Acceleration of biosimilar business, debt reduction to be key priorties in FY25: Biocon Chief
Biocon's executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Friday said she expects consolidation and acceleration of biosimilar business along with further reduction of debt taken to fund the $3.3-billion acquisition of Viatris biosimilar business to be key priorities in FY25. «FY24 was a very transformational year for us, because we made a very successful transition of the (Viatris biosimilar business) acquisition in a seamless way,» Mazumdar-Shaw said in an interview to ET.
«FY25 will be a year of consolidation. It will be a year of acceleration, and of course, we want fiscal stabilization as well, and therefore we're looking at paring down the debt further,» Mazumdar-Shaw added.
Biocon has reduced $250 million out of its $1.2 billion debt in FY24.
The Viatris' biosimilar business acquisition helped boost Biocon's overall revenue from operations by 32% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 14,756 crore in FY24, with Ebitda margins of 27%. The biosimilar business alone contributed 59%, or Rs 8,824 crore, reflecting a growth of 58% YoY. Biocon doesn't see any problem in servicing debt but high interest costs are eating into its profitability. The net profit margin stood at 7% in FY24. Mazumdar-Shaw said there are ongoing conversations with investors.
«We continue to talk to equity investors, what we do not wish to do is to get into another structured equity deal, where we have to provide for an interest element, that basically impacts profit after tax,» Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Mazumdar-Shaw expects further market share gains of its
