Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 and 9 months FY 2024 earnings conference call of Mankind Pharma Limited. 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. Abhishek Agarwal, Head, Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everybody. A very well, very warm welcome to our Q3 FY24 earnings conference call. On the call today, we have Mr. Rajeev Juneja, Vice Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Sheetal Arora, Chief Executive Officer and Whole-Time Director; Mr. Arjun Juneja, Chief Operating Officer; Dr. Sanjay Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer; Mr. Ashutosh Dhawan, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Prakash Agarwal, President, Strategy. We will begin with opening comments from Mr. Rajeev Juneja, providing an overview of the quarter, followed by comments from Mr. Sheetal Arora on the business performance. Mr. Ashutosh Dhawan will share key financial performance, and then we will leave the forum open for Q&A. I hope you had a chance to access the investor pack shared on January 31, 2024. However, I'd like to re-emphasize on the fact that certain statements made during today's call may pertain to future expectations and plans.
A comprehensive disclaimer regarding the same has been provided on investor presentation and press release uploaded on our website. Now, I would like to invite Rajeev, sir, to share his comments.
Thank you, Abhishek, and good afternoon, everyone. A very warm welcome to our quarter three 2024 earnings call. I'm delighted to share that company has witnessed a strong quarterly performance, as our revenue grew by 25% year-over-year to INR 2,607 crore during the quarter. EBITDA grew by 39% year-over-year to INR 611 crore, PAT grew by 55% year-over-year to INR 460 crore. We have further bolstered our net cash position to INR 2,756 crore, and the return on capital employed has also increased to 31% year-over-year in December 2023, compared to 23% as on December 2022.
Here, I would like to specially highlight a key fact that in this quarter we have successfully optimized our working capital days to 42 days in December 2023, versus 46 days in December 2022. While Mankind domestic secondary sales growth was 9% for the quarter as per IQVIA, which is 1.1 times our performance to IPM growth for the quarter. However, we have reported a strong primary growth of 20% year-on-year in domestic business, led by robust growth in chronic, recovery in anti-infective and gastro. This basically has happened due to strong growth in modern trade and hospital sales. Our top five therapeutics by sales have outperformed the IPM by 1.5 times.
With the focus efforts of our team, our chronic segment share has increased by 130 basis points to 34.9% in nine months 2024, as compared to 33.6% in nine months 2023. We remain committed to increasing our presence in chronic therapeutic area. Our market share of our key chronic therapies, such as cardiac and antidiabetic, has reached to all-time high, exceeding 5% and 4.4%, respectively. In our consumer healthcare segment, while primary sales performance has been muted, we have demonstrated healthy growth in secondary tertiary sales in various brand categories, resulting into market share gain again. We remain confident that this segment will regain its strong growth trajectory, propelling further expansion of our market share.
On the R&D front, our focus remains on the product innovation, advancing drug delivery system, and fostering strategic partnership with innovators to bolster our product offerings. The successful introduction of Dydroboon reaffirmed our position as science-driven organization, committed to delivering high-quality solution to meet evolving market demand. Given strong net cash balance sheet, we continue to pursue opportunities in chronic therapies and consumer healthcare business via strategic acquisition and in-license opportunities. With our collective efforts and strategic vision of quality, affordability, and accessibility, we are confident to outperform industry growth in the years to come and deliver lasting value to our shareholders. With this, I will hand over to Sheetal, who will provide more details on our business performance.
Thank you, Rajeevji. Good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to offer key insight of our business segments. Our domestic business, which account for more than 90% of our sales, has demonstrated robust year-on-year growth of 20%, reaching INR 2,400 crore in quarter 3, financial year 2024. This growth is driven by several factors. First, we have seen strong chronic growth, 1.5 times higher than the Indian pharmaceutical market. This includes a 16.7% increase in the cardiac segment, versus 8.8% for the IPM, and a 13.4% rise in anti-diabetes, compared to 5.5% for the IPM. Second, there is a notable recovery in key acute therapies.
Our anti-infective segment grew by 13.8% against the IPM's 9.5%, and our gastro segment increased by 12.8% compared to 9.3% for the IPM. Third, our modern trade has continued to experience robust growth. Although this data is not captured in IQVIA reports, that is why there is a bridge between primary and secondary sales. If we adjust our secondary sales growth rate to consider significant increases in modern trade and the withdrawal of key products due to regulatory restrictions, our IQVIA secondary sales growth would also show a substantial increase. Additionally, after adjusting for these factors, our volume growth has also exceeded the IPM volume growth.
