IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IOLCP), a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical (APIs) and specialty chemicals reported Q1 FY23 revenue of Rs. 570.2 crore vis-a-vis Rs. 524.2 crore Q1 FY22.

Net profit of the company stood at Rs 34.9 crore against Rs. 27.8 crore QoQ and Rs. 67 crore YoY. EBITDA at Rs. 61.2 crore as compared to Rs. 50.1 crore QoQ and Rs. 115.9 crore YoY.

Commenting on the performance of the company during the quarter, Dr. Sanjay Chaturvedi, Executive Director & CEO said, “Over the next few years, our focus will be on diversifying into other speciality chemical products and increasing the share of non-Ibuprofen business. The investment planned in setting up a new plant will aid the company in strengthening its position in both domestic and export markets, thereby helping in improving our market share. Over the course of next few quarters, the company’s plan to explore new geographies and de-risk the business with continuous backward integration model will play out leading to improvement in revenue as well as profitability.”

“Various business challenges of softening demand, rising inputs costs and volatility in chemical prices are slowly getting normalised as can be seen from recovery in EBITDA margins. However, we believe that the challenges are a temporary phenomenon. The robust global demand on specialty chemicals fronts owing to a shift in market share from China would benefit the sector over next few years”, added Chaturvedi.

As one of largest manufacturers of Ethyl Acetate, the company will strengthen its position in the ‘green solvent’ market by increasing its capacity by 20% to 120,000 MTPA from 100,000 MTPA before the end of current fiscal. The investment of Rs. 15 crore for this capex is being funded through internal accruals only.

Ethyl Acetate is widely used in the printing & packing, adhesives, agrochemicals & pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics industry. The company will also be making further in-roads into western markets of India through a new plant for specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals intermediates. This project, which is expected to be completed in 18 months, will require investment of Rs. 300 crore. Through this plant, the Company’s objective is to increase its market share in the domestic market as well as cater to international customers.