Cohance Lifesciences Limited (COHANCE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

November 12, 2025

BSE IN Health Care Pharmaceuticals earnings 68 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

operator
#1

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q2 and H1 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of Cohance Lifesciences Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Cyndrella Carvalho. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.

Cyndrella Carvalho

executive
#2

Thanks, Sagar. Good evening, everyone. We appreciate you all joining us today to discuss our Q2 and first half FY '26 performance. On the call with me today, I have our Executive Chairman, Vivek Sharma; our Whole-Time Director and Chief Financial Officer, Himanshu Agarwal; our Pharma CDMO CEO, Mr. Yann D'Herve; our Business Head, API+, Mr. Gunjan Singh. Now it's our request that Vivek will share his first perspective on the quarter and then the organizational transition, and then Himanshu will walk through the financials and the other leaders will walk through their section. And once we are done with all this, we will open the floor for Q&A. Now I'll hand it over to Vivek.

Vivek Sharma

executive
#3

Thank you, Cyndrella, and good evening to everyone on the call. Let me start by putting this quarter and the first half of FY '26 in context. As we continue our journey of operational consolidation and capability transition for Cohance, we are moving from a phase of integration to a phase of capability amplification, building the organization, science platform and the governance needed to support our next leg of growth. Considering the leadership changes, the Board had approved a revised organization structure better reflecting our multi-business portfolio and expanding global footprint and position, So Cohance is strongly on its path forward towards the USD 1 billion. Over the past year, we had established 3 distinct business verticals, each led by highly experienced and accomplished industry leaders who bring deep expertise and proven track record in their respective domains and each have a full operational ownership and accountability. Today, we also have on the call with us Mr. Yann D'Herve, CEO of Pharma CDMO; and Mr. Gunjan Singh, who heads our API+ business. During the year, we have significantly strengthened our leadership and technical talent base across all 3 business units, adding senior professionals at Vice President and above level of top global and Indian pharma companies. R&D operations, quality and business development functions have been augmented, supported by a growing pool of scientists who have PhDs and highly experienced across small molecules, ADCs and oligonucleotides. These additions have deepened our execution bandwidth across India, U.S. and Europe, creating a more agile science-led and customer-centric organization aligned to our long-term growth vision. We continue to be focused on business building both for near term and midterm. And let me highlight some of the progress made across businesses in the year so far. First, on the pipeline and approvals. During the quarter, one of our late-phase molecules in the respiratory inflammatory segment received U.S. regulatory approval. This is an important milestone for our CDMO platform, reflecting our ability to support customers end-to-end from early development to late phase tech transfer and finally into commercialization. Our newly added customer relationship is progressing well with Phase 2 orders and higher engagement discussions. We have successfully added 3 active biotech relationships in H1. Second, on customer engagement and market positioning, we had a very active participation at recently concluded CPHI in Frankfurt where we formally unveiled brand identity. Our senior team met with over 340-plus customers, a balanced mix of existing partners and new prospects across U.S., Europe and Japan. A few themes were very clear. Innovators continue to actively look to derisk supply chain beyond China. This is also evident from RFQs across OEL but also across the broader Indian CDMO players. There is a strong and growing interest in high potent ADC and oligonucleotide capabilities and our positioning as a technology-led global CDMO, integrating small molecules, ADC and oligonucleotide capabilities across the U.S. and India is resonating well with innovators worldwide and several discussions are in progress. While these conversations will start with a small business, we continue to be positive on the potential here. Thirdly, on quality and delivery, we completed 4 major customer audits across our CDMO facilities successfully. At the same time, we did see some timing-related shipment deferrals, particularly in small molecules, 2 large commercial molecules destocking. NJ Bio shipment deferral some early effects of funding winter from a smaller biotech that the Nacharam FTF [indiscernible] shutdown, which have weighed on the reported growth for H1. Stepping back, our macro read-through has not changed materially from Q1. Demand from large innovative customers remains positive. The early-stage biotech segment is still selective but showing early signs of recovery and European innovators continue to diversify their supplier base, which aligns well with our capabilities. In parallel, our external advisory board is now fully active and engaged. We have onboarded industry veterans with several of them having past experiences at large global innovators. The EAV is helping us sharpen our long-term capability road map, guiding our customer-centric as well. From a business standpoint, I believe it is important to highlight the challenges we are currently facing. Pharma destocking in some key molecules and delayed reloads of a few Phase II/III molecules affecting near-term growth. Nacharam plant shutdown, awaiting audit clearance to ensure best quality and regulatory practices, order shipment delays for FTF due to plant shutdown, production has now resumed in Phase then. slowdown in biotech funding. NJ Bio has seen some project shipments for 2 to 3 quarters due to extended EMC time lines for part. With that backdrop, I will ask Yann to take you through the pharma CDMO performance, including the progress at NJ Bio and Yann and the latest for its small molecules, ADC and oligonucleotides, followed by Gunjan to give you an overview of API+ business. Yann, over to you.

