Biocon registered total revenues at Rs 2,476 crore for Quarter 4 of the financial year 2022. It also recorded a net profit for the period at Rs 239 crore, as per the official statement released on Thursday late night.

During the year-ago period, the Bengaluru-based biopharma giant reported a net profit of Rs 253 crore on revenue of Rs 2,048 crore.

The company recorded a decline of 6 percent compared to Q4 of last year and a 12 percent decline in comparison with the financial year 2021. The 2021 net profit stood at Rs 740 crore. The figures for 2022 stood at Rs 648 crore, as per the official statement.

The company stated that former HSBC India Chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai has been appointed as Additional Director on the Board of Biocon Ltd.

Commenting on the results, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon, and Biocon Biologics, said: “FY22 was a transformational year for Biocon. Key strategic moves in our Biosimilars business position us for long-term growth and value creation for our stakeholders.

“We believe that the two strategic transactions, with Viatris and Serum Institute Life Sciences, will position Biocon Biologics as a world-leading, unique, fully integrated biologics company with a strong differentiated portfolio of biosimilars and vaccines.

“We reported strong consolidated revenue growth of 21 percent for Q4FY22 at Rs 2,476 crore driven by 48 percent growth in Biosimilars, 26 percent in Generics, and 15 percent in Research Services businesses.

“Our Gross R and D spend increased by 70 percent this quarter to Rs 232 crore reflecting our advancing pipeline that will drive our future growth. Core EBITDA was up by 37 percent at Rs 815 crore, representing healthy operating margins of 33 percent. PBT before Exceptional Items stood at Rs 384 crore, up by 9 percent.

On a full-year basis, we delivered consolidated revenue of US$ 1.1 billion (Rs 8,397 crore) and reported a Core EBITDA growth of 18 percent at Rs 2,669 crore with core EBITDA margins at 32 percent,” she explained.

Commenting on the performance, Dr Arun Chandavarkar, Managing Director, Biocon Biologics Ltd. said: “The 48 percent (Y-o-Y) growth in revenues this quarter as a result of improved performance across developed and emerging markets, driven by strong market share gains of our interchangeable Glargine in the US. The health of our operational and business performance is reflected in the Core EBITDA margins being 39 percent of revenues and growing 78 percent Y-o-Y.

“We have progressed well in the development of several next wave biosimilar programs, with two of our molecules entering the clinic. Whilst net R and D was at 9 percent of revenues in FY22, we expect this to ramp up in FY23 commensurate with the progress of our rich and diverse pipeline which provides Biocon Biologics a sustainable growth opportunity in the years ahead.

The two strategic transactions with Serum and Viatris announced in FY22, upon likely closure in the second half of calendar year 2022, will propel us on our path to be a leading vertically integrated biosimilars company globally and will also support the higher investments in developing our pipeline,” he said.

Commenting on the Generics segment performance, Siddharth Mittal, CEO and Managing Director, Biocon Limited, said, “The business saw robust sequential as well as YoY growth in Q4, on the back of contributions from new product launches in the US, particularly Everolimus, an uptick in our API business and a normalisation of supply challenges that impacted us in the first half of the fiscal.

“However, our FY22 performance was muted, largely due to supply and operational challenges earlier in the year, as well as headwinds in the form of pricing pressures, and escalating costs of solvents, raw material and logistics.

“As we progress on our mission of providing high-quality affordable medicines to patients around the globe, we will continue to focus on expediting our product pipeline, operationalizing new capacities, and accelerating projects that drive cost and operational efficiencies across the organization.

“We will also commence work on important new projects in the current fiscal – a large-scale synthetic facility in Hyderabad and an injectable facility in Bangalore; as well as expand our fermentation capacities in Bangalore, all of which will provide further impetus to our future growth.”

Jonathan Hunt, CEO & Managing Director, Syngene said: “I am pleased with the strong finish we had to the year and that we delivered results at the high end of our upgraded guidance range.

“Reflecting on the last two years of the pandemic, I am extremely proud of our track record: we created more than 2000 new jobs – more than in any other two-year period of the company’s history – and gained more than 100 new clients in the last year. We also extended and expanded our long-term partnership with Amgen Inc. and continued to invest in new capacity and technology to underpin future growth.

“Looking ahead, we see growing demand for research, development and manufacturing services around the world and we are well-positioned to take advantage of these new opportunities.”