-licensing of Sanofi OAD portfolio, along with business mix, both higher international and product mix within geographies. EBITDA, excluding other income, grew 27.2% year-over-year to INR 460 crore.
EBITDA margins stood at 19.5% versus 18.4% in Q3 of 2025, and 19.3% in Q2 of 2026, supported by operating leverage and productivity gains, which was partly offset by Sanofi OAD addition. Depreciation and amortization for the quarter was at INR 105 crore. Interest cost was INR 38 crore. During the quarter, we also took an exceptional expense of INR 38 crore related to Labor Code changes. The effective tax rate stood at 26.3%. Profit after tax came at INR 231 crore, showing strong growth of 48% year-over-year. Adjusted PAT came at INR 260 crore and grew 65%. Net debt for the quarter was INR 1,203 crore. The debt has increased primarily due to payout for Zuventus minority stake. With that, I'll now open the floor for questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Amey Chalke with JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you so much, and congrats to the management on good set of numbers. So I have first question on India business. Just wanted to understand the growth factors here for the quarter, particularly. We have delivered 15% growth. I believe this was largely normalized quarter. So is it possible to give some understanding of what has driven 15% growth, and how is the core business performing versus the in-licensed business like Sanofi, et cetera? Thank you.
Okay. Thanks, Amey. So I think the domestic business, where the 15%, that also includes some element from the OAD portfolio that we in-licensed in the second quarter. So ex of that, I think the base business is also growing in a healthy double digits, 10% plus. And that is led by a growth across all our therapies, especially, I think, the chronic side, cardio, diabetes, we are seeing quite strong growth. We have been talking about CNS, that is actually ramping up quite well for us. So those are some of the key drivers for the growth.
The iron portfolio has also started delivering double-digit growth, where the growth has been an issue for a while.
Yes. So even in the iron segment, the FCM is now back on the growth trajectory.
Okay. The second question I have is on the GLP-1 product. So, basically, what would be our offering when we go to the doctors? Because we would be competing with one side, there would be a tirzepatide, which is a better product in terms of efficacy, et cetera. Plus, there would be a generic competition on the semaglutide, which will come in maybe over the next one or two months. So, as an innovative product on the semaglutide side, what all offerings we would be taking to doctors when we will be selling this product, basically? Is it a convenience? Is it something like a pen, which is better? Like, what all things which will work in our favor to get more market share?
Sure. So I think just to start off with, a lot of the new data that is coming from semaglutide, especially with the new strength that has been approved, shows that it is equal in efficacy, if not better than tirzepatide in weight loss, but far better in terms of the data that it has for cardiac comorbidities. So in that context, positioning semaglutide as a better product than, you know, the peers, is definitely something that we are educating the entire HCP community.
In addition to that, you know, since it's a very complementary arrangement with Novo, some of the specialties that they are strong in, which is endo diabeto, we are complementing by going, like I mentioned, since there is great data in cardiovascular, you know, and since we are so strong in that segment, we've made a very big push in the entire cardio segment. So that's how this arrangement at this time is working well. We are already bracing in terms of, you know, the competition. We expect it to be fierce, but there are things that are definitely advantages. One is, of course, the years of data that the innovator brings. You know, the device that you mentioned also is, you know, much more convenient.
You know, as and when required, there will be flexibility in terms of pricing.
Sure. And how is the offtake so far, and have you added more MRs or field force to sell this product?
Yeah. So we launched the product only in end December. So one month in, we're happy with the initial traction. In terms of the coverage, two of our largest divisions are handling, promoting and educating the medical fraternity for this product. So we believe that's adequate coverage pan-India, and now the product is very much available across India as well. So, so far we're very happy with sort of the initial traction that we're seeing with the product.
Sure. Just last question I have on the gross margins. So it has fallen this quarter despite good India growth. Just wanted to understand reasons here and any guidance of the gross margin front would be helpful. Thank you so much. I've enjoyed that.
