India's Cipla tops profit view on strong domestic, N.America drug sales

BENGALURU, July 26 (Reuters) - Cipla (CIPL.NS), Indias third-largest drugmaker by sales, reported a bigger-than-expected increase in quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by strength in its domestic and North American drugs business as well as easing input costs.

The companys consolidated net profit climbed 45% to 9.96 billion rupees ($121.5 million) in the first quarter, beating analysts expectations of 8.36 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Cipla, which makes the anti-allergic drug Cetirizine and generic versions of respiratory drugs Advair and Albuterol, said revenue rose nearly 18% to 62.69 billion rupees.

Its India business posted a near 12% growth, while sales in North American surged 52%.

Meanwhile, its costs of materials consumed fell nearly 15%, helping limit the effect of higher overall costs.

It also helped the companys earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins expanded to 30.7% in the quarter, from 21.3% from a year earlier.

Ciplas shares closed 1.3% higher after the results, compared with a 0.7% rise in the Nifty Pharma index (.NIPHARM).

The companys rival Dr Reddys Laboratories (REDY.NS) reported an 18% rise in its first-quarter profit.

($1 = 82.0050 Indian rupees)