We have also analyzed our primary sales volume data, which indicates a 2.3% volume growth in quarter three, financial year 2024, compared to a 1.8% volume decline in IQVIA secondary sales data. Our chronic business has shown a remarkable growth of 12.2%, consistently outperforming the IPM chronic by 1.3 times, and the CVM IPM chronic by 1.6 times. This underscores the resilience and competitiveness of our chronic segment. I am delighted to report that our market share has increased sequentially, reaching 4.5% in quarter three, financial year 2024, from 4.4% in quarter two, financial year 2024. Even our CVM share has also rose to 6.6% from 6.5% quarter-over-quarter.
Additionally, the count of our brands generating revenue of INR 50 crore has risen to 39 in mid-December 2023, up from 37 in financial year 2023, showing significant potential for further growth. Our Spanish revenues have continued to show healthy growth of 25% during the quarter. However, our consumer healthcare business experienced a subdued quarter with the revenues of INR 159 crore in quarter three, financial year 2024, a 5% year-on-year decline due to the corrective actions taken, as I previously highlighted. Despite this, our key brands continue to show strong secondary sales growth across categories, increasing their market share. Our export business has shown a growth of 118% year-over-year, led by a strong performance in the US market. With our commitment to a healthier Bharat, I am confident that we are on the path to a brighter future.
I'd like to conclude by expressing my gratitude to all our stakeholders for their support and confidence in Mankind. Before I will hand over to Ashutoshji to provide us deeper insight into our financial performance, let me highlight a few important points. First, the growth of Mankind is 25% versus quarter three, 2023 versus quarter three, 2024. Chronic segment is 1.5 times higher than the IPM. Market share of Q3 is 4.5% versus Q2, 4.4%. Financial revenue growth is more than 25%. Export has grown in the tune of 118%. Even the growth of EBITDA is 39%. Now, Ashutoshji, please go for our financial details. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Sheetalji. A very good afternoon, everyone. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for taking time out for joining us today. I hope you would have received our financial results and press release published on thirty-first of January 2024. Today, I will talk to you through the key financial highlights for quarter three, FY 24. During the quarter, our revenue from operations significantly increased by 25% year-on-year basis to INR 2,607 crore, as compared to INR 2,091 crore for Q3 FY 23. The EBITDA has grown by 39% on year-on-year basis to INR 611 crore, with a margin of 23.4%, as compared to INR 400 crore, with a margin of 21% last year's Q3 FY 23.
which is an increase of 2.5%-2.4% on year-on-year basis in percentage terms. This increase of 2.4% is driven by increase in gross margin of 0.7%, and the balance is supported by operating leverage being achieved due to strong revenue growth, which is 55% on year-on-year basis. In Q3, FY 2024, gross margins have increased by 0.7% to 68.3%, as compared to 67.6% in Q3 of last year. This increase is on account of favorable sales mix and the price increase effect, which was undertaken in the prior quarters. The R&D expenses for the quarter are at INR 56 crore, which is 2.1% of the sales, which remains within the stipulated range of 2%-2.5%, as we have communicated earlier.
The depreciation and amortization expenses for the quarter increased to INR 110 crore from INR 85 crore in Q3, FY 2023. This is primarily due to two reasons: First one is the capitalization effect, as we have capitalized more than INR 1,000 crore in the last twelve months. Moreover, in this quarter, we have taken an accelerated depreciation on the items capitalized for our research center at Manesar, as we have initiated the process of upgradation and expansion of R&D center to support future growth. The ETR for nine months, FY 2024, is close to 20% as compared to 21.6% during FY 2023.
The profit after tax for the quarter was at INR 460 crore, which is 17.6% of the sales, representing a robust growth of 55% year-on-year basis, with diluted EPS of INR 11.3 per share of Re 1 paid. Cash EPS, that is, cash adjusted for non-cash items like depreciation and amortization, was at INR 14.1. Further, I am elated to share that during the quarter, we we witnessed strong cash flow from operations of INR 667 crore due to operational efficiency, resulting in reducing the working capital days from 46 days to 42 days on a 12-month trailing period basis. This led to a healthy net cash position of INR 2,756 crore.
Our strong cash position in the balance sheet provides enough scope for any potential M&A and in-licensing opportunities. Return on capital employed ex cash increased to 31% on twelve months trailing basis, as compared to 25% in FY 2023. This is due to EBIT improvement and cash generation on trailing twelve months basis. A return on equity ex cash increased to 26% on twelve months trailing basis, as compared to 23% in FY 2023, primarily due to increase in PAT percentage on TTM basis. The CapEx, including the capital work in progress, was at INR 324 crore in nine months, FY 2024. For FY 2024, the total CapEx would be less than INR 500 crore. Further, we expect to maintain our EBITDA margins for the full year to be in the range of 24%-26%, as mentioned in the previous interactions.
With this, I would like to conclude our opening remarks, and we will now be happy to address any questions that you may have, please. Over to you, Abhishek, here.
Yeah, we can start the Q&A.