Yann D'Herve

executive
#4

Thank you, Vivek, and good evening, everyone. I'll cover the performance of our Pharma CDMO platform and then comment on visibility as we go ahead. On the small molecule side, performance continues to be anchored by late phase and commercial programs for global innovators. We are very pleased to see one of our late-stage molecules received U.S. regulatory approval during the quarter. This milestone is significant, especially because we are delivering 4 key starting materials for this molecule, used in pulmonary applications. Not only does it reaffirm our ability to support late phase and launch programs from a regulatory and quality standpoint but it also opens up a multiyear commercial revenue stream as the product ramps post launch. Beyond that program, our pipeline continues to broaden and mature. The reasons why clients come to us is our long track record in high potent chemistry, complex chemistry and ability to scale and accompany the molecule from Phase I to commercial. We are currently executing 9 Phase III molecules, of which 4 are expected to transition into commercial supply over the next 12 to 18 months and 2 have already moved into launch stage delivery. Many Phase II programs are progressing towards validation and scale-up, many of them across high potent and complex. Our on-time delivery rate remains above 95%, underscoring the operational maturity of our team. This was praised by many customers at CPHI. The RFQ funnel remains strong with many new proposals received in Q2, spanning Phase II, Phase III and commercial supply. Importantly, the share of late phase RFQs has nearly doubled in the first half of 2026 versus last year, and many are reloads from existing large innovators, a strong signal of customers stickiness and confidence. The remaining share is driven by new biotech and midsized innovators seeking reliable partners for complex high-value intermediates. These are exactly the kind of projects that deepen customer engagement and enhance mid- to long-term visibility. We remain focused on ensuring progress across all requisite input metrics to ensure sustained mid- to long-term growth given the lead time in the business. On ADC, customers come to Cohance and NG Bio for the science, the know-how, the technology, which enables their IND filing. We have a large base of loyal customers that is growing. The product offering already used in commercial products, a payload from India, for example, brings confidence that we can scale. In ADC, the ability to develop and to accompany our customers as their drug products move through clinical phase is a strength, and this allows to build a strong business. All what we do here is based on customer centricity. We are building a conjugation suite to accompany our customers in Phase II in U.S.A. at NG Bio. We are executing a complete business continuity plan for S-Trione, a key intermediate used in commercial ADCs. We are offering this key intermediate from a second site with the support of our customer. We are developing our portfolio of payloads with 3 new payloads being launched this fiscal year. We have opened new high potent capability in India up to OEB6 for customer projects, and there is a good response from the market with new projects. What we can see at the moment is that customers are coming to Cohance and NJ Bio with challenging scientific problems to solve as they understand better what we can do for them with the combination of NJ Bio and the commercial payload capacity. Across customers, we continue to see healthy traction from both large innovators and biotechs, many of whom are consolidating suppliers and prefer to work with integrated partners capable of managing payload-linker synthesis, conjugation support and analytical characterization under one umbrella. Our India U.S. model gives us a distinct advantage here with NG Bio handling early development, conjugation support and analytical method development and our India facilities focused on payload and linker synthesis at scale. We can offer an end-to-end reliability with cost efficiency, something increasingly valued in these levers. On oligonucleotide, we are still in the early build phase. The progress in FY '26 so far has been encouraging. Our larger scale oligo building block, cGMP and non-CGMP facility has now been inaugurated. We are working on more than 35 active molecules across building blocks and drug substance. We have repeat orders from key customers in the U.S., EU and Japan and our first GMP audits from customers are scheduled between October and November 2023. We have also initiated work on specialized chemistries, including GalNAc and certain modified factors, which should further differentiate the platform over time. In the broader market, there has been encouraging validation for next-generation oligonucleotide chemistries, particularly tri-cyclo-DNA-based antisense platforms, which are gaining recognition under industrial scale initiatives in Europe. This reinforces the growing relevance of such chemistries in rare and orphan indications and aligns well in the direction where Cohance has built its own oligo capability. Let me now specifically talk about NG Bio and Sapala. At NG Bio in the U.S., we have added 17 new biotech customers, just to say. We have completed 3 ADC project conversions early phase, and we have audits from 3 large innovator companies scheduled in the second half of this year. We have successfully completed the GMP conjugation project for an ADC program, validating the site readiness for commercial execution. At the same time, as we have flagged earlier, a number of projects at NG Bio have been -- have seen shipment timelines move out by 2 to 3 quarters, largely due to extended CMC time lines, funding dynamics and reprioritization on the customer side given the biotech funding situation. These are timing issues. In fact, many of these customers are deepening technical engagement even as their internal time lines shift. We feel very good about the capabilities, the customer engagement and ability to scale. At Sapala in India, we have upgraded analytical infrastructure with platforms such as supercritical fluid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectroscopy. And we are transferring methods from our U.S. and Hyderabad teams into Sapala to create a seamless early phase and intermediate backbone for the CDMO franchise. Putting it together, the CDMO portfolio today has deeper late-stage and commercial visibility than a year ago, even so some revenues have moved out of FY '26 on account of shipment deferrals. This positions us better for 2027 and beyond. With that, I will hand over to Gunjan.

