Dr. Reddy's fourth-quarter profit falls 19 percent on U.S. headwinds

(Reuters) - Indian generic drugmaker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd posted a 19 percent drop in quarterly net profit on Tuesday, missing analysts’ estimates, pulled down by headwinds in the U.S. market.

The company's net profit, for the quarter ended March 31, came in at 2.72 billion rupees ($39.98 million), compared with 3.38 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said here

Nineteen analysts on average expected a net profit of 3.59 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Revenue from the generics business in North America, its biggest market, dropped 6 percent to 14.49 billion rupees due to price erosions and increased competition.

Export-driven Indian drugmakers’ ability to negotiate on prices has been hit by consolidation among drug distributors in the United States.

Revenue from its generics business in Europe plunged 17 percent largely due to supply disruptions.

Shares of the drugmaker was up 1.8 percent, as of 0842 GMT.

($1 = 68.0275 Indian rupees)