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may please press star and one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Dr. Kunal Dee from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations on the strong set of numbers. First one, on our reported growth of around 22% for the domestic prescription business, if I strip out our consumer business, and we have mentioned categorically two things: modern trade and hospital sales. So I would just like to know, are those, you know, big growth factor in this quarter? And if yes, can you quantify those?
Dr. Kunal, good morning. Let me tell you something, that, we are a very unique kind of a company, and, many departments in Mankind are still evolving. In last few quarters only, this modern trade department has become quite organized. Otherwise, what was basically happening, all the goods were going from our regular stockist, and that's one reason all of a sudden, modern trade is growing at a phenomenal pace.
... it is right now contributing 5-6% in our total sales. So that basically is the major reason that when you look at the IQVIA and we look at our own sales, there's quite a difference. This is one. The second basically is what? We've always mentioned that our chronic growth is much better. It is 1.5%, 1.5 times to IPM. We are growing faster. If you look as a whole as well, in chronic side, you'll find that two years back it was around 33% in 2022, 34% in our shares in 2023, and now it has increased in nine months to 35%. This is what? Second one. Third basically is what, the second quarter was not great.
In third quarter, we have recovered a lot in antibiotics, in gastro, all sort of things have really happened. That's the major reason, plus something has come from some kind of a growth or some sales have come from our other businesses, like example, Agrit ech. That's the reason when you look at IQVIA growth versus as a whole growth of Mankind, there's a difference.
Sure. Thank you for that detailed answer, sir. Just one bit on the sequential compression in gross margin. Is it primarily on the back of more, I mean, acute kind of also recovering from Q2 to Q3, and maybe some of the newer businesses might have some lower gross margin? Is that the correct way to understand?
Okay, yeah. So hi, this is Ashutosh Dhawan. So yeah, so if you see gross margin on a year-on-year basis, so there has been an increase of 70 basis point. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, there is a dip of 120 basis point, and this is primarily because of two reasons. First one is that we have taken some inventory-related accruals due to slow-moving and non-moving item, so that has impacted negatively. And secondly, the impact is coming because our Sikkim plant was comparatively underutilized for this particular quarter due to shutdown on account of floods. So 10% was underutilization factor. So it's a sum total of these two key factors which has resulted in the gross margin compression of 120 basis point on quarter-on-quarter basis.
Sure. It should come back, you know, barring the product mix changes, et cetera, we expect these to reverse, right?
Yeah, so what we maintain to the guidance given, that our gross margins will be upward of 68% a year.
Sure, sir. And the last one, with your permission, on the consumer side, you know, we have said that we have taken some distributor consolidation or IT implementation and channel inventory rationalization, impacting our growth. So all those are now done in quarter four, or we are still seeing those activities continuing?
See, Kunal, I mean, we said in the last quarter as well, that we are going for optimization, automation, and we have done certain, certain corrective actions. So this would be completed in quarter four, and we hope, and quite confident that next year will be much better.
Sure, sir. Thank you. I have more questions. I'll join back. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. Sir, if I were to look at the, you know, growth that we've seen in the export business, you know, that of course has helped margins quite a bit. And if I look at the approvals, Mankind seem to be getting quite a few approvals in the US. So would you still qualify the, you know, US business like you have in the past as one-off, or, you know, we should continue to see this business grow and contribute to margins?
Hi, this is Arjun here. So our U.S. business, if you see, I mean, we had been filing a lot of products in the U.S. So until this year and last year, most of our products started receiving approvals, and we were launching these products in the market. So the base was very low in the last year, and that's why we are seeing a significant growth in this year. Also, the one-off product which we have, which is kind of a monopolistic product, where there is no competitor in the market, is contributing to a major part of this growth. So we expect some sort of a competition to come in this product.
We are not sure by when, but going forward in the next year, we expect some growth to come in the U.S. market, but it will not be as significant as it was this year.
Understood. If I were to strip out, you know, the sales growth that we've seen in export market from even, you know, with some margin assumption, you know, would we have still seen margin expansion in the domestic business? Because it does not seem that way if I were to just do a basic back-of-the-envelope calculation. It seems like margins have been, you know, pretty much flattish this year, despite the growth in domestic.
See, I mean, look at the efforts of Mankind, which direction we are moving? We are moving towards chronic side. So that basically gives some kind of indication that yes, in chronic side, since we are working, we hope that our gross margins will definitely increase.
Would that reflect in EBITDA margin improvement, sir? Or you know, would that chronic expansion require us to continue to spend on SG&A promotion, you know, to achieve the growth rate that we want to achieve for chronic?
... So why not? I mean, why not EBITDA will increase, for what we are working actually, I mean, we are working for long-term things always. So what is relevant, what is right, we keep doing that. We hope that EBITDA will definitely increase.
Okay. My last question, sir, you know, you mentioned, you know, potential opportunities that you're looking at consumer healthcare and chronic. In consumer healthcare, you know, what are the, you know, segments that you would be interested in, given the existing portfolio that you have? You know, what are the areas that would interest you?
