Drug maker Lupin Ltd on Friday posted a 38 percent rise in consolidated quarterly net profit, in line with street estimates, led by strong growth in the U.S. and Europe.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the drugmaker's net profit stood at 1.61 billion rupees on revenue that rose 31 percent to 12.55 billion rupees.
This compared with a Reuters poll of analysts that forecast a net profit of 1.58 billion rupees on revenue of 11.73 billion rupees for the just-ended quarter.
"We have grown so far at around 25 to 30 percent and we do endeavour to maintain that, but there could be some short term shifts," Managing Director Kamal Sharma told Reuters over telephone.
Sales in U.S. and Europe, which made up 39 percent of the company's revenue, grew 44 percent. Domestic sales rose by a fifth to 3.45 billion rupees, while Japan netted 1.49 billion rupees, up 13 percent.
Lupin, which has 105 abbreviated new drug applications filed with the U.S. regulator, plans to file 25 more by March, he said.
Last week, Lupin said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had cleared its Mandideep facility for compliance with its regulatory standards. Late in 2008, the regulator had found 15 deficiencies in the unit.
Shares in the company, which rose as much as 5.5 percent in the session, ended up 0.9 percent at 1,420.45 rupees in a firm Mumbai market.
(Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Harish Nambiar)
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