Crisil bullish on pharma majors

"This rating also reflects the company’s highly comfortable financial profile underpinned by the strong cash-generating characteristics of its exports business, which offset the risks associated with the company’s high dependence on anti-infectives segment," the Crisil release said.

Industry sources also attribute this confidence to Cipla’srecent arrangement with Ranbaxy for `co-marketing of molecules’ to mutual benefit.

Meanwhile a `P1+’ rating has been assigned to the Rs 30 crore CP programme of Pfizer reflecting its business strengths borne out of its well established brands and strong parentage. The rating also factors in the company’s strong financial position and high financial flexibility, the Crisil release added.

Crisil has also assigned a `P1+’ rating to the Rs 50 crore CP programme of Novartis India Limited (NIL). According to the Crisil release, the rating assigned reflects Novartis’ strong parentage and its position as one of the leading players in the corp protection and pharmaceutical formulations businesses.

"The rating also reflects the company’s comfortable financial position in terms of profitability, capital structure and liquidity position, which offset the company’s moderate sales growth and the risks associated with the presence of relatively older molecules in the company’s crop protection portfolio," itsaid.

Meanwhile, the rating assigned to the Rs 24.87 crore non-convertible debenture issue and fixed deposit programme of German Remedies limited (GRL) has been upgraded by Crisil from `AA-‘ to `AA’ and from `FAA’ to `FAA+’ respectively.

"The Rs 20 crore CP programme of GRL has been assigned `P1+’ rating reflecting the prospective improvement in GRL’s financial and business risk profile resulting from its manufacturing arrangements with Madaus AG of Germany / Madaus Pharmaceuticals India limited. The ratings also reflect GRL’s strong market position, efficient operational capabilities and comfortable financial position, which offset the company’s limited therapeutic coverage in the domestic pharmaceutical market and moderate sales growth of the company’s brands," the Crisil release said.