Yeah, anything which basically is towards pharmacy side, would interest us. Anything, because, we have always seen that we are strong in our, pharmacy side, so we want to just, further strengthen over that, strength.
Got it.
Not any FMCG.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may please press star and one to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Harsh from Bandhan AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Afternoon. I hope I'm audible.
Yes, sir, you're audible.
Yeah. Thank you. So you made a comment in the initial part of the country in terms of the volume growth. Could you clarify a little bit in terms of the Mankind growth, volume growth being 2.3% versus negative 1.8%, as per IQVIA data?
The point basically, we basically emphasize that, I just said, five minutes back as well, that our modern trade hospital department is quite new. It is few quarters old only, and that's one reason it is growing at a phenomenal pace. And, for your knowledge, and for us, people's understanding, IQVIA does not cover that. And that's one reason when you look it from IQVIA lenses, you find that our growth is in minus, but once you add our modern trade sales, the growth would be 2.5%. And also one product, which basically had a regulatory fact discontinued, that also was a reason for that.
Okay, so in the presentation, the nine-month data that is given, these numbers that you're talking about is on a quarterly basis, that I understand, but the presentation, slide number 17, that we have given negative 1% volume growth. Is there a way to sort of understand what would that look like post these adjustments on a nine-month basis?
Yeah, so that is, as per IQVIA, that number that we are reflecting, as adjusted for the product restriction as well as the MT, as highlighted by Rajeevji, it's about, you know, 2%+. So it's outperforming the IPM.
Okay, even on 9-month basis, the volume?
Yes, yeah.
Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amey Chalke from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. I just had a follow-up on the volume and the price constituents. So, basically next year, going into next year, we will see WPI to be on the lower side, the price hike we will get on the NLEM side. So how do you expect these constituents to change going into next year? Because the price hike component is around 6% right now. New product component is around 4%-
Mm-hmm.
- which I believe is slightly on the higher side compared to peers. So how do you expect that to change, in the coming year?
So basically, if you see, the WPI for next year will be flattish. It will not be negative by a big number. I think it's coming to around -0.02 or -0.3.
Yeah.
So I think WPI will be negative. I mean, if you see overall Mankind's portfolio, I think we are one of the only very few companies in the industry where negligible portfolio falls in NLEM. Whereas products which are outside of NLEM, we're allowed to take a 10% price increase. And over the last few years, we've been miser enough to take this price increase, which we are taking very judiciously in selective products where we don't increase our pricing too much. Because over the years, the tag of affordability which we have maintained, we want to maintain the same tag. However, having said that, I feel that over the next year, we continue to expect a similar price increase, what we've seen this year.
Don't you think this price hike strategy is based on what we have grown over the last 10 years?
See, I mean, the strategy basically is only one, that how can we grow and how can we maintain our accessibility image in image in consumer's mind? Because this has been done last couple of years working. So we always want to maintain that kind of image of Mankind in consumer's mind. Strategies, whenever there is the opportunity, whenever we see that competitors have increased and we have some kind of a say that in top 10 companies, in top 15 companies, we are the most affordable, we go for that. We basically move as per the overall scenario in the market. Random, separately, we don't see like that. It's always been a holistic thinking.
Sure. And this last thing, this price hike, is it more towards chronic product? It is more towards acute product. How would you describe?
It is always more towards opportunity, neither chronic nor acute. Wherever we see the opportunity is there, we don't look from these lenses, we look where it will not affect us, where competitors will not be able to cut our corners.
... This is how we move forward.
Sure.
Across the portfolio in acute and chronic, we remain 15%-20% cheaper across the portfolio, be it acute or chronic.
Right. Okay. And just last thing, is it possible for you to tell us about the profitability of the acute and the chronic business? If not quantitatively, at least qualitatively, whether the chronic is still in investment phase or how things will move here?
We can, we can give you a flavor around the gross margin front, because at the EBITDA or level, because there's an overlap for promoting a chronic as well as acute. If you look at, at the gross margin standpoint, the, there is a delta of 10%-12% better margin in the chronic segment, in on absolute terms basis, as compared to acute. Let's say if acute-
Uh.
- is giving a margin of 65%, then chronic will be giving 75%-77%. Yeah.
Yeah, but that's very generic for all the companies. It's if you can give some flavor on the EBITDA, as in, is it a chronic investment phase? Because the contribution of chronic business is expected to increase further for next five years. So I want to know directionally how it will change.
I mean, please understand that, our Mankind's model is very, very unique. In what sense? That, like you see any pharma companies, they have only chronic divisions. And here, our number of divisions have mixed portfolio, acute and chronic, and some divisions are only chronic, which is basically, which are launched last couple of years, four years' time. So it's quite difficult for us to really, I mean, segregate those. It's always mixed up. And that's one reason we call, whatever you call it, we give this kind of a, I mean, generic answers. They are not separate.