Yeah. So on the gross margin front, it's really more of a mix issue. So if you look at, as Piyush mentioned, we have the Sanofi OAD portfolio as well as, in a limited sense, the launch of Poviztra. And then our international piece of the business has actually grown faster than our domestic business. So when you look at all of those different components, that's what led to the weighted average gross margins coming down slightly this quarter. And I think, at the same time, a lot of those components of the business have a lower component of OpEx to support those gross margins. So that's where you're seeing our EBITDA margins still being healthy and in fact, in line with the small expansion that we had guided to.
Sure. So going ahead, should we expect lower gross margin, considering our exports are growing faster than India business?
So if you look at it, I think for overall gross margins for FY 26, we're still gonna be in that ballpark, about 60% range. We haven't put out a specific guidance, but yes, we do anticipate that the international business will continue to grow relatively faster than the domestic business. And so to that extent, you could see these gross margins, you know, moving a little bit in that direction. At the same time, like I said, at the EBITDA level, we think that we'll get benefit from economies of scale and operating leverage to support that mix.
Sure. Got it. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Sudarshan Padmanaban from ASK Investment Managers . Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question, and congrats on the set up number. Sir, you know, if, you know-
Mr. Padmanaban, sorry for interrupting. You sound... Can you just increase your volume a little? Can you come a little closer?
Can you hear me, now? Am I audible?
Loud and clear. Please go ahead. Thank you.
Yeah. Yeah. I would like to understand a little bit more on the domestic side, where we have done, you know, quite well in the last few quarters. You know, we have embarked on, you know, pushing a little bit more on the chronic side, I mean, through in-licensing, through, you know, Sanofi. And also, if you look at it, you know, embarking or deepening our presence in gynecology, et cetera. So if you can give some color with respect to the acute/chronic, where do we believe is a sweet spot, you know, where we think acute and chronic, you know, in terms of having the split, in terms of also engaging with the doctors? So just a little bit more color on that, and how do we expect to expand the therapy from here as well?
Sure. So right now, if you look at it, our chronic is now closer to about 50/50 chronic and acute for us. I think where incrementally going forward, we do see the chronic going still better than the acute side. And especially if you look at with semaglutide, even on the diabetes side, where with Sanofi portfolio, the whole idea when we took over the Sanofi portfolio is we see that benefit coming into our diabetes, where we historically we haven't been that strong. We are seeing some of that playing out in the early days. We are seeing a big benefit of that in the cardio side. So we do expect the chronic share to increase over time as we go forward.
Yeah, sure, sir. And with respect to, you know, the licensing strategy, I mean, of course it gives you, you know, the edge when you go and, you know, speak to the physicians, et cetera. I mean, the kind of deal that we, you know, had, you know, with respect to semaglutide, what is the strategy here in terms of, you know, strengthening our presence with the doctor community? Where do we think, you know, we would like to kind of engage more? And how do we see the proportion of the business coming in from this part of the licensing or primarily tying up with the innovators?
... So if you look at in-licensing overall for Emcure, it probably represents about 6 or 7% of our total revenue base. Even if you were to bifurcate that for the domestic business, it's probably somewhere in the low to mid-double digits in terms of or low to mid-teens contribution to the overall domestic business. We firmly believe that having access to some of these very strong legacy brands or even innovator brands like your second brand, Poviztra, it allows us to really build on our strengths. We've always been known as a company that's bringing new products and you know engaging with the medical fraternity with science-backed products.
I think this in-licensing strategy fits firmly with that, where we're then able to also have a rub off effect on the rest of our portfolio. So we like to highlight examples like a cardiac segment where, you know, on our own, we're very strong amongst the top ten players, but with the complementary nature of the Sanofi portfolio, we're now overall the fourth largest company in the cardiac segment. And we have seen that by giving one or two of our Emcure brands to that team, we have seen sales immediately pick up for some of those brands, given their strong doctor connect as well. So I think these are some of the aspects that we will continue to look for in evaluating and trying to do more such in-licensing arrangements.
