Supriya Lifescience expects to double revenue to Rs 1,000 crore in next 3 years

Pharma company Supriya Lifescience expects to double its revenue to Rs 1,000 crore in the next three years by venturing into higher-margin earning niche segments next fiscal, a senior company executive has said. The city-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) maker is expanding its product basket by entering the oral solid dosages (OSD), liquid inhalers and injectibles for which a new facility, with an investment of around Rs 60 crore, is coming up at Ambernath near the megapolis, its founder-chairman Satish Wagh told PTI.

Apart from this, the company is expanding its existing product basket by adding six to seven molecules targeting anti-anxiety, anesthesia and anti-diabetes. It is also diversifying into contract manufacturing services, which could potentially boost margins by 4-5 percentage points, Wagh said. He added that after reaching full operational capacity, this can double the top line to Rs 1,000 crore by FY27.

Saloni Wagh, his daughter and a whole-time director said, this expansion and the entry into newer areas can help them get above 28-30 per cent gross margins once the new products stabilise and enter more regulated markets.

As the company is diversifying outside China and entering new categories it expects revenue growth of 21-22 per cent in FY25, she said.

The company achieved a revenue of Rs 460 crore in fiscal 2023, with 28-30 per cent operating margin. In the December 2023 quarter, it reported a net profit of Rs 30 crore, up from Rs 9.5 crore a year ago, and a revenue of Rs 140 crore, which was up 33 per cent led by growth in sales of analgesic and anesthesia portfolios.

To achieve its target, the company is investing in R&D to build a pipeline of new molecules at the Dhapoli, Raigad plant, and is also readying to enter new and highly regulated markets and seeking contract development and manufacturing opportunities.

The company achieves over 80 per cent of its revenue from exports, primarily to China, South America and the Asia-Pacific. With new products, it expects to enter the highly regulated North American markets too, she said, adding that the company has already done the filings in the US and Europe for eight to ten products from its existing portfolio and that many of these products will be backward-integrated.

Supriya has been manufacturing APIs since 1987 and went public in 2021 with a Rs 200-crore IPO.

All its top selling APIs, such as chlorpheniramine maleate, used against allergy and common-cold, ketamine hydrochloride (anaesthetic drug) and salbutamol sulphate (bronchodilator), are backward integrated, up to the level of intermediates that make them less vulnerable to price and supply chain volatility.

On the entry into contract development and marketing capabilities of drugs, the senior Wagh said this move will boost growth to the extent of adding Rs 100-120 crore to the top line over the next two-three years and the rest of revenue growth will be incremental from the existing products as the Dhapoli capacity which is getting boosted by almost 80 per cent with the ongoing expansion.

Senior Wagh said the company is building two new R&D centres-- one in the existing Lote near Dhapoli facility for product lifecycle management, and the other in Ambernath with a pilot plant for new molecules and contract development and marketing.

And for future expansion, the company has also leased out an 80,000 square metre land parcel from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation at Isambe Industrial Park near Pen in the Raigad district, for APIs and intermediates.