JB Pharma has ₹1,500 cr for buys: CEO

livemint.com:

₹1,500 crore for acquisitions in the near-to-medium term to grow the company’s India and contract development businesses, chief executive officer Nikhil Chopra said in an interview. “India is contributing around 53% to the overall company, and 12% is contributed by the CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization), which combined is 65%, and we want to take it up to 80% by FY27. Chronic segment, which contributes about 55% of the Indian business, is our major area of focus for acquisitions as we intend to take that contribution to 60%," Chopra added.

“As our team continues to evaluate possible acquisition opportunities, there is no set amount for acquisitions that we have set aside, but we can go up to leveraging 1.5 times our EBITDA, which is close to ₹1,500 crore." The company’s revenues from domestic business grew by 11% to ₹481 crore in Q2FY24, largely led by the performance in the chronic segment. Domestic business has remained resilient even during the period when the acute segment had relatively softer demand as products for acute diseases remain seasonally dependent. “Our chronic part of the business is growing at a better pace as compared to the market by around 10%.

And I believe that this is the area which is going to drive the growth in the coming time. Because early diagnosis, quality medicines, products, patent products, products getting off patent, available at quality companies, I think that is what is going to drive," he added. “Given the country’s population, that number is only going to increase as more and more people, young or ageing, become more likely to be a victim of chronic diseases.