Glenmark Pharma April-June net seen jumping 80 pct

By Bharghavi Nagaraju

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd is expected to report an 80 percent surge in quarterly net profit driven by higher sales in the United States, analysts said on Thursday.

The Mumbai-based firm is forecast to post net profit of 1.03 billion rupees on a 37 percent jump in revenues to 4.8 billion rupees for April-June, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

"Their base business is strong. Contribution from their European acquisition, Medicamenta, will be better this quarter," said Alok Dalal, senior pharma analyst with Religare Research.

Glenmark, which is into new drug research and makes specialised finished dosages, bought the Czech Medicamenta last year to gain presence in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Increased drug formulations exports to the U.S. is likely to expand margins, brokerage IL&FS Investsmart said in a note.

U.S. sales is expected to be boosted by the launch of anti-hypertension drug trandolapril, mometasone furoate skin ointment and cream, clobetasol skin products and diabetes drug metformin HCL, the IL&FS note said.

In April, the company's managing director, Glenn Saldanha, forecast a 34 percent rise in FY09 net profit to $210 million on revenue of $673 million as it seeks to license out four of its experimental molecules.

Glenmark, one of a handful of Indian companies working on developing new drugs, expects to earn $69 million in milestone payments, or fees paid for the progress in the development of a lead molecule.