BENGALURU (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the Indian unit of UK’s GSK plc, reported a 9.5% rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, in line with analysts’ estimates, as a sharp drop in input costs more than offset a revenue decline.
The Mumbai-based company, said consolidated net profit rose to 1.65 billion rupees ($20 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from 1.50 billion rupees a year ago.
Analysts, on average, were also expecting a profit of 1.65 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Input costs for the company, which makes the Augmentin antibiotic and T-bact oinments to fight bacterial infections, slumped 61.2% to 470.1 million rupees.
Consolidated revenue from operations, however, fell 1.7% to 8.02 billion rupees.
The company’s shares settled 0.2% higher at 1,240.15 rupees ahead of the results, while the Nifty pharma index ended flat.
Last week, GSK beat fourth-quarter profit and sales forecasts and unveiled an upbeat guidance for 2023. ($1 = 82.7090 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