So thanks for that. So one final question before I join back the queue. It's on the export side of the business, is this quarter. You know, the last few quarters, we have been seeing very good growth coming in from the launch of Amphotericin B. And, you know, we are also having, you know, if I'm correct, probably a little later on, you know, launching semaglutide as well. So if you can give some color with respect to how we are, you know, looking at the export market in the next couple of years, and specifically with respect to semaglutide in the international market, do we think that, you know, apart from Amphotericin B, this can be a short-term down for us? You know, given that there is a lot of players also coming into this space.
Let me just give a macro answer, and then Samit can talk a little bit about some of the pipeline that might drive that growth. So the international markets, we are very bullish that they will continue to grow mid- to high-teens for us organically. And we've seen that, you know, very strong performance across markets, whether you talk of Canada, Europe, or the rest of world emerging markets. Obviously, in Europe in particular, the Manx portfolio that we acquired earlier at the start of the year, as well as the launch of our liposomal Amphotericin B in UK, Italy, and soon to be rolled out in other parts of Europe, is what's driving the very strong performance that will continue into FY 2027. In Canada, I think it's been fairly broad-based.
If you look at the Mantra, plus Marcan, complementary portfolio, we have delivered, you know, 13% revenue growth. And I think we are again bullish that low-teens sort of growth should continue in that market, given the very robust pipeline of in-house products that we have. And on the emerging markets, I think it's a combination of, you know, the complex injectables or some of these differentiated products that we continue to file and await, you know, regulatory approvals and then launch, that is driving the growth in these markets. I think semaglutide will be one of the products that obviously over time becomes more meaningful for us in some of these international markets. But I think it's a much broader portfolio of these various products that's gonna drive that.
Samit, I don't know if you want to give some more color on that.
Sure. I think, you know, from the beginning, we've always said that we first built out some technology platforms and then commercialized products off it. So, for example, on the liposomal platform, while Amphotericin B was commercial success, it's also a proof of concept that is now being utilized to work on at least three more products, which will, over the next few years, get filed and commercialized across different markets. And of course, you know, given the strength that we have in the domestic market, we're now leveraging by filing some of our injectable iron products globally. And third, but, you know, not the least, is the biologics portfolio, where we are seeing great success in India. And now, as emerging market approvals are coming through, we see that being a big driver, pushing future growth.
Thanks a lot. I'm joining back to you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Kunal Randeria with Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, everyone. So I'll just take forward what Samit just said about the biosimilar portfolio, you know, expanding to emerging markets. So would you like us to maybe, you know, know which products you will be targeting? Will it be largely tenecteplase, or there are other products in the pipeline? And which geographies will you target, and some timelines would also be welcome.
I think while, you know, tenecteplase would be the flagship, as far as the biologics go, we also believe that some of the other products that we have, which are commercial here, whether it's a pegaspargine, whether it's erythropoietin, whether it is even something like our pegylated filgrastim, or for that matter, the products that we have, you know, which we are waiting for near-term approval, all of these have huge, potential in the emerging markets. So, of course, it will be a phase-wise approach, since, you know, there will be costs also involved, either with clinical trials or filings and approvals.
... But, we see this as something that can go across all emerging markets, especially in our strength areas like Latin America, Southeast Asia, where, you know, we are starting off with.
And I think, liposomal Amphotericin B is another example of a product that we have already been filing in some of the emerging markets, and it'll take its time in terms of getting market-wide approvals. But like Europe, we see a huge opportunity, for some of those, key injectable products as well for the emerging markets.
Sure. So should we assume that R&D will kind of inch up going forward in the next couple of years?
As an absolute number, yes, but as a %, we are very conscious, you know, % of top line, and we will continue to maintain it in the region that we traditionally have been.
Sure. Sure. And, you know, would it be fair to say that, you know, on Vikas's comment, on Amphotericin B, since you are only launching in the markets now, if, let's say, 100 is your, you know, kind of target, sales, you have barely, you know, touched 10% of it, and there is still scope to grow over the next 2-3 years?
So, yeah, we won't get into the numbers and all, but yeah, we just started launching it out. So right now, I think we are present fully only in the UK market. Most of the other geographies, we are just either just in the phase of launching or we're launching in the coming quarter.
