Divi's Laboratories — Q1 FY26

DIVISLAB Q1 25/26 Earnings Conference Call https://stockanalysis.com/quote/nse/DIVISLAB/transcripts/347897-q1-25-26/ Published: sourced from public earnings transcript

Operator Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings conference call of Divi's Laboratories Limited for Q1 FY 2026. 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 touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. M. Satish Choudhury. Thank you and over to you, sir. Satish Choudhury Meka Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer, Divi's Laboratories Good afternoon to all of you. I am M. Satish Choudhury, Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer of Divi's Laboratories Limited. I welcome you all to the earnings call of the company for the quarter ended June 30th, 2025. From Divi's Laboratories , we have with us today Dr. Kiran S. Divi, Whole-Time Director and Chief Executive Officer; Ms. Nilima Prasad Divi, Whole-Time Director Commercial; and Mr. Venkatesha Parimallu Pasumarthi, Chief Financial Officer. During the day, our board has approved unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30th, 2025, and we have released the same to the stock exchanges, as well as updated the same on our website. Please note that this conference call is being recorded, and a transcript of the same will be made available on the website of the company. Please also note that the audio of the conference call is the copyright material of Divi's Laboratories Limited and cannot be copied, rebroadcasted, or attributed in press or media without the specific and written consent. Let me draw your attention to the fact that on this call, our discussion will include certain forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other estimates about future events. These estimates reflect management's current expectations of future performance of the company. Please note that these estimates involve several risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. Divi's Labs or its officials do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of future events or otherwise. Now I hand over the conference to Dr. Kiran Divi for opening remarks. Over to you, sir. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to welcome you all to Divi's Laboratories Q1 FY 2026 earnings call. We truly value the continued trust and interest from our investors, analysts, and shareholders, and I hope you and your families are safe and doing well. As we reflect on our performance in the first quarter of the financial year, I would like to share some key insights that speak of Divi's enduring strength, our operational resilience, innovation-led strategy, and deep commitment to sustainable, inclusive growth. Let me begin with our generic portfolio. We maintained a robust and competitive position in the global market, continuing to lead despite persistent pricing pressures. This resilience is a result of our strong backward integration model, which safeguards our cost structures and ensures supply reliability. Equally important are the long-term trusted partnerships we have cultivated with our customers over the years. A critical contributor to the ecosystem is our Unit 3 facility in Kakinada, which became operational June 10, 2025. This facility is strategically focused on producing key starting materials and intermediates, reinforcing our self-sufficiency and adding strength to our overall value chain. Turning to custom services, this vertical continues to be a core growth engine. We are witnessing increased traction from global innovators who are actively seeking partners that can offer both scalability and reliability in a changing global supply chain landscape. Divi's track record, marked by timely delivery, rapid capacity creation, and long-standing customer relationships, has positioned us as a preferred partner. We are seeing a healthy pipeline of RFPs and customer site visits alongside multiple active projects progressing through R&D, pilot, and validation stages. Several of these are expected to transition into commercial scale within the next 12 - 24 months. We have also made significant strides in expanding our scientific and technological capabilities. We now offer advanced platforms in flow chemistry, biocatalysis, and green chemistry, which are increasingly becoming differentiators for our global partners. Notably, our newly commissioned solid phase peptide synthesis capacity has garnered strong interest from large pharmaceutical companies, particularly those developing GLP-1-based treatments. In parallel, we are executing three major CapEx programs backed by long-term supply commitments, further strengthening our forward visibility. Looking ahead, we anticipate our estimated total capital expenditure for the financial year to be in the range of INR 2,000 crore. This investment will be directed towards advancing key strategic projects, expanding capacity, and upgrading technologies across our operations. At the heart of our strategy lies our unwavering commitment to sustainable and inclusive growth. We continue to integrate principles of green chemistry, energy and resource optimization, and process excellence into our daily operations, with a commitment to reduce our environmental footprint while enhancing long-term competitiveness. Our effort extends beyond our country through sustained CSR initiatives across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We have positively impacted over 82,000 students across 977 schools and improved the quality of life of nearly 130,000 villagers. These contributions affirm our belief that true success must be shared and that business growth must be aligned with the well-being of the communities around us. Thank you once again for your time and continued support. I will now hand over the call to Ms. Nilima Prasad Divi, who will walk you through the financial highlights of Q1 FY 2026. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to present the financial overview for the first quarter FY 2025/2026. As we look back on the quarter, it's clear that our industry is at a pivotal moment shaped by evolving market dynamics, regulatory development, and shifting global supply chains. The broader macro environment continues to be influenced by geopolitical uncertainties that are reshaping the global trade flows. Despite these challenges, our strategy's clarity, disciplined execution, and agile decision-making have enabled us to stay on course. We have continued to advance our operational excellence agenda by embracing digitalization and data-driven decision-making across our value chains. Strategic investments in automation, process analytics, and digital monitoring tools have enabled us to enhance swiftness and reduce variability in plant operations. These efforts not only support cost and efficiency improvements, but also reinforce our commitment to quality, compliance, and long-term scalability. In parallel, we have strengthened our capabilities through targeted investments in process innovation and capacity expansion. These initiatives have helped us optimize costs, improve manufacturing efficiency, and uphold the highest standards of quality, positioning us well for sustainable growth. On procurement front, raw material prices remain stable throughout the quarter, with healthy availability. We have taken a proactive approach by maintaining adequate safety of stocks and diversifying our sourcing mix across domestic and international markets to ensure uninterrupted supply. Inventory levels remain broadly consistent with our historical norms, reflecting a calibrated approach to shopping aligned with our expanding product portfolio. While we are steadily moving towards leaner just-in-time inventory models, our current priority is ensuring supply continuity. In the face of ongoing global uncertainties, maintaining prudent buffer stock remains a strategic necessity. Our backward integration efforts continue to play a crucial role here, enabling in-house production of three intermediates and starting materials, thereby strengthening supply assurance, quality control, and cost efficiency. We are pleased to share that our Unit 3 facility in Kakinada, which commenced commercial production in January 2025, is already contributing meaningfully to our production. The facility has played a critical role in supporting our backward integration strategy, strengthening supply reliability, enhancing quality management, and driving cost efficiencies. I will now move on to present the financial performance for the first quarter of FY 2025/2026, which ended on June 30th, 2025. We have achieved a consolidated total income of INR 2,529 crore for the current quarter, as against a consolidated total income of INR 2,197 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Material consumption remains at about 40% of the sales revenue for the current quarter, as well as the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Profit before tax for the current quarter is INR 733 crore, as against profit before tax of INR 604 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit after tax for the quarter is INR 545 crore, as against INR 430 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. On a standalone basis, we have achieved a total income of INR 2,476 crore for the current quarter, against INR 2,143 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before tax for the current quarter is INR 747 crore, against INR 603 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Profit after tax for the current quarter is INR 567 crore, as against INR 430 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Exports for the quarter are about 88%. Exports to Europe and the U.S. during the current quarter are about 58% and 14%, respectively. Product mix for generic to custom synthesis is 47% and 53%, respectively. For the current quarter, we have a forex gain of INR 39 crore, as against a forex loss of INR 1 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Our constant currency growth for the quarter has been at 14%. Our global nutraceutical business amounted to INR 250 crore for this quarter, as against INR 178 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. We have capitalized assets of INR 261 crore during the current quarter, of which assets capitalized for the phase one of the Kakinada project amounted to INR 114 crore. We have capital work in progress of INR 1,319 crore at the end of the quarter. As of the end of the quarter, we have cash on book of INR 4,205 crore, receivables INR 2,521 crore, and inventory of INR 3,087 crore. Thank you. Satish Choudhury Meka Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer, Divi's Laboratories Thank you, Madam. With this, we would request the moderator to open the lines for Q&A. Operator Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-on telephone. If you wish to remove your desk from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to rejoin the queue. The first question is from the line of Mr. Tushar Manoharlal . Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 14 I have one question. Am I audible? Operator Yes, sir, please go ahead. Speaker 14 Sir, what's considering the generic custom synthesis ratio with, you know, API segment change to be lower for the quarter? Despite that, the gross margin is sort of lower sequentially. If you could, you know, shed some light on this aspect, that's my first question. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Can you please repeat the question? Speaker 14 When considering the ratio of generics to custom synthesis of 47% to 53%, it implies that the API business has sort of been more or less flat year- over- year. In fact, it's reduced quarter- over- quarter as well. Given this backdrop, still the gross margin seems to be lower on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Basically, the reasons for the lower APIs and subsequently a reduction in the gross margin I think. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories The generic to custom synthesis ratio is 47%, 53% this quarter. The entire thing would actually reflect that the generics business had a higher component in this quarter compared to the custom synthesis. However, we have always maintained the stand that there could be lumpiness in one particular quarter with respect to generics and in another quarter with respect to custom synthesis. It's not that what's being reflected in this quarter is going to be what is going to be there for the rest of the year. We would ask you to look at it in a holistic way in the complete year. We would preferably have it at 50%. Speaker 14 Sir, hello? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Yes, sir, please go ahead. Speaker 14 Thanks. Certainly, in the opening remarks, Sir commented on Bravo Catalyst in terms of this platform. If you could shed some light in terms of the kind of work that's happening in this aspect. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Sure. As I explained in my speech, we are working on biocatalysis. We are working on resins. We are working on several different platforms, based on what the market is looking for and what future we see. At this point, we are more at the pilot stage working with a few of the innovators on how to move forward on this. I'm not at the liberty to speak much more than this. Speaker 14 This implies that we're going to get into the biologic group of manufacturing over a period of time. Is that the correct understanding? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories I'm not at the liberty to comment on that, okay? Speaker 14 Just one more if I may, this backward integration impact is already reflected in the gross margin? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Yes, it is reflected in the gross margin, the backward integration, and not just with respect to the revenue aspect, but also with respect to the supply consistency and not being affected by various other disturbances that the other companies would be having. Speaker 14 Okay, thanks a lot for all the answers. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Kunal Dhamesha from Macquarie. Please go ahead, sir. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Just a clarification. Is the generic business 53% of the revenue this quarter, or is it 47%? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Generic business is 47% this quarter. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Sure. I think in the opening remarks, we alluded to pricing pressure in the generic business. Is that something that would have impacted the gross margins of generic business this quarter? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Yes, the pricing pressures are there in the first quarter as well. Like, they have been there the last few quarters we've been mentioning. Apart from that, there are also additional costs that are being incurred by the generic business, which are also there in custom synthesis, but they're affecting more the generic business. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Can you elaborate on that? What type of cost? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories It could be the logistical costs, or it could be, for example, the Red Sea problem hasn't been solved yet. The shipping problems are still there, or it could be with respect to various other geopolitical issues that we are facing currently. We are having, I would say it's a mix of both. Yes, the pricing pressures are definitely being seen, and they are still continuing. We are hoping that they would stabilize over the next few quarters. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie The second question is on the peptide capacity. Is it now fully functional for us? If you could now share how much is the capacity that we have put up and in which plant, that would be helpful. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories In terms of peptide capacity, we have created capacity for both our pilot work and also in terms of commercialization of our customers. As you know, the total process is not that, you know, we just qualify and then we can start supplying. It has to go through a total qualification process, validation, customer approval. It is a time-taking table. We will have to wait till the validations are done, or some of them are in process and the qualifications. Once that is done, then we will have customer approvals and regulatory approvals. This will take some time. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie If I remember correctly, you had said a couple of quarters back that this thing could get commercialized in 12- 14 months. That leaves us with more like six to eight months now. Is it a fair timeline? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Our wishful thinking is 12- 14 months. It all depends on the regulatory approvals. Being a part of the innovator, it's based on his timeline on getting the product commercialized. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Before commission, if I may, yeah, please go ahead. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Please tell me what you think. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Yes, yeah. The last part is, you know, with Kakinada phase one, let's say if we have to look at a broader level, how much raw material dependency can we reduce? Let's say our FY 2025 raw material consumption was around INR 3,700 crore. If we could provide, you know, reduction, you know, with reference to that. The second part is, would you be focusing on doing more backward integration for your seeded projects or for generic products? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories To explain what Kakinada is doing right now, we are seeing a GMP capacity in our existing Unit 1 and Unit 2. There, we were in the past making critical starting materials, raw materials, backward integrating in a GMP facility, which we have moved to Kakinada right now, emptying space for us to do further new molecule validations and using the capacity for new molecules, new innovation products that are coming into space. Kakinada is right now working on the existing molecules we're making in Unit 1 and Unit 2. I hope that answers your question. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie It would have a more revenue impact rather than a gross margin impact, right? Because these things we were already doing at Unit 1, Unit 2. Now that with the freed-up capacity, we can do more for this on the GMP side of our clients. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories That is absolutely correct. Again, understand, while we go through qualifications and validations, all these will take time. We have emptied it now; by 2025, January production started. Qualifications took place. Then we have to qualify it in our own plants. After that, the employees get emptied. We have to start validation. This will take some regulatory approval time and validation time. It will take us some time before we see revenues from those things. Kunal Dhamesha Pharma and Healthcare Research Analyst, Macquarie Sure. Thank you and all the best. Operator Thank you. Participants are requested to restrict their questions to two per participant. If you have any follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Ms. Damayanti Kerai from HSBC. Please go ahead, ma'am. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My question will be again on Kakinada. Right now, you're utilizing it for reducing your dependency on third-party cases and etc. I just want to understand, for supplies to start to the, you know, customers, third-party supplies, say to the U.S. and Europe, how long it might take to get the required qualifications, approval, etc.? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories You're asking about the qualification of Kakinada material in our APIs. Am I correct? Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC No, sir. I'm asking, say, like, we are supplying from Unit 1 and Unit 2, which are GMP approved, right? For Kakinada, when do you set the GMP approval to come in, which will enable you to start supplies the way you are doing right now from Unit 1 and Unit 2? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Right now, surgically, what we have done is we have emptied Unit 1 and Unit 2 with all the key starting materials and moved it to Kakinada Unit 3, so that we have GMP space immediately available for our immediate growth. While that is being done, certain long-forward-looking products, which are getting off patent much later, we are qualifying them in Kakinada, and then we will start the process, which will take at least one to two years before we have regulatory approvals in place for Kakinada. Till such time, instead of keeping capacity idle, we are working a lot on backward integration. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC Okay, that's helpful. Unit 1, Unit 2, with the capacity freed up, what kind of utilization is there right now? How much headroom do you have from current level to push forward? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Currently, our capacity utilization is at 80% this quarter. It has been consistent in the last one year. Even with additional capacity of Kakinada coming into play, we are still at 80% capacity utilization, which is ideal for our organization. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC My second and last question is, Dr. Kiran mentioned about your solid phase peptide synthesis capacity gaining a lot of interest from customers, etc. As you said earlier, it will take some time for getting the required approvals to see the numbers, etc. Can you just explain a bit how much capacity you have added? A few quarters back, you said you are adding 500 KL SCTs, etc. Can you provide some color on that capacity part, please? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories What I can tell you is in the pilot field, we have included a few 500 KL SCTSs. In the commercial, we have procured a larger volume based on customer requirement. Since it is under a CBA and we have a long-term contract, I'm not at the liberty to talk about their capacity commitment. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC Okay. This already you have put in place, and as customer demand comes in, you will apply for commercial supply? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories As and when the qualifications and regulatory approvals are completed, we will start seeing commercial supplies. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC Okay. You are working with multiple partners, right? Not only with one partner? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories That is correct. Damayanti Kerai Analyst, HSBC Okay, sir. Thank you. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Surya Narayan Patra from Phillip Capital. Please go ahead, please. Surya Narayan Patra Equity Research Analyst, PhillipCapital Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the three dedicated plants that we are likely to commercialize over the next 12-month odd period. In terms of the asset turnover, it would be similar to the kind of existing line of asset turnover work we are having for our plants. Any of these three unit adds are relating to peptide or compound material? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories There are three projects. I'm not at the liberty to talk too much about it, but the three projects are going as per schedule. They have long-term contracts with volume commitment. As and when the project gets commercialized, we will see the projects commercializing, and you will see the future revenue. Surya Narayan Patra Equity Research Analyst, PhillipCapital Okay, about the peptide product capacity again, is it possible to give some sense that, okay, what are the target market in terms of the volume for the peptide products given the global market that is there you're targeting? What volumes here that we can ultimately target over a period of time? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories In terms of peptides, Divi's Laboratories Limited is backward integrated, which gives us a very strong position in terms of we make our, same as key cutting materials. We also make, you know, we're going forward with customers. This gives us a unique position. That being said, we are working with several multinationals on several projects. I cannot give a capacity or a volume-based figure because I'm bound by confidentiality. What I can say is most of the customers are coming to us because we have a strong backward integrated position. Surya Narayan Patra Equity Research Analyst, PhillipCapital Sure. Just a slightly differently, sir, if I try to understand the quantum of the substance, drug substance for peptide drugs that would be required. Let's say, if we are talking about the injectable product, for 1 billion or 100 million kind of peptides, what quantum of the drug substance would be required? Let's say if it is solid product for 1 billion tablets, what is the quantum of the drug substance that would be required in case of Semaglutide or any other peptide? If you can give some sense about that, that would be helpful. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories That is something the innovators can answer, not me, because we only produce a fragment and supply it to various of them. We do not know their dosage capacity and variability. As an API supplier, our job is just to supply the fragments, nothing more than that. Surya Narayan Patra Equity Research Analyst, PhillipCapital Okay. Just one clarification, sir, from my side. The director, tariff, if we see the kind of fine details of the U.K. and U.S. transaction, it is believed that pharma is not exempt out of this, and more so about the branded products and also the intermediates for the branded products. If that is the case, then what is the likely impact? I mean, whether we should also be worried about the kind of a tariff impact on the custom synthesis supplies? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Right now, there is not a clear methodology on what the tariffs will be and whether it is for the intermediates or the API. No clarity is given, set forth. Without that, it's hard to comment on what is expected from our side. What I can say is we have long-term supply agreements, which will protect the company. If there are tariffs, we will then work with our innovator companies and see how to move forward. Surya Narayan Patra Equity Research Analyst, PhillipCapital Okay. Yeah, sure, sir. Thank you. We'll see all the way. Operator Thank you. Participants are requested to limit their questions to two per participant. Should you have any follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Ms. Neha from Bank of America. Please go ahead, ma'am. Speaker 16 Thank you for taking my question. First question on the generic pricing. You know, it's been two years since we've seen pricing sets. Nilima ma'am made a comment about probably pricing stabilizing in the next few quarters. If you could just give some color, you know, what essentially would help stabilize this price? You know, if it's more supply going off the market, you know, what gives us the confidence that you would probably see stabilization in pricing versus this can continue probably for longer? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories If you look at the inbox comment, it's basically that we are hoping it will stabilize. The pricing pressure is basically because of several geopolitical situations happening across the world. There's a lot of instability. There's a lot of pricing pressure everywhere. With the insurance companies also cutting down and looking at cost-to-margin product, that is the main reason why the pricing pressure on the generic side has been increasing. That being said, we being backward integrated and being a large volume supplier for several of the active pharmaceutical ingredients we produce, having anywhere from 60%- 70% market share, we are able to sustain and have continued supply and we are successful in not losing any market share. Speaker 16 If you could say to us, you know, that the pricing has gotten to a certain point where it probably becomes unwise for, you know, some of the high-cost manufacturers, and therefore you see a stabilization in prices at that point. How far do you think we are from there, particularly for the larger generic package? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories As of now, we do not see any concern, at least on Divi's side, w e do not see any concern on manufacturing or it becoming unviable. At some point, the market has to stabilize because there will be several corrections that have to take place. It's hard for me to comment on when this would happen. Speaker 16 Okay. Understood. My second question is on contrast media. I think last year we've spoken about the gadolinium-based products being under validation and supplies for that. Based on your visibility in cooperation with clients, I think we start seeing contributions from the gadolinium-based contrast media product. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Can you please repeat the question again? Speaker 16 Last year, I think you had mentioned about in contrast media, the non-IoT gadolinium-based supplies being under validation and probably commercial supplies starting later this year. How far along this process are we and when do we start seeing generally contributions from those non-IoT-based contrast media products? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Yeah, sure. Just a small correction here. When I mentioned about this in November 2024, I said that the production, the gadolinium components were still under qualification stages. It was not under validation. We were going to qualify their customers, okay? The qualification with several customers have gone through, and we are still in the stage of getting, you know, going towards pilot studies and then called validations or qualifications. Like I told you last time, it will take anywhere from one to two years, and we are still standing by and hopeful that we should get some validations done by then. Speaker 16 Okay. This would still be about 12- 24 months away, or, you know, are we closer to that? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories We are hopeful for sooner. Right now, like I gave the six months ago, we are thinking it will be about 24 months from, or maybe 18 months from now. We are hoping the validations and things would happen sooner. Speaker 16 All good. Thank you. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead, sir. Shyam Srinivasan COO, Goldman Sachs Yeah, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Just the first one on, when I look at the annual report disclosures, it talks about Valsartan 6.4% of total revenue. Just curious from one of your top products, which is supplying to the innovators, Acrobyl plus Valsartan. You know, it's gone generic in the U.S., as many may be aware, in the middle of July. I just want to understand, how is our shipments going to vary on the path forward for Valsartan, Acrobyl Valsartan specifically? Just trying to tie it with your guidance. If you remember, you have said that it's double-digit growth. Any risk that may be there given that the product has gone generic for your partner? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Firstly, I cannot acknowledge any products, so I cannot answer this question to be fair. What I can say is every brand company has their own strategy, and we will abide by what the brand requires, and we will supply them the quantity, the products they need. If you look at historically Divi's, we have been in services business for the last 25 years. It's not something new. We had products coming in, products going off patent with customers, and we managed even late life cycle of the molecule along with the customer. I cannot talk about a particular product whether we make or not, but what I can say is if you're talking about late life cycles, we do manage late life cycles with our customers. Shyam Srinivasan COO, Goldman Sachs Got it. That's very helpful, Kiran. Second question, just on the nutraceuticals business, it's seen a good jump. Maybe last quarter, Q1 was not the right base, but even QOQ, it's gone up. I remember a couple of years back, we had doubled our capacity. If you could help us understand just the trajectory of this business going forward and what is the scope for expansion here? Thank you. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Right now, in terms of neuropsychological, we are basically seeing a steady growth in the product. There has been a dip in the past because, you know, COVID came in and several of the multivitamins and other businesses have gone down. Now we are seeing a steady improvement and a steady rise. In terms of capacity creation, as and when required, we will increase our capacity in the neuropsychological side. Shyam Srinivasan COO, Goldman Sachs Hopefully, yeah. Thank you. All the best. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Vivek Agrawal from Citig roup. Please go ahead. Vivek Agrawal VP of India Pharma Research, Citigroup Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just one question on the contract that you have signed in April 2024. How far the company, as far as the commercialization of this contract is concerned? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Okay. I cannot comment on that at this point. As I said, we are going through various stages of qualifications and validation. As and when it commercializes, you will see the results in the future. Vivek Agrawal VP of India Pharma Research, Citigroup Understood. One question I have on the peptide space. Even beyond Q1, there is a lot of innovation that is happening in the segments like IL-23, PDCs, etc. I just want your thoughts on these segments, where the company is placed as far as opportunities in these segments are concerned. Are you working on any projects with the customer, with the innovators, especially in these segments? Thank you. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories As of now, there is growing interest in several therapeutic segments, in terms of peptide-based innovation. We are active with several multinationals at various stages, either in the phase two, phase three, phase one. As and when they go through their regulatory clearances and the opportunity, we will do the investment and go forward. Vivek Agrawal VP of India Pharma Research, Citigroup Thank you. That's all my question. Operator Okay. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Sisan from Novama Wealth Management Ltd. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 18 Yeah, good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. Firstly, we are setting up two dedicated units. Operator Sorry, sir. Sorry to interrupt. Sir, you're not audible. Could you speak a little bit louder? Speaker 18 Yes, sir. I hope I'm audible now. Operator Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Speaker 18 Thank you for the opportunity. Good afternoon. I have two questions. Firstly, we are setting up three dedicated units. Is it possible for the management to talk about the nature of the products and what type of asset turnover is possible considering that these are dedicated units? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Yes, sure. These three are our custom synthesis projects. Usually, we refrain from talking in detail about them because of the CDA we signed. Speaker 18 Okay. Anything on the potential asset turnover that we can achieve on these units? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories It is a CS project, so you can figure it out from that. Normally, the asset turnover of CS versus generic is known in the market, but it's something we wouldn't want to spell out. Speaker 18 Okay. Understood. On the peptide and GLP-1 opportunity, would it be possible to provide some guidance on the kind of, would it be a gross margin effective opportunity for us? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories I didn't understand your question. Could you say it again, please? Speaker 18 I just want to understand whether our manufacturing of GLP-1 and peptides, would it be attractive to our gross margin whenever the percentage cuts? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories I mean, like, you know, this is something, again, as Kiran has earlier mentioned, it's a part of our custom synthesis project. We are signed by, you know, CBA, and we cannot disclose such information. As and when we commercialize, you would see the reflection of it in the revenues and as well as the gross margin. Speaker 18 Understood. Thank you so much. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Aditya Iyer , an individual investor. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 15 Hello. Am I audible? Operator Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Speaker 15 Okay. First of all, congratulations on the good set of numbers. I have a few questions. In the last three to four years, we have increased the contribution from the European market and similarly decreased the contribution from the American market. Going ahead, do we plan to maintain this mix, or will there be any change? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories It is, we have nothing to do with whether we are increasing the European shipments or the ROW shipments or U.S. shipments. It's mainly the customer we have a contract with, and where he is located at multiple locations. Wherever he asks us to make the shipment, that's where it would go. The same product would go to multiple locations. Some quarters, it could go more to Europe, and some quarters, it could go more to the U.S. Speaker 15 This is not a strategic switch. That's what you're saying? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Yes. Speaker 15 Okay. In the previous compound, we are given a CapEx guidance of INR 1,400 crore, and we have revised that in this compound. What kind of opportunities are you seeing in the next three to four years given the revised CapEx guidance? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories As we mentioned earlier, we have disclosed to the CB that we have entered into three large projects, and the CapEx that we are going to implement is mainly based on that. That's what has increased the number. Speaker 15 What kind of opportunities are you seeing , in the GLP-1 contrast media? What are the opportunities are we seeing? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories These are statistics. We wouldn't be able to disclose such information because of the CBA. Speaker 15 Okay. Okay. That's all from my side. Thank you very much. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Dev Bakhru from OrbiMed. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 19 Thank you. Kiran, just taking you back to Kakinada. Actually, what will trigger Unit 3 Kakinada inspection? Can it be, I mean, would it be an already commercial product, or it can be a late-stage product? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Right now, Kakinada is making pre-chemistry, but we are also in the process of qualifying certain of our own generic molecules and also certain future generic molecules so that as and when it triggers and it gets an FDA inspection or EU GMP inspection, it will start commercializing, going forward and start supplying with J3 quantities. Speaker 19 I'm sorry. My question was specific to GLP-1s. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories I'm sorry. I didn't then. Can you repeat your question again? You said Kakinada. Speaker 19 Because right now, peptide is only from Unit 1 and Unit 2. For Unit 3 to get into this, what will trigger the inspection? Will it be an already approved product which will be shifted to Unit 3, or it can be a late-stage, currently trial product? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Just a quick question, a quick clarification here. We have never mentioned that the peptide production would be taking place in Kakinada in the first place. Speaker 19 Would you plan to do that? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories It is, again, in the future based on capacity requirements and allocation, which we cannot comment right now because right now with the existing demand we have on SVTSs, we will be using both Unit 1 and Unit 2. Yeah. Speaker 19 Okay. The related question is Unit 1, Unit 2, can they make high-volume batches like 100 kg, something like that? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories I cannot comment on that. Like I explained before in the call, due to confidentiality, I cannot mention the capacities because these are innovator-based products. Speaker 19 No, I understand you cannot comment on overall capacity. I'm just meaning to understand. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories The batch set, the batch keys belong to them. I'm not at the liberty to comment. Speaker 19 Understood. Just lastly then, on the overall TAM, I know you mentioned on the annual report the peptide API is a big market, but TAM for GLP-1 drug substance is probably about $6 billion, $7 billion. Of this, how much is fragment, if you could tell us? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Could you explain your question, please? Speaker 19 Overall, peptide API, how much is the addressable market when you actually talk about these oligomers? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories In terms of global, I cannot comment on that because, you know, like I explained, it's tied by confidentiality, what tetramers or octamers or decamers we are doing. I cannot fragmentize it and then give a number out, especially with Divi's . Speaker 19 Okay. Can you comment on how many players would be doing similar work? How is the competition like? How many players are you competing against when you are making these oligomers? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories You know who are the major players in the world on the oligomers, so you can assume this. Speaker 19 Okay, thank you. Operator Thank you. Participants, please limit your questions to two. If you have any follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Mr. Ankush Mahajan from Samsung Wealth. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 15 Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, as we are expecting new molecules in the next 12 - 18 months, and from the value-added molecules with the innovators, we could expect that there's an increase in asset turnover. Can we say for us that could also lead to the operating leverage in the upcoming, we can say, in the next nine months? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories It's possible based on the regulatory approvals that would take place, like how long that would take. That's the reason why we are saying it would take a year or two. It's completely based on the regulatory approvals. Speaker 15 Okay, thank you all. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Abdulkader Puranwala from ICICI Securities Limited. Please go ahead, sir. Abdulkader Puranwala Healthcare and Pharma Analyst, ICICI Securities Limited Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. First question, just a follow-up from one of the previous participants. Sir, I know you are bound with the confidentiality and you may not be able to speak much, but if you could help us understand on the three projects you have recently signed, just qualitatively, if you could indicate at what stage these projects should be, whether this should be something like a molecule under clinical trial or something which is already commercialized? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Just to give you an idea, all the three molecules, some are just commercialized, some of them are commercialized, and when it's in the patents. These are not, and some, you know, they just completed phase three going forward. If I can, if I can give you a brief about it. Abdulkader Puranwala Healthcare and Pharma Analyst, ICICI Securities Limited That's very helpful, thank you. The second one would be on the geopolitical issues. Currently, if we look at what's going on in the U.S., where there is more focus on capital manufacturing, in your interaction with innovators, how are they looking at the overall short-term scenario? Any change in commentary as to where we were a year ago or six weeks ago? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Yes. As of now, we have not heard anything from our innovators, not any concern. While there is a shift that, you know, manufacturing is in the U.S. is a desire by the government, we have not seen much stress or concern coming from our customers towards us. I mean to say we have long-term committed contract in place, and it's too early for us to comment even on the tariffs or anything because nothing is in place. Abdulkader Puranwala Healthcare and Pharma Analyst, ICICI Securities Limited Got it, sir. Thank you for answering my question. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Abhiyan Shrestha from Marcellus Investment Managers. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 17 Hi, [can you hear me?]. Operator Yes, sir. Sir, could you please speak a little bit louder? Speaker 17 Sure. Is this better? Operator Yes, sir. Much better. Speaker 17 Yeah. My question is regarding the generic segment. Can you please help us with the plan and timelines for the new product pipeline at Divi's reference time ? You know, when would these products be launched, and what is the timeline? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Sure. Coming to the new product pipeline, we have several products like rivaracetone, figagidilor, all, and a few others already in the pipeline. We find that the DMS validations are completed, and we are waiting for our customers to get their approval so that we can start supplies. We think in the next six to 12 months, we will start seeing some movement of the products on commercial volume. Operator Sir, you're not audible. I'm really sorry to interrupt. You're not audible, sir. Could you speak a little bit louder? Speaker 17 Sorry. Is this better? Operator Yes, yes. Speaker 17 Yeah. For my second question, regarding the U.S. tariffs, could you please comment on what sort of cost advantage India and Indian CDMOs have versus the U.S., and what sort of tariffs would set off this cost advantage? Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Okay. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Firstly, regarding the tariffs with respect to the pharma industry, there is still no clarity as to what the tariffs are going to be. Sometimes each year there's an exemption, and sometimes each year there's a paid exemption. I think it's way too early to even assume that there is going to be an effect. At this point, we want to refrain from commenting anything considering we have long-term relationships with most of our customers. Speaker 17 Got it. Thank you, ma'am. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Ravi Purohit from Securities Investment Management Private Limited. Please go ahead, sir. Ravi Purohit Chief Investment Officer, Security Management Limited Yeah, hi. Am I audible? Operator Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Ravi Purohit Chief Investment Officer, Security Management Limited Yeah, hi. Thanks a lot for this opportunity and congratulations for a good set of numbers. Most of my questions have been answered. Just one question left. Historically, we've always been on a custom synthesis business. We've dominated, predominantly a small molecule company in addition to where we focus on smaller molecules. GLP, of course, is probably after a long time, we want to say any large, big molecules. Going forward, is there a focus area to, you know, is there an idea to focus more and more on larger molecules, or is one of those opportunities and our focus stays on the small molecule space, historically? If you could just show some long-term, medium- to long-term thoughts on this. Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories Like looking at the historical data, we try to prefer as much as possible maintaining the generics and the custom synthesis at an equal pace. In the similar fashion, we also would want to maintain the small molecules and large molecules equally and make sure our focus is on both, not just on one. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories To clarify that too, we look at it based on chemistry opportunities, not based on volume-driven projects. In some cases, we would have a low volume, high value product, and in some cases, we would have large volume with decent margin products. CS is based completely on chemistry and opportunity and our capability. Ravi Purohit Chief Investment Officer, Security Management Limited Okay. Okay. Thanks a lot. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Sukrit D. Patil from I-Sight Ventures Private Limited. Please go ahead. Sucrit Patil Technical Analyst, Eyesight International Limited First of all, I would like to congratulate the team on doing a superb job with the business, keeping in mind the regulations and all that the market is facing. My question is, as global pharma supply chain evolves and becomes a key differentiator, how is Divi's integration of green chemistry and ESG principles into its manufacturing and client engagement? Could this be a competitive mode in custom synthesis and API partnerships over the next five years? Just a telescopic view of this. Thank you. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Sure. In terms of being green chemistry, Divi's has been very active in terms of working towards green chemistry from the last few years. This has become a part of our DNA, where we look at atom-to-atom efficiency and try to understand every mole of waste that we produce and why the byproducts are being produced, thereby increasing our yield capacity and better products. Apart from that, we are one of the few companies who completely recover our solvent, which drives us more towards green chemistry at 90%- 95% recovery and reusable of the solvents in the same process in the same stage. This gives us a very unique opportunity in our strength with both our generic side of the business and also on our custom side of the business being uniquely positioned. I hope this answers your question. Sucrit Patil Technical Analyst, Eyesight International Limited Thank you very much, and best of luck for all future business. Thank you. Operator Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Mohit Dalal from Dr. Choksi Labs Private Limited. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 20 Hello. Am I audible? Operator Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Speaker 20 Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, I have just one question. During this recent U.S. post-ruling allowing MSN Pharma early entry into this drug, could you quantify the anticipated revenue effect for effect? Nilima Prasad Divi Whole-time Director Commercial, Divi's Laboratories As I explained before, we cannot comment on any products, with its product cost base. Kiran Divi Whole-time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories I'll acknowledge that. Operator Or acknowledge if the products are, based on confidentiality. Speaker 20 All right. Sure, ma'am. Thank you. Operator Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, that was the last question. I would now like to hand over the conference to Mr. M. Satish Choudhury for closing comments. Please go ahead, sir. M Satish Choudhury Company Secretary and Compliance Officer, Divi's Laboratories Thank you all for joining us today for the earnings call of Divi's Laboratories Limited. In case you need any further clarification, please reach out to our investor relations. Thank you. Operator Thank you, sir. On behalf of Divi's Laboratories Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line. Powered by