Ajanta Pharma Limited — Q2 FY24
Ajanta Pharma delivered a solid Q2 FY24 with consolidated revenue of INR 1,028 crore (+10% YoY) and EBITDA of INR 291 crore (+48% YoY), driven by strong US generics growth (+28%...
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
54%Questions answered4Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Outlook for US business in next 3-5 years given reduced capital allocation but 22% H1 sales growth.
Asked by Yash Korenka, Awriga Capital Advisors LLP
Management gave qualitative outlook but no quantified revenue or profit projections.
no specific revenue or growth guidancevague on capital allocation impact
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Question
How do you see USA business turning out in the next three to five years, as we intend to reduce the capital allocation, but in H1 our sales are up by 22%?
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
So U.S. business, the market landscape is changing... Our outlook remains to be filing around eight ANDAs ± going forward for next two to three years... the market should probably hopefully remain at the similar level of the price erosion, and it's more stabilized.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Will R&D expenses remain at 5% of sales or increase in H2?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
CFO gave directional guidance but no precise percentage for H2.
no specific number givenvague on magnitude
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Question
Your first half is just 5% of sales now. So is it that in the subsequent quarters, the R&D will be very high, or you feel that it would more or less remain at this 5% level?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
It will depend... we expect this to little go up, you know, not much, but maybe it may go little up.
Answered
Medium priority
Will FY24 R&D guidance be below 6%?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
CFO confirmed the range directly.
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Question
So, probably, it's fair to say that for FY 2024, R&D guidance should be below 6%. I mean, it should be around between 5%-6% for us?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
Yes, absolutely right.
Evasive
Medium priority
Will other expenses increase in Q3/Q4 and by how much?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
CFO declined to quantify the increase.
no number givenrefused granularity
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Question
Will this be the new base, or you feel that, you know, other expenses will be high in quarter three and quarter four? ... by what quantum, by how many basis points?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
Honestly, that much granularity I will not be able to give you now. But what I can only say is that it will be little higher as compared to what we have seen this trend in the last two quarters.
Answered
High priority
Will EBITDA margin guidance be upgraded from 25%?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
CFO gave a specific updated guidance number.
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Question
So, will you be upgrading your EBITDA margin guidance for FY 2024 from the earlier levels of 25%?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
Yes, that's what I mentioned in my call just now, that, we are expecting now to be around 26%.
Evasive
High priority
What EBITDA margin expansion expected in FY25/26?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
CFO declined to provide quantitative margin expansion outlook.
no number givenrefused forward guidance
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Question
Annually, how much expansion we should expect for every year... in FY 2025, 2026, what is the kind of number that we can build in?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
Will be difficult to give you the number as such. One thing which we can only say is that it will improve, certainly.
Answered
High priority
Is Africa branded business guidance of high single digit growth maintained?
Asked by Rashmi Shetty, Dolat Capital
MD gave a specific revised growth guidance (low teen).
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Question
For the full year, are we maintaining our guidance of high single digit growth, or here we can see some kind of challenges coming in?
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
Africa, we are seeing the revival. I think we will bounce back to the growth. So for the whole year, we are very optimistic to post low teen growth.
Answered
High priority
Bifurcation of India growth into volume, price, new introductions for Q2.
Asked by Harsh Bhatia, Bandhan AMC
CFO provided specific volume and price growth numbers.
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Question
In terms of the India growth, could you help us understand the bifurcation between volume, price, and new introductions for the second quarter?
Arvind Agrawal, CFO
Only the volume has grown three years. So the industry has grown at 2%, we have grown at 6% in terms of volume. ... price is 5%, and the volume for industry is 2%, ours is 6%.
Partial answer
High priority
Is Q2 US sales a relevant base for next quarters, excluding Chantix?
Asked by Harsh Bhatia, Bandhan AMC
MD gave directional comfort but no explicit base confirmation.
no specific numbervague on Chantix inclusion
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Question
The second quarter is slightly higher as well. So should we assume this to be sort of a relevant base for the next two quarters? Again, on this, the assumption is Chantix.
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
I think, we should be able to deliver the numbers on the current quarter basis going forward for next, rest of the year.
Evasive
Medium priority
Quantify spillover in Asia branded business from Q2 to Q3.
Asked by Abdul Kader Puranwala, ICICI Securities
MD refused to quantify the spillover amount.
no number givendeflected to analyst
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Question
Would it be possible to quantify what was the spillover?
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
No, unfortunately, I can't give exact data number, but you can do the math. It's not very difficult.
Answered
High priority
What price erosion level in US base portfolio currently?
Asked by Bharat Celly, Equirus Securities
MD gave a specific range and forward view.
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Question
What sort of price erosion we are seeing? Either it is between 4%-5%, or it is high single digit. And how do you see it going forward?
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
High single digit is what we are seeing, and we would like to believe it would remain in the similar vicinity going forward also.
Evasive
Medium priority
Structural shift or softening in Indian branded pharma market due to trade generics?
Asked by Kunal Sharma, Nuvama
MD gave a personal opinion without supporting data.
no data providedspeculative answer
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Question
Are you seeing any kind of structural shift or softening of the branded pharma market in India? Maybe because a lot of companies are launching their own trade generics...
Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director
Very hard to say that, because we don't have any kind of data to prove it. It may be happening, but at a very negligible or minuscule level, this is my presumption.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY24 EBITDA margin guidance upgraded to around 26% | 26% | 28% | Understated vs filing |
| Trade generics Q2 revenue INR 45 crore | ₹45 cr | ₹1,028 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Africa Q2 growth 8% | 8% | 10% | Understated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.