Sure. Sure. And just last one more, if I can. So lenacapavir, you're one of the few companies to have the license. So would you like to update us on the progress, and, you know, the eventual market potential for the drug?
Again, you know, can't put a number to the market potential, though we think it's a revolutionary introduction in the field of HIV. It's, you know, both therapeutically and prophylactically, it offers the opportunity for cure, so, you know, market could be huge. We are making very good progress. So to tell you, we have completed our API validation batches at our U.S. FDA-approved facility. And in terms of formulation, both on the injectables and the oral solid, are, you know, reasonably, I mean, pretty much same status, where we've already entered our plans to execute the batches.
Sure. A couple of your domestic peers have announced some kind of tie-up with some agencies, so you haven't announced anything of that sort. Do you think it puts you at a disadvantage?
No, I think, you know, these are the procurement agencies. There are several procurement agencies. I think a couple of the peers have mentioned about one or two of them, but, you know, there's so many different tenders, so many procurement agencies, whether it is WHO or the Program, CHAI, PAHO, there's a lot of them. And given traditionally we've been very strong and have great relationships with these agencies, I think we will continue to, you know, have a good opportunity in the market.
And I don't think any of those agreements exclude us out from those, suppliers. So whenever the products get approved, I think the supplier, the agencies, put out tenders where everybody's, allowed to, apply out.
Sure. So Piyush, you mean those are exclusive agreements with those pharma companies? You can also come and... Okay, got it. Perfect. That's very helpful. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and One to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Bharat C. Shah, Shah Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Satish bhai. First and foremost, congratulations on bettering yourself. I had basically two sets of questions. The first is in the, you're frequently guided about your various growth levers, in terms of the product portfolio, the partnerships and in-licensing arrangements and, product, portfolio expansion, et cetera. But I'd be happy to get revisited about how do you see the picture, for next 3-5 years, both in terms of domestic market growth that you believe likely there is a compounded rate, as well as the international territory, where you seem to be doing surprisingly well, surprisingly, at least to my mind. So I'll be keen to hear your view on, long-term growth drivers.
Yeah. I will start with this, and then I'll let Satish also chime in. So if you look at the domestic market, what we've been guiding all along is that, you know, we believe the industry will continue to grow very healthy, high single digits or maybe even touching double digits. And we aspire to continue to grow faster than industry. So even if we're talking about a 3-5-year time horizon, we believe that we will continue to outgrow the industry, again, driven by our in-house R&D strength, as well as the in-licensing arrangements that we will continue to look for in terms of augmenting our portfolio.
On the international side, while, you know, obviously, in some of the markets we're seeing very aggressive growth, we think over a 3-5-year horizon, you know, both, Europe and Canada, we believe, can continue to grow at a compounded low-teen sort of growth rate. And, on the emerging market side, we've highlighted that on, you know, there's a HIV component—which we are seeing some strong performance over the last 12 months and a very strong order book. Having said that, I think with the lenacapavir, and how that plays out, has the potential to, you know, keep that segment fairly strong for us, and in fact, probably a better margin profile. On the rest of the business, the non-ARV business, is where we believe it's still a relatively small, contributor to the overall portfolio today.
And with the kind of product pipeline we're working on, that can continue to grow healthy double digits as well. So, and this is without talking about any sort of M&A that we might do over that 3- to 5-year horizon, which we will obviously look forward to, especially while we're generating very healthy free cash flows over the next several years. So I think all in all, we believe, and we're very bullish, that we will continue to grow a very healthy amount in both India and the international markets, over this time horizon that you highlighted.
You wanted to say something, Vic? Huh, Vic, you said you'd talk after Shah saab, huh? Good to talk to you. Vic has said everything. I mean, let me tell you that the company you know that we have built up is on the premise, you know, that we are not run-of-the-mill company. We will essentially focus on science, technology, and innovation. In my opening remarks, you know, I did tell you that when I started marketing our products, you know, in mid-nineties, at that time, you know, we were in branded generics. From branded generics, you know, we graduated to specialty products, you know, with emphasis on biologics and chemistry. Now, you know, we are working with new novelties, innovator molecule, you know, we are bringing for the first time in the country. I believe that journey will continue.