Gunjan Singh

executive
#5

Thank you, Yann, and good evening, everyone. I'll begin with the API Plus business, including our FDF operations. The API Plus platform continues to be driven by steady innovator demand and a structured new product development and filing pipeline. In the first half of FY '26, we have completed 5 regulatory filings, which include DMF and CEP type. We have added several new products to our active new product development programs. We are targeting 10 filings for the full year. We have completed 2 validations already and another 4 are in progress. Our API site at Jaggaiahpet faced the U.S. FDA audit and cleared it with 0 observation. This plant contributes a larger share of the total revenue. Additionally, we also secured commercial orders from 2 big pharma customers as part of our product life cycle management offering. On the FDF side, our Nacharam unit has moved past the most acute phase of disruption. While this had an impact given the shipment delays, we have now resumed production and shipments. The order and shipment cycles are still in the process of normalizing. We have 5 launches planned for FY '26 and another 10 formulation projects in the pipeline, which we expect to phase in over the next few years. We are adding capabilities of liquid and topical corticosteroid formulations backed by active customer demand. We expect gradual improvement through the second half as remediation work progresses and customer confidence further strengthens. With that, I hand over back to Vivek.

Vivek Sharma

executive
#6

Thank you, Gunjan. This week, I concluded meeting with one of our large agchem innovator customers. I would like to share a few key takeaways. The sector continues to show long-term structural growth to near-term pressures from excess capacity -- near-term pressures from excess capacity and Chinese generics are tightening the need for cost leadership and supply reliability. At Cohance, we are expanding collaboration with leading innovators, participating in new active ingredient RFQs and gaining traction with customers across Europe and Japan. Several promising projects are now at landscape. While the near-term consolidation is expected, we remain confident of sustaining growth in our Specialty Chemicals segment with innovation-led partnership with [indiscernible] execution. On the AgChem side, we continue to see the gradual macro recovery as expected. This quarter, we received 4 RFP projects from a large global innovator. Our innovation challenge program with a leading global agro major is on track. Recently, we onboarded a new Japanese innovator that has deepened our customer base in this segment. A key molecule in our portfolio has transitioned to a genericized-based form, while its combination product remains commercially active. We continue to see price pressures from Chinese competition and are pursuing participation on the active ingredient side. The initiative has experienced temporary delays due to pending innovator registrations, which are expected to normalize in the coming quarters. On the Performance chemistry side, our OLED intermediate portfolio continues to gain momentum. We have deepened our engagement with an established display technology innovator, and we are in active discussions with 2 new customers for FY '27 supply program. Across for API+ and Specialty Chemicals, we are driving value engineering initiatives, including catalyst recovery and solvent recycling, which support our margin profile. From a forward-looking lens, we expect H2 to be better than H1 for these businesses as deferred projects validations and new launches begin to continue more meaningfully. With that, let me hand it over to Himanshu to walk you through the financials and our updated outlook. Himanshu?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#7

