Syngene records strong Q4 and FY19 growth

Q4 revenue up 30% to Rs. 555 Cr; FY19 revenue up 28% to Rs. 1901 Cr;

Board recommends 1:1 bonus share issue

Bengaluru, April 30, 2019: Syngene International Limited today announced its fourth quarter and full year financial results for FY19.

• The Company posted Q4 revenue of Rs. 555 Cr, an increase of 30% from the prior year quarter.
• Full year revenue was up 28% to Rs 1901 Cr compared to the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Jonathan Hunt, Chief Executive Officer –   Syngene International Limited said, “We are very pleased to report strong revenue growth of 30% for Q4 FY19, with revenues growing to Rs 555 Cr from Rs 426 Cr in the prior year. The growth was driven by strong performances in both Discovery Services and Development Services. EBITDA for the quarter was up 24% to Rs. 181 Cr, while PAT was up 19%.

On a full year basis, revenue grew at a robust 28% from Rs. 1485 Cr in FY18 to Rs. 1901 Cr in FY19. During the year we strengthened our partnerships with key strategic clients such as Baxter, Merck KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen and GSK as well as improved our position within the emerging biopharma segment. Our CAPEX investment programme through the year has added capacity and new capability to drive future growth and our ongoing initiatives to improve service delivery, safety and quality are already beginning to have a positive impact.”

 
Quarterly Financial Highlights (All numbers in INR Cr except Margins)

 Full Year Financial Highlights (All numbers in INR Cr except Margins)

 Business Update

Q4 FY19 was a record quarter that saw revenue crossing the Rs 500 Cr mark for the first time. The strong growth was driven by sustained growth in the discovery and development services.

During the quarter, Syngene and the Government of India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) collaborated to set up a Centre for Advanced Protein Studies (CAPS) at its Bengaluru campus. The Centre hosts a state-of-the-art GLP accredited analytical laboratory which will be available to BIRAC-funded start-ups, SMEs/MMEs and academia in India at an affordable cost.

 Full Year Update

For the full year, Syngene recorded strong growth of 28% with revenue increasing from Rs. 1485 Cr to Rs. 1901 Cr in FY19. The growth was driven by robust performances in both Discovery Services and our Dedicated R&D Centre business. The Company expanded its customer base, adding new clients as well as extending existing client relationships, taking the total active client base in FY19 to 331 from 316 in FY18.

The expansion of our ongoing strategic collaboration with Baxter Inc. led to the commissioning of additional infrastructure for Baxter.

Discovery Services delivered strong growth on the back of both contract renewals and new client wins. The Company invested in adding new competencies in small and large molecules, Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), and Oligonucleotides that will enable it to address emerging client requirements. The collaboration with GSK, entered into in FY18, was made fully operational during the year, while the collaboration with Merck KGaA was extended until 2022. Within Discovery Services, our bioinformatics group entered into a collaboration with a French biotech company to develop a novel tool that will enable better prediction of the toxic impact of drug candidates on the liver.

The Development and Manufacturing businesses completed development and clinical manufacturing of drug products for multiple clients during the year in both small and large molecules.

The refurbished S2 unit was re-commissioned bringing online 35,000 sq ft laboratory capacity that was earlier non-operational. The Company continued to make investments in the areas of improving safety and operational excellence as well as strengthening the leadership team.

Award and Recognitions

Syngene won awards during the year for operational excellence, customer satisfaction and talent development. It won the CMO Leadership Awards presented by Life Science Leader magazine during the DCAT™ Week in New York. Syngene was successfully rated across all the six award CMO categories – capabilities, compatibility, expertise, quality, reliability and service.

The Company also won the ‘Best Leadership Development Program for Middle Management Award’ at the 6^th Global Training and Development Leadership Awards organized by the Human Resources Development Management Committee of the World HRD Congress. The award recognizes Syngene’s proactive approach towards building leadership skills for its middle managers to equip them to take on bigger roles.

Syngene’s safety initiative; Kavach and its organisation-wide focus on safety and sustainability has helped it win the ‘Safe Workplace Champion Award’ at the 8th Manufacturing Supply Chain Summit and Awards. The Manufacturing Supply Chain Awards recognises companies who have excelled in manufacturing technology, innovation, safety and logistics.

Syngene and Biocon Foundation’s combined efforts to revive and restore the Hebbagodi lake in Anekkal, Bengaluru won it the FICCI CSR Award for Environmental Sustainability presented by the FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence that promotes sharing, scaling and replicating CSR best practices.

Bonus Issue

The Board of Directors have recommended a bonus share issue of 1:1 i.e. one fully paid up bonus equity share of Rs. 10 for every one existing equity share of Rs. 10/- each held by the members, as on the record date.

Key Appointment

Syngene is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kenneth Barr as Senior Vice President of Discovery Services. Kenneth is a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has done his Postdoctoral study from the University of Texas. His experience of over two decades in drug discovery includes working with large, small and virtual pharma companies. In his most recent role as the Head of R&D Strategic Global Operations at FORMA Therapeutics, Kenneth was responsible for driving research effectiveness through optimisation of internal and external R&D research efforts, including providing alliance management for key CRO relationships. Prior to FORMA, Kenneth spent a number of years with Merck in their Discovery & Preclinical Sciences group. At Syngene, Kenneth will focus on cross-functional collaboration across Syngene’s Discovery research services, capable of driving large or small molecule programs from target identification and validation all the way through the IND.

Encl.: Fact Sheet – Consolidated Income Statement and Balance Sheet (Ind-AS) Earnings Call

The Company will conduct a 60-minute-long call at 10 AM IST on April 25, 2019 where the senior management will discuss the Company’s performance and answer questions from participants. To participate in this conference call, please dial the numbers provided below ten minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. The dial-in number for this call is +91 22 62801279 / +91 704          5671221. Other toll numbers are listed in the conference call invite which is posted on the Company website www.syngeneintl.com. The operator will provide instructions on asking questions before the start of the call. A replay of this call will also be available till 5^th May, 2019 on +91 22 71945757, Playback ID: 50703. We will aim to post the transcript of the conference call on the Company website within seven working days of the investor conference call.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)