As Vikas rightly said, you know, that as far as the industry is concerned, the next 3-5 years, you know, will grow by a high single digit or maybe 11, 12%. But at the same time, you know, as far as we are concerned, you know, we'll be growing faster than the industry. That's my belief, and that is based on the good work in the science and technology that we are doing. Talking about the international market, you know, we are simply not in the commodity business, and that's what, you know, Samit was trying to say, you know, the growth will come from products like, say, Amphotericin B, lenacapavir, and we have a product pipeline, you know, which is quite exciting, which will do well in the international market.
So the focus will be on giving differentiated products, you know, in the international market, so the margins are taken care. Keep on investing in R&D so that we have a good technology-driven pipeline. As far as the Indian market is concerned, same story, give differentiated products and keep on looking for opportunities through, like, Poviztra, this known opportunity has come our way. So fairly well-defined thought process, Shah saab, we have. And as Vic rightly mentioned, as we go up the value chain, we will also be inclined to look at some bolt-on acquisition if we come across. So very clear strategic roadmap we have, but at the same time, everything will be done keeping in view the interest of the shareholders, and do it in a way by which, you know, whatever we do will be accretive. Okay.
Thank you. We have lost the line of Mr. Shah. I will promote the next, that is Vamsi Hota from ASK Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks, thanks for the opportunity and, congratulations on the good set of numbers. Firstly, you know, I'm tracking the company for the first time, so apologies in advance if some of the questions are rudimentary. With the change in the FDA's, U.S. FDA stands on, the approval for biosimilars, process, right? In terms of the lack of, need for a mandatory phase three clinical trial. Do we want to... I mean, do we have plans of further entering somewhere down the line into the U.S. market with our biosimilars portfolio? That is my first question.
Sure. So, as far as biosimilars go, we are closely tracking these evolving regulatory guidelines, while though not directly as an aspiration to enter the U.S. market. But, you know, given the kinds of products we have, there are some potential collaboration opportunities that could come up, where we could partner with someone to file our products and have them front-end the product. So that's, you know, as far as U.S. goes. But, given that a lot of, you know, the global agencies do follow, the U.S. guidelines, we are very hopeful that similar kind of, approach is adopted by some of the other countries, including in Europe, Canada, you know, the emerging markets, and of course, finally in India as well, where we can then really ramp up a lot of our pipeline.
Very helpful, sir. Just one more question in terms of the recent Bio-Pharma Shakti scheme that has been announced. So while it is definitely a positive for the overall sector, how do you see this translating specifically for, let's say, a company? Is it a company like yours? So is it going to be via any kind of PLI benefit that you foresee from this, or is it going to be some kind of manufacturing incentive in terms of setting up the facility from the government? Or, like, so how is this going to translate to a company-specific opportunity?
Early days, it is very difficult to opine right now. I mean, the policy, you know, I mean, it is simply being mentioned in the Budget speech of the Honorable Finance Minister. Once we get the fine print, you know, we'll be in a position to respond. I mean, but what I like about her statement, that first of all, you know, she started with biologics, so that it's a lot of importance is being given by government of India to biologics. Then a corpus of INR 10,000 crore, you know, is earmarked. And if I recollect the speech, you know, that she made, she specifically mentioned about the three aspects of usage. You know, she mentioned about oncology. She talked about diabetes, and she talked about rare disease. So these are the three statements, you know, which were made by her.
Once, you know, the fine print is out, how it plays out?
I think, you know, just to build on that, couple of specific things also. A, you know, Gennova definitely is, you know, into all these disease areas, especially oncology. Two things that were mentioned in terms of usage of funds. One was, of course, to set up many more clinical trial centers. The number given was 1,000, and hopefully that should really speed up patient recruitment for a lot of the clinicals that we do. And number two was also to strengthen a few or establish a few more NIPERs with, you know, capabilities and expertise in biologics. And we really value that because we are always at the forefront of industry and academia collaboration. So there, you know, we would love to collaborate with these upcoming institutes to also generate new IP.