Sure.
Even if you see, chronic share has improved. Chronic share has improved. If the chronic share will improve, then definitely, EBITDA and growth margin is going to improve.
Sure. And on the exports, where do you see the exports, five years down the line? What are your priorities there? How do you see yourself in terms of geographic presence, manufacturing capabilities on the export side? That's the last. Thank you so much.
The Mankind was domestic-focused company, and it will remain domestic-focused company. Maybe 90% of the sale definitely will come from domestic. So export, we are prominent in U.S. and rest of the world, but we are clear that wherever we can get the opportunity to launch niche brands, which are high in profitability, we'll be going to launch those products. But going forward, five years down the line, Mankind main sale will come from domestic.
Sure. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Chintan Sheth from Girik Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I have a similar question on the export side. Basically, the current trend rate, you said the growth will not be similar to what we achieved this year because of the, because of certain opportunities we got. But do we see the positive trend to continue, or at least we can maintain or match the revenue trend, right, of this year continuing going forward in the absolute basis? So we did around INR 200 crore this quarter. So that's, that's the question, basically. Yeah. Sorry.
We can assume the positive trend will continue. The growth will not be as significant as it was this year, but growth will be there, like, high teen, double-digit growth will be there, in the next year. Because we are expecting a few new approvals over the next few quarters.
The existing products, which are launched in last nine months, are also ramping up.
Sir, the participant has left the queue. I would request him to join us back. We'll take the next question from the line of Sagar Sethi from Sethi Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello?
Yes, sir, please.
What will be your margin of profit and expansion? Margin of profit?
Sorry.
Sir, your audio is not clear. Mr. Sethi, I would request you to kindly use your handset to ask questions.
What about your margin of profit going ahead?
Margin?
The margin profile.
We have given a guidance-
Sure.
EBITDA margin guidance of 24%-28% for the... Or 26, 26% for the financial year. And in 9 months, we have done 24.8%.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions may please press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Dr. Kunal Dee from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity again, sir. So on the chronic business, we have done really well. I think FY 2018 or 2019, we had 28% contribution coming from chronic, now it is at 35. Do you believe that even over the next 3-5 years, such a, you know, pace of increase in contribution could continue for us?
Dr. Kunal, thank you so much for asking. I mean, we said, we are seeing it, and we believe that Mankind is very capable of doing fantastic things in chronic side.
... We are few years old. We are not 28 years old in chronic side. We are maybe 18, 19 years old in chronic side, and in those 19, 18, 19 years, we have reached to this particular level. We believe that future lies here. We are working towards that side, and that's one reason you can see from 2018, when our share was just 28%, it has reached to 38%. In how many years we can count years? At 6 years' time. We feel we are very confident that we—sorry, 35%. 28% in 2018 to 35% YTD 9 months, and we definitely do very, very good. What basically is ambition that it should be in the line of any chronic side, side of the companies.
Why not more than 40% or 50% in long-term?
Just one addition here. On the, you know, 3 years back, we had this specialty chronic division, so we launched about 8 to 10 chronic divisions, which are ramping up. So these are focused towards super specialty doctors, and these are across cardiac, diabetes, CNS, respiratory, inhalers, et cetera. So these are still ramping up. I mean, the growth rate is much faster than the company average growth rate. So net, net, you see, that would also lead to market share increase on the chronic side.
Moreover, if you see, we are under-indexed in this segment, the IPM is at 38%, so we are at a below average, the IPM. So that's also give us some headroom for growth. Yeah.
Sure, sir. And would you be able to provide the field force number, including the primary manager and excluding the first-line managers?
So the total number of field force as on 31 December is 15,700, and if you see the breakups, around 12,000 is the MR and the balance are the managers.
Sure. And, and, one on the depreciation and amortization, which has continued to go up, and you have highlighted that we have capitalized INR 1,000 crore gross block, and that is the reason. But is the INR 110 crore per quarter a more or less sustainable number for us?
As we mentioned, that out of this INR 110 crore, INR 9 crore is a bit of a inflated number because that's the accelerated depreciation which we took. So it will be somewhere around 100 odd crores.
Sure, sir. The last one on EBITDA margin, where you have guided for 24%-26%, but any, you know, let's say, medium-term guidance, or outlook or aspirational target that you have in mind?
So we have given. So if you see our nine-month EBITDA profile, so we are at 24.8%. We have given a guidance of 24%-26%, and if we continue to maintain the growth momentum, which we are, or the path on which we are, so we are hopeful that the margins will be getting achieved.
Sure, sure. And, and lastly, what I understood from your-
So-
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Now, just to add the levers here, I mean, I get so many questions on EBITDA margin, but just food for thought. So one is increasing share of chronic, that will lead to margin expansion. Second is the new division that we spoke about, the super specialty in Mumbai. So these are under-indexed, and they are growing faster than the company average, so that will lead to margin expansion, which both these put together also leads to improving MR productivity. So if you see last year, we were at INR 5.7 lakhs per MR. We have improved in the last nine months to INR 6.4 lakhs. So if the MR productivity increases, it flows down to EBITDA margins. So these are three, four key parameters, and the last one is brand creation.
So if you see, last year we had 36, 37 brands which were INR 50 crore, and as the brand sales increase, the incremental effort to market those brand is less, so margin expansion happen in those brands. We are now 39 in 150+ crore brands. So these are few food for thought that these initiatives lead to margin expansion, so direction should be there. Hope this helps.
Sure. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Greatly, Prakash, thanks for that. And lastly, from a pricing comments, what I understood is we are currently at 15%-20% discount, and we would be taking price hikes, but we would not be taking it on overboat. So our relative discount would continue vis-a-vis peer. Is that correct understanding?
Yes, correct.
Okay, perfect. Thank you, sir.
That the price increase growth will be in line or slightly lower than the IPM price increase growth so that the competitive advantage is maintained. At the same time, we will be carrying out the opportunistic price increase. Wherever opportunities are there, the price increase will be taken.
Sure, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gagan Thareja from ASK Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon. I hope I'm audible.
Sir, I would kindly request you to use your handset. There is an audio discipline.
Yeah. Is it better now?
Yes, sir. Please continue.
Okay. So the first question is, can you quote the share of sales coming from DPCO or NLM, which is under DPCO or NLM?
It's between 14%-15% is what is under the NLM.
... Okay. Industry average is around 20%.
20% plus, yeah.
Okay. And, second, I mean, on the dydrogesterone facility at Udaipur, can you give us some idea of what sort of scale-up we can see from that in the coming year?
So the dydrogesterone facility was recently started in the last quarter, and the facility is in the process of scaling up. Commercial supplies have already started. So I hope that from the first quarter of next year, the facility will be fully scaled up and would be catering to the domestic and international demands of dydrogesterone in totality.
Two questions related to that. One, I mean, in terms of scale-up, of sales of dydrogesterone, would there be, a sharp ramp-up next year? And second, obviously, you know, currently the OpEx is under-absorbed, and therefore, consequently, next year, would it mean that, margins should benefit from, the ramp-up from that plant?
So, so basically, I mean, this plant is made to cater to the future demands of dydrogesterone. Dydrogesterone is not just consumed in India, it's also consumed outside of India. There are several markets, for example, China, Russia, a lot of Southeast Asian markets, which are big in consumption of dydrogesterone. So this plant is made to cater to the growing demands of India as well as international demands. However, saying that, it has no correlation to our sales in India. I mean, we were able to cater to the domestic demand in India through our existing plant, where dydrogesterone was previously being produced.
Seeing the potential of the product and seeing the growth of the product in the coming future, we started this new plant so that we are prepared well in advance to cater to the expected new demand for the growth in India and the newer markets.
So for the newer markets, there would be an approval process. When do you see yourself, you know, being able to position yourself in those markets with sales?
See, in new market like China, Russia, UAE, and other, we have just started the approval process. It will take another 2-3 years minimum. So by 2027, 2028, you can see that the sales of the product, dydrogesterone, will go to those markets. It will take another minimum.
For the tax rate, what should we budget for the full year, this year and in the coming year, in FY 2025?
So for the period, if you look at the nine months period, our effective tax rate is close to 20%, and for the year, it should be around 21% or so.
Is there a scope to further ramp up Sikkim and therefore also sort of bring down tax rate in FY 25, or does it stabilize at these levels going ahead?
Yeah, so that's a good question. We have, we have done the capacity enhancement last year. And if you see, last year, we were at 22%. This year, we are hovering somewhere close to 20%. So we have taken benefit. Yes, there are levers available, but it all depends on the products being sold out of Sikkim plant and the expansion being carried out. So we expect it to be somewhere in the range of 20%-21% EBITDA.
Okay. The final one from my side. For the new chronic division, specialty chronic divisions, which you launched in Mumbai, you know, relatively recently, can you give us some idea of what's been the PCPM ramp-up from, from these divisions? And, you know, what timeframe do you see that optimizing or coming to parity with the market average PCPM of chronic?
In the last four years, we've launched many divisions, quite a lot of divisions. The productivity ranges from INR 2 lakh-INR 4 lakh. That's the kind of a thing. At different times, these divisions have been launched. Some are four years old, some are three and a half years old, at different times we have launched. So, in chronic side, once a division crosses INR 5 crore turnover, then it starts really, I mean, firing best. So we hope that, as time will pass, our these divisions will do very, very good. Because in chronic side, advantage basically is what, your prescription stays with you, and new prescriptions add to your growth. That's one reason we are so bullish about chronic side.
And even-
If you see the growth of the chronic division, this is much higher than the other general division. And some are growing in the range of 20%, some are growing in the range of 30%. So going forward, these divisions will contribute.
Right. On the consumer portfolio, where this year has been weak because of some of the channel consolidation and IT activities that you have undertaken, how should we look at recovery in terms of growth in the coming years?
We mentioned you in the past as well, I mean, a few minutes back again. In the last quarter only, we said that we are correcting certain things over there, so this year will be muted. Next year, we expect to really regain the previous kind of a growth.
...Good growth will come next year in consumer side.
Right. Thanks, and I'll get back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gaurav Jain from ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
I have a question, follow-up on the export side. If you can help us understand for the nine months, how much is the growth on the base business, and how much is the one-off opportunity? Because I think in the last con call, you said that you are targeting for the double digit growth on the base business, removing the one-offs. If you can clarify that a little better, please.
So I mean, we are on track to, as we said in the last quarter, that the new business, the newer launches which are there, which are getting ramped up, so there is significant growth in those products, and as well as, from the one-off business, there is growth. So I mean, if, if you really ask me, I mean, it's, it's, almost like, 60/40 between the, one-off product and the, the newer launches or the base business.
The growth basically in the 90% is from newer launches and 40% is from one-off?
60% is from the one-off, and 40% is from either the existing products or the new launches.
Understood, sir. Second question on expenses. For the nine months, I think our employee cost is up by 19% and other OpEx is up by 15%. Is there any specific reason for this higher increase, or do we expect this trend to continue?
No, if you see on quarter, and if we talk about the employee cost, on quarter-on-quarter basis, in value terms it is flat. But since sequentially there is a drop in the sale of around 4 odd%, so that's why in percentage terms, it is higher. And if you compare it to last year to this year, yes, there is increase in employee cost because we have added additional headcount of close to around odd people at the overall group level. And this also includes the impact of the, the annual increment, which is taken, and some ESOP expense has also come in. And moreover, the, there on a year-on-year basis, there is a 25% increase, so that has also, have a variable incentive impact therein.
Right. Will you be able to guide us for FY 25? How should we think about the growth in expenses and employee costs?
See, the endeavor is that the increase, on percentage basis, on a overall percentage basis, the employee cost increase percentage should be lower than the growth percentage of the company. That's how we try to peg it. And if you look at it in the percentage terms, it, from last year to this year, in percentage terms, it is lower.
Understood, sir. That was helpful.
Yeah. Yep.
Thank you.
Uh.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all participants in the conference, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Salvi from Franklin Templeton. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. I was looking at the investor presentation, so I don't know whether this question has been asked in the... by previous participants. But, the domestic business growth at 20% YoY in this quarter, and IQVIA reported growth is at 9%. So how much can you split the growth between modern trade, hospital sales and the actual primary sales, which we go to the channels for our understanding? And the second question is, why there is so much difference between reported and IQVIA numbers?
Mr. Rahul, good morning. So, my submission is, you'll get a better understanding about this scenario in case you look at ninth month, nine-month YTD growth numbers. So I'll start with that, and then I'll answer your full question. So nine-month growth was 13.4%, and IQVIA shows it 9%. So, modern trade, e-commerce and hospital-based business is not captured by IQVIA, so it contributes in our sale 5%-6%, and in growth it contributes by 2%. So if you look at 2% to 9% of IQVIA, so we are very close to 13.4%. And then, the remaining percentage is from new business, which has already been mentioned by Rajeev, sir.
So we are close to that number, that primary number, if you compare IQVIA versus primary on nine-month basis. So, my submission is, you should look at this number, the growth number on nine-month basis, rather than one quarter, because IQVIA number does not capture modern trade, corporate hospital sales, so there will be discrepancies. And our modern trade and business has grown in this quarter by more than 35%, on YTD basis by 60%. So that's why it has an impact on overall growth numbers.
... Okay. And, modern trade and e-commerce is the same or it's different?
Modern trade is basically B2C, and e-commerce, it is brick-and-mortar. We supply medicines to brick-and-mortar stores.
So modern trade basically is this Apollos and brick-and-mortar, and e-commerce, you know e-commerce is what, basically, right? So we're talking about modern trade and hospitals.
Modern trade and hospitals.
One thing I just want to mention here, that our modern trade and the hospital-based hospital department has come up recently, a few quarters back. Earlier, it was not properly organized, it was not structured, so things were happening as it is. But now, since it is being supplied from Mankind to these hospitals, and as per our understanding, IQVIA does not cover these. That's one reason you're seeing that kind of a difference. I think from next year it will normalize.
Yeah. Perfect.
