INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ET Intelligence Group: Erez Israeli does not mince his words or masks his moves
risky and underperforming businesses
of Israeli, the only expat CEO of an Indian pharma company
The DRL stock is up over 28 per cent since he took over
The company posted its highest ever quarterly sales (of Rs 4,384 crore) for the quarter to December
The company also turned net cash surplus (of Rs 414 crore) in the quarter.
Under Israeli, DRL is fast changing tack
The sole focus, at least for now, is on improving profitability; the company has shed non-core assets in the US in specialty and proprietary
Its priority markets are India, China and other emerging markets
Total expenditure as a proportion of revenues has dipped in the past 3 quarters, resulting in higher operating margins
good company even before I came
generic company which was obsessed with cost control, has prepared him for the job at DRL
Rivals in India are closely watching him
Specialty business is a challenging proposition for traditional generic companies since it involves investment of time and resources over a
long gestation period.
Since Israeli took over, DRL became the first Indian company to win a tender to supply drugs in China
Some of its manufacturing plants in India have had a resolution of their regulatory issues with the USFDA
call.
ET BureauA diversified board, expat directors, and decisive promoters probably made it easier for DRL, compared to other pharma
companies, to push through the changes
DRL CEO, slowly, picking his words carefully
Spending most of his time in Hyderabad, where DRL is headquartered, Israeli, who flies to Tel Aviv every fortnight to meet his family, is
often surprised similarities between the Indian and Israeli cultures and value systems.
Almost 60 per cent of the analysts have given a
Analysts Kunal Dhamesha and Bharat Hegde of SBI Caps Securities have observed that the company has seen a seismic change with 18 of its 25
key managers being replaced in the past one year
They estimate the local business to triple in five years.
At a time when large peers have failed to generate positive shareholder returns,
In the medium term, only one of the bets would pay off.