No, no, but Samit, one more thing was also mentioned was, you know, sorting out the regulatory processes by which, you know, they want to strengthen the CDSCO, and you just mentioned about, U.S. FDA. So they also want to bring about, you know, the method of working or everything, you know, in line with the best global practices. So early days, but at the same time, you know, government is acutely conscious of the fact, you know, that we have to support. And sometime back, you know, statement was made that as far as India is concerned, the vision of government of India is, you know, in due course of time, this, you know, particular sector should contribute $500 ,000,000,000. Utopian dream, but the dream is there nevertheless. So to that extent, I do expect, you know, a lot of support.
Let us look at the fine print, and then maybe next time, you know, next call, if we have some more details, you know, we'll be able to share.
Sure, sir. Thanks for the detailed response, and all the best.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Kunal Randeria with Axis Capital, please go ahead.
Next question. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Bharat C. Shah with Shah Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah, I satisfied to continue the dialogue. Actually, I was on the call earlier also, but probably the coordinator of the call did not like my voice and did not allow me to proceed with my questions. But so to summarize, what you and Vic were saying, also what Satish mentioned, essentially, domestic business industry is likely to do 8%-10%. We probably doing 12%-14%. International, Europe and Canada is pretty much well stepped up, supplemented by specialty portfolio, not commodity portfolio, and should be doing hopefully 14%-16% kind of a growth. And non-ARV, rest of the world market, hopefully should be doing 14%-16%.
So, all put together, summarizing, somewhere in the range of 13%-15% compounded overall, will be a fair summary over the next five years?
Yeah, I think broadly, without getting into each of the specific numbers, I think broadly, if you look at it, a low- to mid-teens growth rate, compounded growth rate is what we will aspire for, and that's what we've been guiding to. I think for the year, obviously we had guided in the past to roughly a 13% growth. I think we're probably tracking slightly ahead of that. And, you know, similar sort of guidance we would probably be looking at for FY 2027 forward.
Okay. And secondly, on the margins, we already are at what I would regard as pretty healthy margin this quarter or at operating level, almost 27%. Sorry, 20%. Would we say margins over this journey would remain in this range, improve, or is there risk of coming off?
Yeah, I think, there, barring any M&A or in-licensing, if we look at the organic growth, we anticipate our margin profile to continue to improve. And so over a 3- to 5-year horizon, we would anticipate at least a 300- to 400 basis point improvement in our EBITDA margin profile, with roughly a 100 basis points or so improvement year on year for the next, 2 to 3 years, is what we have guided to in the past as well. And if you look at it, this year, we're broadly on track for delivering that sort of organic margin improvement that we had talked about earlier.
Yes. So, 20 going to more like 23-24% over 3-4 years time?
That is definitely our aspiration.
All right. Thank you. This is very, very helpful. This sounds, pardon my saying so, but almost a bit mathematical. Is there any risk of something slipping off our eyes and kind of giving us a rude surprise? I mean, if something was to go wrong in this picture, what could it possibly be?
I mean, I think those sort of industry or overall macro risks are always gonna be there. So in that sense, you know, things that we could control, obviously, we feel bullish about executing on the business. You know, I think it comes down to some of these key product launches that we have planned. To the extent that those get delayed or have any regulatory hiccups, I think those are the kinds of risks that I would potentially look at, that could have some disruption to the overall guidance. But barring that, I think other than any geopolitical or macro risks, we should be in line with sort of the guidance that we're providing.
I mean, just to add to that in a lighter way, you know, Vic, what really happens, you know, we don't have any presence, significant presence in U.S. To that extent, you know, we don't worry about on which side of the bed, you know, Mr. Trump, the president, gets up. So, so to that extent, you know, we are possibly better placed than the peer group. And, the business is so well spread, like, you know, domestic, emerging, Europe and Canada. So all things, you know, going wrong, well, I don't know. It can still happen, but at the same time, when you compare with the peer group, you know, I feel good about, you know, what we are doing. But I don't have a crystal ball. Anything can happen.