Thank you, Vivek, and good evening to everyone on the call. Let me walk you through the key financial highlights for Q2 and the first half of FY '26. And then I'll share details about our updated guidance and scenario. On the quarter 2 FY '26 and H1, our revenue for quarter stood at INR 5,556 million, a decline of 8% year-on-year, primarily due to deferred shipments at our CDMO and [ API side ] and some key molecular destocking, including timing of certain project starts, especially at NG Bio. Existing for the destocking, the quarter reported a growth of 14% year-on-year. Material margins improved to 74.6% compared to around 71.3% in the same quarter last year, driven by both the business mix as well as ongoing efficiencies and yield improvements. The adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was INR 1,289 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.2%, reflecting the lower volumes as well as the upfront investment in employee cost and certain transition and remediation costs. For H1 FY '26, the revenue was INR 11,049 million, representing a 1% growth year-on-year. Adjusting for the destocking, the first half reported a growth of 20%. The adjusted EBITDA was INR 2,630 million and adjusted margins. EBITDA margins being 23.8%. Adjusted PAT for the first year -- first half, sorry, was INR 1,302 million, translating to a margin of around 12%. On the balance sheet and cash flows, we have maintained discipline on working capital, even with shipment difference in the quarter 2. In H1 FY '26, free cash flow generated of INR 1.69 billion during H1. Cash on books stood at INR 3.91 billion, maintaining a healthy liquidity position. Our working capital at 121 days show a significant improvement versus FY '25. Deployed CapEx of INR 1.06 billion has been deployed in a targeted manner, primarily towards high potent and linker chemistry, oligonucleotide scale-up and debottlenecking and reliable investments in API and Specialty Chemicals. Our adjusted ROCE stood at 21.7% as of first half of the year despite our higher investment and consolidation phase of recent acquisitions. Coming to the guidance and the key drivers. Given the developments over the last 2 quarters, we are revising our FY '26 guidance based on the current outlook. We now expect our FY '26 guidance of revenue to be broadly flattish versus the FY '25. The key drivers of these revisions are the ongoing challenges as highlighted by Vivek, plus these being the destocking of our large commercial products that we had discussed earlier. Deferral in shipments and the biotech funding winter impact on NJ Bio, temporary impact due to FDF Nacharam unit consequent to the Nacharam audit, which we have discussed earlier. And finally, the deferral and the AgChem new product approvals. Looking ahead, we believe that our H2 will be stronger than H1, driven by execution of deferred shipments, new program activations and regulatory normalization in key sites. From a midterm or a rather near-term FY '27, we do expect the growth to come back in FY '27. The growth will be backed by new wins and existing business, supported by destocking as well as reloads on the CDMO side of business, which has been impacted negatively this year. Given the fact that higher visibility on the same could emerge in next 1 to 2 quarters, we will provide a more informed guidance by quarter 3 or quarter 4 of the current financial year. We are maintaining our mid long-term -- midterm guidance of USD 1 billion with mid-30s EBITDA margin, given the sharp investments that we have done and the building blocks of our business, coupled with the high-risk technology where we believe we have advantage. We believe that we will be able to recoup these operating leverages from the upfront investments made over the last 12 to 18 months. With that, I'll hand it back to Cyndrella.

Cyndrella Carvalho

executive
#8

Thank you, Himanshu. And I want to first apologize to everyone for a little delay because we were facing technical difficulties to upload our presentations and results this time. We sincerely apologize for the same. And now I request the operator to open the floor for Q&A.

Operator

operator
#9

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Varun Bang from Bryanston.

Varun Bang

analyst
#10

I have some feedback to share. Can I go ahead?

Operator

operator
#11

Yes, sir, please go ahead.

Varun Bang

analyst
#12

Yes. I think this organization was on a strong trajectory before but I think under the current ownership, the execution has clearly delayed. There has been a consistent gap between what was guided and what has actually played out, not just on the delivery front but also in the areas like timing and communication of the stake sale. And the lack of clarity and follow-through has eroded both the culture of the organization and also the external credibility. Frankly, the execution discipline seems to have collapsed, and it shows across multiple fronts. I have been tracking this company for many years. Even before Advent's acquisition, I have seen -- I have not never seen this level of disarray. What's happening now is clearly a reflection of Advent's failure in managing and steering the business. The nature of the business calls for a steady and patient execution. It moves through cycles and sustainable progress takes time. I think Advent's approach, however, has been more like running on a treadmill, push for a speed without corresponding structural readiness, and that's showing in the outcomes. Unfortunately, shortcut...

Cyndrella Carvalho

executive
#13

Operator, can you request Varun if he has a question.

Varun Bang

analyst
#14

I'm sure Pankaj and the entire whole Board will take this in the right spirit.

Operator

operator
#15

Just give me one moment. Varun, sir, just give me one moment. You were not audible to the management.

Cyndrella Carvalho

executive
#16

No. He was, can you please ask him if he has a question? We would like to take the question.

Varun Bang

analyst
#17

No, I just have this feedback to share, and that's it. I feel -- I hope this management will -- sorry, the Board and Pankaj will take this in the right spirit.

Operator

operator
#18

Our next question comes from the line of Ahmed Madha from Unifi Capital.

Ahmed Madha

analyst
#19

I just wanted to understand the value chain of ADC business a little better and how is Cohance as a whole participating in it? I have a few understanding -- basic understanding, I'll try to explain and then you can correct me and explain how you are thinking about the business, right? So in ADC, be it any product, right, you will have certain key starting material and then a few intermediates and then that will go into payload linker and then there will be bioconjugation. Just the simplified value chain as far as I understand. Can you explain as of now, what part of the value chain we are catering? Is this just the building block or something ahead? And how does the -- how do we build our capabilities and expand our part of the value chain, which we cover?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#20

So this is Yann, and thank you for the question. As you indicated, right, ADCs are complex modalities. They are composed of monoclonal antibody, a linker and a payload. Those 3 elements have to be bioconjugated, right? That's how it works here. The way we look at that value chain, where we are participating, right? And that's the uniqueness of the offering of Cohance and NG Bio is the following. We have a product offering. The product offering is essentially one of payloads and also starting material for payloads, right? That's a product. And the payload that we have in our portfolio are [indiscernible] based, fully back integrated in India, which means that offering a tremendous supply security for our clients. So that's one of the offer, product offer. The other offering that we have is based on the intellectual property, the IP and the know-how that is located in NG Bio. With this IP, which is essentially the know-how on customization of payload, customization of payload linker, proprietary linkers and payload linkers and know-how in bioconjugation, we are able to offer R&D services to our clients as well as manufacturing services. And from pre-IND to commercial. So really, the -- when we talk about the value chain, where we are participating, right, we are an IND enabler, right, with more than 100 customers, I would say, that have been served by this service, right? And from these IND enablers, we enable essentially the innovators to develop drugs that are life savings. And the more we enable the innovators, essentially the more we participate in the value of the drugs through the different value pools that I just mentioned. We call this as well the value diamond, product, IP, R&D services, manufacturing services with the ability to scale. I hope that it clarifies you question and the unique value.

Ahmed Madha

analyst
#21

Just one follow-up on -- when you say you are catering the S building block. So for example, say, a product like NR 2 which Daiichi has and I'm fine if you don't explain the product-wise, but just for a reference, I'm digging a product name. For that product, you'll be doing a building block and then pass you on to the payload linker manufacturer. Is it the right understanding?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#22

I will not comment exactly on the total value chain specifically because it's confidential information. But your understanding is not wrong.

Operator

operator
#23

Our next question comes from the line of Shreya Chatterjee from [ Ageless Capital. ]

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#24

My question is more from a strategic viewpoint of understanding Cohance's scientific capabilities and how it translates to its earnings or the revenue growth. So if I see the ADC capabilities that Cohance has and it caters to various innovator companies. So in the past, for example, historicals, if we see, FY '23 and '24 has seen some of the ADC molecules perform very well in the cell front but we did not see the growth coming in those years for Cohance. So what am I exactly missing over there? And also, there are certain like indications that some of the ADCs have gone further approval or some of the ADCs have failed some of the first-line trials that have come out recently. So how does an analyst or from the investment perspective, how do we see the impact on Cohance' sales going forward?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#25

So let me give a broader perspective here. So cytotoxin based payload for commercial drugs, right? There are 2 out of the 12 ADC approved in the world that are using this technology. And as you may imagine, right, with the offerings that we have, these are essentially products that we are participating into, right? So that's point number one. Now as part of the development and launch of new drugs in the market. I'm talking about those 2 drugs. It is clear that pharmaceutical companies build stock and destock in order to ensure that they have enough products to manage the upside in their launches, right? And as a starting material provider, this is what we are essentially delivering here in that case. That means that there may be also some destocking elements here depending on how those drugs are doing in the market and how optimist or pessimistic right, the pharmaceutical companies have been in their supply chain. So that's one element of the answer on the comments related to the sales development. Now what is more important and that is not necessarily seen in the numbers is the pipeline of customer projects that we are essentially working with at the moment, right, with the combination of NG Bio and the combination of the ability to scale in the payloads and payload linker with our facility in India, right?

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#26

If I may ask as a follow-up, like when do we see the inflection point for the niche technologies in pharma CDMO going forward?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#27

Are you talking specifically about ADC or in general? I was asking a clarification question. Are you talking specifically about ADC or in general for the CDMO business?

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#28

I'm asking for ADCs and all the niche technologies in the CDMO business. When can we expect an inflection point for this Pharma CDMO?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#29

Okay. So when can we expect essentially an inflection point for the ADC in the CDMO space? That's the question.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#30

Yes, yes.

Yann D'Herve

executive
#31

So again, we know that we are participating in more and more drugs being developed. One thing we cannot influence is the one that are going to be commercial, right? I mean we can influence with our service but we don't know exactly, which one will become commercial. So what I can indicate is we are participating in more and more drugs and our offering with especially the OEB6 capabilities that we have installed in India allow us to essentially participate in the future in the commercial drugs that will come. That's what I can comment. As indicated as well in my previous answer, we are already part of 2 payloads, right, that are commercial. The third aspect is, as I started 3 months ago, we have increased our business development capabilities, especially in critical locations such as Boston and San Francisco in order to be able to attract additional customer projects in order to maintain and have this inflection point as quickly as possible. Maybe another comment as -- I mean I was explaining a little bit the Diamond with the product, the IP, the R&D services and the manufacturing services. One of the aspect is that on each of those elements of the diamond, we are increasing our offering. Example, on the product offering, we are launching 3 new payloads this year. This will allow us as well to participate in more drugs that are commercial and in development in the pipeline. So think about it as a platform that we are expanding and that allows us to participate more in the value generated as the products are developing through clinical phase.

Operator

operator
#32

Our next question comes from the line of Abdul Kader Puranwala from ICICI Securities.

Abdulkader Puranwala

analyst
#33

Sir, just in terms of your FY '26 guidance, when we talk about the second half being better than the first half of fiscal '26. But I mean, how should we look at this number from second half of fiscal '25? Is there some bit of a decline we should expect in the guidance what we are providing now?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#34

Abdul, so as I said earlier, that we're looking at FY '26 to be flattish in comparison with FY '25. So I think my sense is it easy to decide how the H2 would look like.

Abdulkader Puranwala

analyst
#35

Okay. And sir, how about margins? I mean, previously, you were talking about around 30%. First half, we are a little lower than that. But on second half, do we expect some kind of a rebound?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#36

Yes, absolutely. There will be a rebound in H2 as some of the operating leverage will come given that H2 is expected to be better than the H1 from a revenue perspective. I mean you do understand that we have been steadily investing ahead of the curve and the operating leverage will kick in with a higher revenue coming.

Abdulkader Puranwala

analyst
#37

Sure. So in terms of the commercial from a '27 perspective, could you highlight a couple of projects on the CDMO side, on the Pharma CDMO side, which would get commercialized, say, from a 1 or 2 years perspective at least?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#38

So I think we have a healthy pipeline, right? I mean that is starting to deliver, right? I mean I think each quarter now in Q1 and now in Q2, we announced that one of the drug for which we were providing KSM, key starting material or intermediates, right, have been commercialized. So this is important because that means that we are at the early phase, right, for those products in launch and that allows to expect some ramp-up of volume moving forward for commercial drugs. At the same time, we are participating in numerous Phase III programs that will also deliver in the next 1 to 12 months to 18 months, right, ramp-up quantities for prelaunch prepared. At the same time, also, we are currently seeing an influx of RFPs that are with late-stage program, Phase III and also commercial program as the customers are derisking some of their supply chain and are orienting RFPs towards India, right, and towards Indian CDMO in the small molecule space. So as such, this will help as well in the building and further building of the pipeline.

Abdulkader Puranwala

analyst
#39

Understood. And sir, just last one from my end. So have we already submitted our replies to the OEB for the Nacharam plant and talking about launching 5 new products, is it from the same plant? And is it for the U.S. market?

Gunjan Singh

executive
#40

Abdul, this is Gunjan here. No, this is not from the Nacharam plant.

Abdulkader Puranwala

analyst
#41

Okay. In terms of our correspondence with the U.S. FDA, have we filed a reply?

Gunjan Singh

executive
#42

Of course. So within the stipulated time, the first response to the U.S. FDA was shared. This was followed by 2 further submissions, which were additional effort that we had gone over and beyond the commitment there, which was also submitted within the time frame. Overall, just to assure you, Nacharam FDF plant contributes a very small share of our total revenue. And as per the OAI status, we are allowed to ship the commercial products as they have been -- as we have been doing in the past. Those products can continue in the future as well.

Operator

operator
#43

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Rahul Jeewani from IIFL Securities Limited.

Rahul Jeewani

analyst
#44

Sir, you indicated that NJ Bio has been impacted because of, let's say, the muted binding environment. Can you also talk about, let's say, when we had acquired this asset last year, it was annualizing around $32 million of sales. So what kind of revenue recognition which have we done from NJ in first half of this year? And how do we see NJ playing out in the -- going into the second half?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#45

Rahul, this is Himanshu. So the revenue at this stage is looking flattish from a pro forma perspective. So we are expecting that NJ Bio in '26 will deliver a similar revenue as that of '25.

Rahul Jeewani

analyst
#46

Okay. But is there seasonality between first half and second half?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#47

Sorry, your voice is not coming out clearly, Rahul.

Rahul Jeewani

analyst
#48

Yes. Sorry, I was saying that while NJ might remain flat this year in FY '26, but is there a seasonality for NJ's business as well that second half of the year tends to be better than the first half?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#49

That is correct. There is a seasonality in NJ Bio as well. So H2 will be better than H1.

Rahul Jeewani

analyst
#50

And can you quantify that in terms of, let's say, the split between the first half and second half revenues ballpark?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#51

I mean that would be difficult to communicate, Rahul. But I mean, you have the subsidy results, which is there. So -- and you know the full year number. So my sense is that it will be easy for you to decipher that.

Rahul Jeewani

analyst
#52

Sure, sure, sure. And then second, in terms of guidance, while we stated that the overall revenue will remain flattish in FY '26, it would be helpful if you could also comment in terms of how do you see the margin trajectory playing out this year, while second half would be better than first half. But in terms of full year margins, our earlier expectations were low 30s. So some clarity there would also be helpful.

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#53

Yes. So I think as we had guided that our investment continues to be higher. And as both Gunjan as well as Yann have articulated the tailwinds that we are getting into the business and the way ADC and oligo both are shaping. So we have continued to invest into BDs and in fact, we've got -- we've added BDs both in U.S. as well as in Europe. And we've also added BDs who are specialists in the niche technology area. So the investment in the business continues, though we are experiencing headwinds from a deferral perspective as well as the funding of MioTech, which is impacted NJ Bio. So net-net, our sense is that with the cost initiatives that we have taken, we would not be able to reach to early 30s EBITDA that we had guided earlier, and we are most likely to be in the range of high 20s as the EBITDA margin.

Operator

operator
#54

Our next question comes from the line of Chirag Shah from White Pine Investment Management.

Chirag Shah

analyst
#55

Again, sticking back to the guidance for -- that's my first question. What kind of confidence do you have in H2 and '27 guidance? Because it appears from the tone that there is more downside risk to the guidance that you are indicating. So given what has happened in the recent past, you are in better position to take an assessment. Why I'm asking this question is because if I look at last 3, 4 transcripts, your granular commentary always looks to be very good in terms of molecules, in terms of where we are in the cycle with the Phase II, Phase III, et cetera. But the near-term guidance seems to be missing by far. I don't think so this would have been your expectation in which case. So if you can just summarize it and help us understand the confidence that you have in your guidance? That's the first question.

Vivek Sharma

executive
#56

Chirag, this is Vivek here. So guidance is based on what we are -- the traction we are seeing with customers. So the investments that we have made with commercial team, the pipeline that we have, the RFPs we are seeing, the meetings we are having with customers, all of those are early indicators for us to base our guidance on and that is giving us high confidence on what Himanshu just shared with you the guidance for the second half of this year. And that will also reflect how we start thinking about next year because all of these things will translate into our guidance for next year. So overall, we are seeing very positive traction right now and all different businesses. Our filings are increasing, our customer traction, as I said, RFPs. So all these early indicators are positive that is giving us confidence in the second half guidance. And also, as you know, the CDO business. Normally, Q4 is a better quarter generally after the year-end. So that's giving us a positive indication.

Chirag Shah

analyst
#57

And secondly, based on the information that we have today or that you have today as a Board, can we assume F '27 would see around the 20%, 25% kind of a growth, that kind of visibility you have? I understand a lot of things can change, but there is a reasonable confidence that but for the unforeseen events, it is possible given the way the spillovers you have been indicating. So can we assume that kind of confidence is there, say, 70%, 80%, 85% kind of confidence it is possible to achieve 20%, 25% kind of growth next year?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#58

So I mean, I will say it as a yes and no, okay? And the reason I say yes and no is that we are, as Yann mentioned, there is traction in the RFP. There is traction in the RFP, both from Phase II as well as commercial, okay? However, at this stage, we have said that we are expecting growth to come back in FY '27. Now what you ask me is very specific. And that specific for that, we do need time for our customers to revert and give us better clarity of what we are winning and what we are able to get as reloads. And also, we would want to wait to get a sense of how the biotechs are coming back because a large part of the business in NJ Bio is biotech dependent, right? So that's why we have said that you have to allow us quarter 3, quarter 4 of the current year to come back and give you more clarity and a better visibility of how we are looking at FY '27. At this stage, it would be difficult to say yes or no to the number that is.

Chirag Shah

analyst
#59

And second question was on the 4 molecules that you indicated are likely to go into commercial/launch over the next 12, 18 months. So if you can help us understand that how should we look at the ramp-up of those? So if you can just educate us on that side, how generally, what are the time frames that one should look once the product gets approval, if you can -- because that would be helpful. And the ramp-up part also. So is it a year 3, year 4 that matters and initial ramp-up is generally very low and volatile? Or if you can help us guide us or educate us over there?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#60

Yes, it's a good question. And of course, we always try to model this kind of question as well in our portfolio. So what I can say is one of the molecules, right, that should launch in 2027 is a molecule that require quite a large volume as well of key starting material for which we have been chosen by the originator. So it's very difficult to say when the quantities will be asked -- is it still within FY '27 or at the beginning of FY '28, it really depends on when the originator will actually see the success of their launch. But we model this and we are fairly optimistic, I would say, for the launches coming for the small molecule portfolio that we have.

Chirag Shah

analyst
#61

Or at least if you can educate us that one respiratory approval that has gone -- that has got approved, the respiratory drug plus the 4 new molecules that you are referring to, what is the opportunity size either at the drug level or at our level, whenever it happens, say, what could be the potential peak opportunity that is available? I'm not asking for each of the drugs, but all of them 5 combined, if you can indicator, it would be helpful. It could be year '30, year '31, year '32, depends.

Yann D'Herve

executive
#62

So I will not provide numbers here. I mean we see the pipeline becoming better, right, on that end with more commercial drugs that are part of the pipeline that we are delivering, right? But I will not comment on exact value here because our clients don't know either, at the moment.

Operator

operator
#63

Our next question comes from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs.

Shyam Srinivasan

analyst
#64

Just one trying to interpolate your guidance for '26 versus '25, INR 2,600 crores last year, we're at INR 1,100 crores now. So we need to probably do about INR 1,400 crores, INR 1,500 crores for the second half. So when I look at quarter 2 exit, it's about INR 550 crores, right? So I'm just reading out given deferred shipments from 1H and project wins, we expect 2H to be 1H. Is there a way to kind of quantify what the deferred shipment amount could be that is slipping into 2H so that we get some comfort around what is the ask rate for just the organic part?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#65

Shyam, your voice was a bit off. I think I gathered part of the question. Is it possible for you to repeat the second part.

Shyam Srinivasan

analyst
#66

Yes. I was just saying shipments from 1H into H2 is something that -- is something that's driving some of the second half growth, right? So I'm just trying to see what the deferred shipments are?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#67

Okay. So there are 2 aspects to the question that you're seeking. Part one is we do have SD which we had taken down and it is coming online over a period of time. So that's one defer, which is there. As Gunjan articulated that we are fully entitled to continue to supply to our customers. So that's one part of it. And the second part that we also experienced is that on one of the commercial molecules of CDMO, I think the innovator suggested that they would want to wait for the summer to get over for us to send the dispatches to them. So those are the 2 deferrals that was being referred.

Shyam Srinivasan

analyst
#68

Understood. And Himanshu, you're not quantifying what those deferments are, right? So just for us to get comfort on the organic part of what we need to grow for the second half...

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#69

Yes. I mean you have to excuse me to not be able to quantify them.

Shyam Srinivasan

analyst
#70

Understood. Okay. Just the second question is on material margins. Despite all this decline, we have seen material margins actually improve, gross margins are up 200, 250 bps from Q2. Just if you could double-click on what were the drivers? It's a product mix but I thought everything is declining. So -- and API broadly -- sorry, AgChem has grown. So I'm just trying to see which part of the product mix was the one that led to the gross margin be?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#71

So Shyam, broadly, I mean, if you look at it in our portfolio and you understand that as well as we do have niche, which is a higher-margin business for us. So growth there would certainly help us from that perspective. So I think both -- I think NJ Bio during the quarter as well as the other NicheTech contributions have assisted in the margins to be better than what we have experienced in the previous year.

Operator

operator
#72

Our next question comes from the line of Jash from Dalal & Broacha.

Jash Gandhi

analyst
#73

I just had 2 questions. The first one is a lot of our competitors have been highlighting that they have been seeing a lot of squeeze on the biotech funding side, and we are highlighting it now. So why is it that we are seeing it right now and any specific reason for that?

Yann D'Herve

executive
#74

This is Yann. Could you please repeat the question? I couldn't not exactly understand this.

Jash Gandhi

analyst
#75

Yes. So a lot of our Indian competitors have been highlighting that they have been seeing biotech funding pressures for quite some time now, right? And we are highlighting it right now. So what is it that has changed for us, I mean, for the NJ Bio business?

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#76

Jash, let me -- so I think this is our understanding of what NJ Bio has experienced. As I said earlier, a large part of NJ Bio's business is biotech funded. And there are orders, which has been deferred to next year by biotech. And these are -- some of the orders are large orders for Phase 2. And our understanding of the engagement with the customer has been that there is this reduction in the NIH funding from a U.S. perspective. I think some of those subsidies would have flown in the funding of the business that was being given to us. And I think that's what is one of the reasons, not the only reason, but one of the reasons that has been considered at this stage on [indiscernible]

Yann D'Herve

executive
#77

This is Yann. I'd like also to add on to what Himanshu is saying. What we see is a very healthy influx of RFPs showing as well that more is improving in that space, and there should be additional spending coming in the upcoming quarters. So that's what gives us quite a bit of hope in the business related to biotech for NJ Bio. It will also maybe another element. It's not only the biotech funding. Here, we have also coming next year our new bioconjugation suite that will allow us as well to have a significant revenue stream from customers moving to Phase I, Phase II with bioconjugation. That I'd like to highlight.

Operator

operator
#78

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Cyndrella Carvalho for closing comments.

Cyndrella Carvalho

executive
#79

Thank you, Sagar, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today.

Yann D'Herve

executive
#80

Thank you.

Vivek Sharma

executive
#81

Thank you, guys.

Himanshu Agarwal

executive
#82

Thank you.

Operator

operator
#83

Thank you. On behalf of Cohance Life Sciences Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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