to Rs. 12,313 crore from Rs. 19,833 crore in the corresponding period of last year due to US FDA actions against leading companies, challenging US generic pricing environment, price cuts and stiff competition. The net sales of Pharmabiz sample of 30 companies remained almost stagnant at Rs.1,27,484 crore as against Rs. 1,28,475 crore. EBIDTA of 30 companies declined by 16.5 per cent to Rs.28,397 crore from Rs. 34,026 crore in the same period last year.
The net profit of 17 companies declined during the nine months ended December 2017 mainly due to US FDA actions in respect of cGMP and price erosion in US. Sun Pharmaceuticals, Lupin, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories, Torrent Pharma, Biocon, Strides Shasun and Vivimed Laboratories suffered heavy setback and their net profit declined sharply by over 25 per cent in first nine months of 2017-18. Further, Divi's Laboratories, and J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals registered de-growth in profit by 23.4 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Ajanta Pharma, Pfizer, Granules India, Aarti Drugs and FDC also failed to improve profits. Wockhardt's net loss went up to Rs. 454 crore from Rs. 21 crore in the corresponding period of last year.
Among the 30 companies, Cipla, Jubilant Life Sciences, Ipca Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (GSK) and Hikal posted double digit growth in net profits. Other companies like Aurobindo Pharma, Cadila Healthare, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Laurus Laboratories, Nectar Lifeiscienes, Dishman Carbogen Amics and Syngene International clocked up small growth of single digit during first nine months.
The net sales of 13 major companies from the Pharmabiz sample declined during first nine months ended December 2017 which included Sun Pharma, Lupin, Torroent Pharma, Biocon, Wockhardt, Divi's Labs, Ipca Laboratories, Alembic Pharma, GSK, Pfizer, Natco Pharma, Aarti Drugs and Vivimed Laboratories. Only five companies viz., Cadila Healthcare, Jubilant Life, Granules India, Syngene International and Hikal registered double digit growth in sales. Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Glenmark Pharma, Alkem Laboratories, Strides Shasun, Ajanta Pharma, Laurus Labs, Nectar Life, Dishman Carbogen, J B Chemcials and FDC posted only single digit growth in net sales.
Sun Pharmaceutical, a leading company with net sales of Rs. 30,000 during 2016-17, has suffered major setback during the first nine months ended December 2017 and its net profit declined sharply by 85.1 per cent to Rs. 853 crore from Rs. 5,741 crore. The company has provided Rs. 951 crore as exceptional expenses in respect of antitrust litigation regarding product Modafinil during first nine months and Rs. 513 crore for re-measurement of group's deferred tax assets as a result of Tax Cut enacted in the US. . Its net sales declined by 17.4 per cent to Rs. 19,355 crore primarily due to US FDA actions and lower sales of generic Imatinib and Olmesartan authorized generics.
Lupin, the second largest pharma company in India with net sales of Rs. 17,100 crore during 2016-17, has registered lower net sales at Rs. 11,581 crore in the three quarter of 2017-18 as against Rs. 12,958 crore in the last period, a de-growth of 10.6 per cent. Its US sales declined by 31 per cent to Rs. 4,395 crore from Rs. 6,362 crore. However, its sales in Japan increased by 15.4 per cent to Rs. 1,909 crore and that in Europe by 8.9 per cent to Rs. 774 crore. It launched 12 new products during nine months and received total 18 approvals from US FDA. Its R&D expenditure declined by 11.5 per cent to Rs. 1,450 crore from Rs. 1,639 crore. Its tax liabilities declined by 46.3 per cent to Rs. 452 crore from Rs. 842 crore. However, its net profit declined sharply by 52.5 per cent to Rs. 1,034 crore from Rs. 2,177 crore.
Aurobindo Pharma, a third largest pharma major with full year net sales of Rs. 14,845 crore, managed to improve its net sales by 8.7 per cent to Rs. 12,244 crore during the first nine months ended December 2017 from Rs. 11,263 crore in the similar period of last year. Aurobindo's formulations sales in US increased by 10 per cent to Rs. 5,703 crore and that in Europe went up by 28.1 per cent to Rs. 3,203 crore. Its API sales improved by 5.1 per cent to Rs. 2,163 crore from Rs. 2,279 crore in the same period of last year. Its net profit improved by 7.1 per cent to Rs.1,894 crore from Rs. 1,769 crore. The company declared second interim dividend of 100 per cent for shareholders. Its R&D expenditure was at Rs. 480 crore and worked out to 3.9 per cent of its revenues.
The net sales of Pharmabiz sample of 30 companies worked out to 82 per cent of net sales of 100 companies during 2016-17. Based on first nine months financial performance of these leading 30 companies, the net sales for the year 2017-18 will remain almost same without any growth and net profit may be lower by 35 per cent. Thus, the overall performance for the year 2017-18 will be under tremendous pressure and may impact the share price movements.