Of course. On that note, thank you so much, and very best wishes. I think from the IPO time, with some amount of initial tentativeness, but I think Emcure is now finding firm footing, firm feet and moving forward in a very nice way. So congratulations to you, Satish Mehta, and the entire Emcure team.
Shah Sahib, I very much appreciate, you know, your sentiments and your support, you know, means a lot to all of us, to me as a person, to family, and all, and all of us who are sitting over here. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Forum Parekh with BOB Capital Markets . Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers. My first question is on the domestic side. We mentioned that our in-license portfolio is 6%-7% of the total sales, and probably low to mid double digit of the contribution of the domestic sales. So my question is, do we have any threshold limit that beyond this, the in-licensing portfolio should not exceed, and as a result, our gross margins should be protected at a particular, you know, percentage, or it should not fall beyond a certain percentage?
So Forum, I don't think specifically we're looking at a threshold and all, but how we look at it is, this in-licensing is that it has to be more strategic and where it makes strategic sense in therapies. So if you look at cardio, the whole idea was that with the Sanofi portfolio, we become among the top four, five players, and we saw a lot of benefits in terms of the portfolio synergies, which is what is now playing out in the segment. Similarly, diabetes, we were not present, we didn't have a significant presence there, and we were looking at semaglutide coming through, so the OAD portfolio was in preparation for that.
So I think, all of these have been more thought through, where we think the therapies in-licensing, not just as a top on, but where it has a rub-off a benefit on our portfolio. Obviously, when we look at it, the whole idea is that while, yeah, in gross, gross margins level, they are slightly dilutive, but at a EBITDA on a synergized basis or more importantly, on ROCs, they are much, much more healthier.
Yeah, but can you comment on the gross margin percentage? I mean, something that beyond which, we feel that it will not slip. Is there some percentage do we have, or we can guide upon?
I, rather than talk specifically to the gross margin, I think just to build on what Piyush said, I think for all in-licensing arrangements, we would be targeting standalone deals with at least a double-digit EBITDA margin profile, and then some aspect of synergies, too, as a rub off to the rest of the portfolio, such that we have a combined EBITDA margin profile, that is, you know, in line with what we would expect. And as Piyush said, what's even more important is the return on capital or the free cash flow generation. In most of these deals that you would have seen, there is little to zero upfront, payment or commitment.
To have access to these types of portfolios that are cash flow accretive from day one of us handling the assignment is something that we think is still good business.
Sure. And, my second question is on the European side. We believe that Amphotericin B has been launched in Italy and fully present in U.K. So, if you can just guide us, how many countries, you know, are we still expecting the launch to be in Europe? And therefore, this, this quarter's growth rate, would it be able to measure, in the subsequent quarters as well?
Yeah, so we are there in 23 countries now, the approval has come in, but the launch is taking some time. So, this quarter would be similar to what we did last quarter. We can see growth coming in from the next year onwards.
Sure. Thank you for taking my questions.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Kartik Pani with Bajaj. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity and, congratulations on a good set of numbers. So my question is on the MR productivity after we have MRs from Sanofi.
... so what is your current productivity? How is the ramp-up of the MR productivity tracked? And is there any specific therapy area or cluster that is giving us higher PCPM than others?
So our current productivity is about 7, and if you compare it to last year, we were around 6, 6.1 at a similar quarter. And I think, where we're obviously seeing a higher productivities are in a chronic and women's health segment, which will do quite well for us.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Amlan Datta with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. So my question is regarding the European portfolio. Would it be possible to quantify how much share of revenues is from the Manx portfolio, the one that you acquired in last April?
Manx will be right now 5%-6%. It's a couple of million dollars that you'll have in the quarter. Okay.
Okay, and on Amphotericin B, how large would be the European market for the product, sir?
Total European market will be in excess of EUR 100 ,000,000, I would say. Yeah, in excess of EUR 100 ,000,000, the total market.