Okay, so that also explains the -1% volume de-growth which is shown by IQVIA, because they are not capturing the modern trade. We'll take that offline. Oh, oh, okay. And second question is on the export growth. So there was a question on that, but did you quantify the one-off? And if you're saying that we'll still grow double digits on that, on the base of this year, which will be say around INR 650-INR 700 crore, so that one-off will... Is a recurring one-off or what exactly do we mean to say? We are not quantifying the one-off. It is a reasonably large part this year.
We don't know when the competition on this product will come, but we also mentioned that, you know, last year in this nine months there have been few launches, and our product selection is based on, you know, quality of the products with higher margins. So base portfolio is also growing double digit this year, and we expect base portfolio to continue to grow double digit next year as well. Okay, so there is no visible competitor in this one-off opportunity. Currently, no. As of now? It continues as, as far as this quarter is concerned. Okay, thank you. That's from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alankar Garude from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, would you attribute the strength in the hospital segment, the organized part, which Rajeevji mentioned, to the Panacea acquisition?
No, it's not like that. I mean, see, the point was, earlier our regular stockists were supplying, right? So supplies were already there, but the problem was, in one state, goods were coming in second state. So just to address that problem, we had centralized this modern trade, a hospital business department, and now things are going straight from our depots to those places, so that we can properly distribute sales to right people. And since it has been done in last couple of quarters, that means around one year, and that's one reason we all of a sudden see, I mean, huge sales, which was already there. And when it was being done from our regular stockist, IQVIA was covering, now it is not. That's one reason.
Yes, certain kind of advantage you get when you get some kind of a products from Panacea as well, but not very significant.
Understood, sir. I think as you mentioned in response to the previous question, you expect this outperformance from these newer segments to normalize from next year onwards?
Newer segment means what?
Modern trade.
Modern trade. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
It will be done. Yeah, yeah, it will normalize.
Because this year there is a base effect though, so that's why.
Fair enough. Sir, the second question is, do we remain keen on divesting the Mahananda Resort? And also is the Gurugram residential project completely off the books now?
No, that project is on the verge of completion, the residential project, so it is coming in the books. And with regard to Mahananda, so we would like to reemphasize that there is no further investment which is going into this particular resort. So this is self-sufficient or self-sustainable mode. And if you look at the EBITDA, that EBITDA is also higher, if you compare it to the Mankind EBITDA level. But having said that, we remain committed to our initial position, that whenever there are good monetization opportunities, we will definitely explore and capitalize on that.
Understood, sir. One last question, if I may. In the previous call, we had mentioned about recouping 70% of our FY 2023 sales for Codis tar. Can you update us on the progress on that?
So, Alankar, Codis tar, when it was restricted, the product when it was restricted, the company was doing approximately INR 8 crore per month, so we are already at the level of INR 6 crore per month. So we are very close to that, but there has been steep decline because of price erosion. But unit-wise, we have improved. So we believe next year we will reach very close to the number we were with last year.
Understood, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Rashmi Shetty from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
... Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just one question on Dydroboon, dydrogesterone. When we see the IQVIA data, we see that the value share has come down, and there are some other competitors also picking up the share, which I understand that, you know, it is mainly due to the competition coming in. But in the volume share also, it has slightly come down. So here also, is there any adjustment of modern trade which is not shown by the IQVIA data? That is my first question. And whether we are really the volume share has come down, or we are really picking up in that product. Second question is on, in case if the trade margin rationalization comes in the future, will there be any impact on Dydroboon sales? Because that is through clinics, right?
Dydroboon is at the chemist level. If you can give some picture on it?
No, let me take. There are two, three questions in this. First question, I don't think that Dydroboon and Drogyna are promoted through different channels. Both are promoted through trade channels. Whether it is Dydroboon or Drogyna, both are being promoted through trade channels, number one. Number two, modern trade definitely has impact, made an impact, in overall volume growth. There is no confusion about that, because it's not captured by IQVIA. Having said that, because of increased competition, we lost momentum in first two quarters, but we have taken corrective measures in the third quarter. And let me share with you, if you look at our Q2 versus Q3, our market share has improved from 16%-18%.
If you look at the December growth, we've initiated corrective measures, some initiatives in third quarter, early third quarter, so which has given us good results. Third quarter's market share is approximately 18% versus Q2 market share of 16%. Plus, if you look at December growth, IQVIA, Dydroboon growth was 19% versus industry growth of 17%. We are on track for better performance in the coming months and the next year. I hope I answered your questions.
Yes, sir, very well. And there won't be any impact in case if trade margin rationalization comes, right, on this particular product?
Nothing. No. No, madam.
Okay, okay. Thank you, sir. That's it from my side.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as the last question for today. I would now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you everyone for joining us today. We really appreciate you taking time out for the call, and we look forward to interacting with you going ahead in subsequent quarters as well. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Thank you, members of the-
Thank you so much.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Mankind Pharma Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.