Okay. Okay. Okay, sir. That, those are my questions. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Bharat C. Shah, with Shah Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah, this question is for Mr. Tajuddin Shaikh. Mr. Shaikh, I just wanted to understand, over the next three to five years, growth journey and margin journey. I had a very good discussion with Satish Mehta, Vikas Thapar, and Samit Mehta. I just wanted to understand, in this five-year journey, borrowings, which today, I think, it is up to the hilt and stands at close to INR 1,200 crore. So in five-year journey, what do you think the borrowing level would look like? In other words, when do you expect the borrowings to be kind of come off from the balance sheet? And our fixed assets at about INR 3,300 crore, with what kind of likely intensity this asset block will grow over the next five years?
Okay. We are at INR 1,203 crores net debt. We are also having an earn out payment of close to around INR 350 crores coming in the month of May, so that would take us close to INR 1,500 crores. We expect this to go off the balance sheet probably in the next 24-36 months.
Yeah, the earn-out payment he's referring to is the final earn-out related to the Mantra acquisition, which will happen in Q1 of next year. Again, just to reiterate that with that earn-out plus the roughly INR 1,200 crores now, we anticipate that with the cash flow generation that we are expecting, probably by end FY 2028-
Yeah.
We should be cash flow positive, barring any other acquisitions that we go in for.
Sure. On the gross block, Mr. Shaikh?
On the gross block, we expect about INR 300-400 crore addition per year, depending on what we get in and all. This is without taking into account any acquisitions or anything coming in.
I think we've been guiding to that 350-400-
Yeah.
- and we foresee that that will continue for the next 2-3 years.
Right. That means over the five years, gross block probably may expand by 50% or thereabout.
Yes.
From INR 1,550 odd crore of borrowing level, net debt in May 2026. Hopefully by December 2028, we should be net debt at a zero level. Is that a fair summation?
Yeah.
Probably, yes.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The last question comes from the line of Bansi Desai with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks, and congratulations on a strong set of numbers. So just two questions. So firstly, on, you know, our international markets growth, which has been pretty robust, I assume, you know, this also has seen benefits of, favorable currency across markets. So if you could just comment on, you know, whether we are seeing those benefits, at our gross margin levels as well, and therefore, as and when these currencies, you know, normalize over the next few quarters, how should we think about our gross margins? Because our in-licensing component probably would continue to grow, you know, Sanofi portfolio, you know, you also have Novo Nordisk products. So I'm just thinking through, you know, how should we think about gross margins in that light once the currency normalizes?
So I think on the currency, gross margin side, there's not going to be much benefit that you saw, because we also have imports that comes in dollar terms, where you have the currency hit that you get. So net-net, I don't think there's significant benefit at a percentage level that you see for us.
All right. And for Amphotericin B market, which you mentioned EUR 100 ,000,000, if you can also talk about the competitive landscape. I understand you are the only generic, you know, approved at this point in time, but how do you see competition, evolving over the next few years?
... I think, competition will come eventually, you know, but couple of things. One is, of course, you know, tenders are typically locked in for a couple of years in several countries, so that should give us some benefit. And we also believe that the kind of capacity that we have created, you know, it's probably second to the innovators. So in terms, since this is a very high-volume product, being able to, you know, consistently ship out these quantities also should hold us in good stead. So, you know, while we can't do away or wish away competition, I think we will continue to hold a favorable position whenever it comes in.
I think just to add on that product, specifically, the EUR 100 ,000,000+ is just a Europe opportunity. We think there's an equally large opportunity when you add up all the rest of world markets, where we're also going to be, over time, launching the product as well. Given the in-house capacities we have and looking at the potential of these markets, we'll obviously look to capitalize wherever we can, even in the face of some competition that will eventually come.
Thanks for that. If you could share, where are we manufacturing this particular product, in which site of ours?
Depending on market, we have couple of sites. So one of the sites is from Sanand, and the other site, which is servicing a few of the other markets, is in Pune.
All right. Thanks so much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. We have reached the end of question and answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you all for joining today's investor call. If any of your queries still remain unanswered, please feel free to get in touch with us. Thank you. Have a good day.
Thank you. On behalf of Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited, this concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect.