Macter International Ltd has emerged from the latest results season with a clear message for investors: momentum is back in branded generics, new biologics are scaling, and a bet on consumer beauty is moving from trial to traction. Management says the company is growing faster than the market, based on data from the healthcare data company IQVIA, aided by policy tailwinds from the deregulation of non essential drug prices and supported by a pipeline that now includes semaglutide in multiple delivery formats and a pending application for tirzepatide.
Macter closed FY25 with net sales of Rs9.9 billion, up 32% year on year from Rs7.5 billion in FY24, as mix shifted towards higher margin prescription brands and recently launched products. Gross margin widened from 42% to 45%, lifting gross profit 40% to Rs4.5 billion. Operating profit increased 76% to Rs1.2 billion, reflecting both the gross margin recovery and operating leverage, while profit after tax rose 73% to Rs738 million.
The first quarter of FY26 extended the trend. 1QFY26 net sales reached Rs2.8 billion, up 28% year on year; profit after tax rose 68% to Rs156 million, indicating pricing and product mix remained supportive even as selling and distribution costs rose with brand investment.
Management attributes the outperformance partly to share gains evident in IQVIA data, noting that Macter has been growing revenue at roughly 1.5–1.7x the industry’s pace.
Biologics contributed meaningfully to that acceleration. The company highlighted that it is one of two domestic players offering semaglutide in both pre filled syringe and pre filled multi dose pen formats; overall, only four companies have semaglutide in injectable form in Pakistan. The current leaders in the GLP 1 segment are Novo Nordisk and Ferozsons, with Macter and Getz holding the second largest shares – an early sign that local manufacturing capability can translate into commercial relevance as prescriptions ramp. The briefing also notes an application filed with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to launch tirzepatide, a next generation GLP 1/GIP.
A separate disclosure to the Pakistan Stock Exchange this month confirmed that Macter is now the only company in the country offering semaglutide in all three biotechnology dosage formats: vials, pre filled syringes and pre filled pens – an expansion of presentations that should support both physician preference and patient adherence.
From a balance of effort standpoint, the FY25 P&L shows higher brand investment – selling and distribution costs rose 30% to Rs2.6 billion, and administrative expenses increased 28% to Rs646 million – but the gross margin gain more than offset this.
Macter’s numbers are unfolding against a changed domestic policy backdrop. In February 2024, the federal cabinet approved proposals to deregulate prices of medicines outside the National List of Essential Medicines, with amendments to the Drug Pricing Policy 2018. The change, announced by the caretaker government, effectively moved non essential medicines to a more market based regime while leaving essential drugs under oversight – an adjustment designed to address shortages and align incentives for local manufacturing and imports.
Subsequently, policymakers signalled further reforms to shift price setting for essential medicines away from DRAP to a new federal body, while DRAP would continue its broader regulatory mandate. Reporting at the time underscored that DRAP currently regulates prices for around 500 essential medicines, and that deregulating non essentials had already improved availability by encouraging manufacturers to reintroduce previously uneconomic products. The net effect has been to reduce bottlenecks and revive competition, a dynamic visible in company level results across listed pharma.
Against this policy backdrop, companies capable of rapid formulation work, compliant scale up and multi format delivery – particularly in complex categories such as biologics – have been quickest to translate policy space into market share. Macter’s multi form semaglutide roll out is emblematic of that advantage.
Founded in 1992, Macter today operates as a branded generics manufacturer with a large contract manufacturing business. It operates across two main segments – branded generics and contract manufacturing – and as one of the larger contract manufacturers in Pakistan, particularly for multinationals.
Operationally, Macter is already selling into around 15 countries and is targeting an expansion to 30 by the end of FY27 – an export ambition that sits comfortably with the firm’s biologics push, especially if intellectual property windows for flagship GLP 1s open in select markets.
Capacity for physical expansion is also in place: management told investors it owns 16 acres in Gadap, a land bank intended to support the next five year growth phase without the friction of site acquisition.
Macter’s product architecture spans oral solids and liquids, parenterals (injectables), topicals, metered dose inhalers, and ear and eye drops – with dedicated facilities for cephalosporins, penicillins and biologics to ensure segregation and compliance. The company says it adheres to international cGMP standards and maintains ISO certified quality systems, while serving “blue chip” multinational clients on the contract manufacturing side. This breadth – in dosage forms and regulatory compliance – has historically been one of Macter’s competitive moats.
The most visible recent addition is GLP 1 therapy. In early November, Macter disclosed to PSX that it has launched semaglutide in pre filled syringe and pre filled multi dose pen presentations, adding to existing vial supply and making it the only firm nationally with all three biotechnology formats on offer. This matters clinically and commercially: physicians often tailor GLP 1 delivery to the patient, and wider presentation choice can support adherence, reduce switching, and deepen brand penetration across diabetology and metabolic indications.
In company commentary, management also set out the local competitive map: in injectable semaglutide, Novo Nordisk and Ferozsons currently lead, while Macter and Getz comprise the second tier by share. The group expects substantial revenue growth from semaglutide as prescribing widens – mirroring global uptake trends – and indicated that once global patents expire, exports could follow. In parallel, Macter has applied to DRAP to launch tirzepatide, pointing to a pipeline approach rather than a single asset bet in GLP 1s.
Outside biologics, Macter remains active in its traditional strongholds – anti infectives (with segregated beta lactam capacity), cardiovascular, and gastroenterology – while using its manufacturing infrastructure to serve multinational clients under tolling and contract arrangements. That dual engine – brands plus contracts – provides a measure of resilience as cycles shift between public tenders, private prescription demand and export windows.
The policy reset described earlier is relevant here. With non essential drugs deregulated, branded generics can better recover input cost shocks (APIs, packaging, energy), allowing firms with compliant capacity and strong field forces to lean into launches rather than ration supply. Macter’s 45% gross margin in FY25, up three points year on year, suggests the company has benefited from that alignment.
While the earnings story is still anchored in pharmaceuticals, Macter is diversifying into cosmetics via its subsidiary Misbah Cosmetics (Pvt) Ltd (MCPL) – a consumer facing arm that initially relied on imports but is now switching to local manufacturing. The company says it has leveraged its pharma experience – notably in chemical handling, quality systems and regulated production workflows – to raise standards in the cosmetics line up. As a result, MCPL’s gross margins are improving, and management expects the segment to contribute to the bottom line in the current year.
The subsidiary was formed in 2017 and is focused on halal certified cosmetics – consistent with how the brand positions itself in the market. The report also frames the move as a deliberate push into higher margin consumer products, complementary to the company’s pharmaceutical base.
Crucially, Macter can tap real world customer insight through the Depilex ecosystem founded by Masarrat Misbah, whose beauty brands are associated with MCPL. The Depilex network of over 80 salons nationwide is being used to test products, develop new SKUs and gather consumer feedback – a field laboratory of sorts that is rare in Pakistan’s still nascent beauty manufacturing landscape. This linkage shortens iteration cycles and reduces misfires in shade, texture and packaging decisions that often confound local cosmetics launches.
Market facing brand properties under the Misbah umbrella include Masarrat Misbah Makeup, a halal certified cosmetics line that has built distribution both online and offline. Public facing company and brand pages emphasise a focus on ingredient stewardship and accessibility – positioning that sits naturally with a parent steeped in cGMP process discipline.
At a strategic level, cosmetics offers a currency light growth vector relative to biologics. Where APIs and cold chain add volatility for therapeutics, localised sourcing and fill finish for colour and skincare can be managed with shorter lead times, in country packaging and domestic brand building. For Macter, co locating quality control, regulatory know how and pilot scale production under one corporate roof can reduce execution risk. The company’s disclosure that MCPL began as import based but is now moving into local manufacture suggests that learning curve is already being climbed.
Three threads define Macter’s next act.
First, the core pharma engine is running hotter than the industry, by management’s own IQVIA benchmarked reckoning. That advantage is visible in the FY25 and 1QFY26 prints, where the combination of price normalisation, mix and new launches pushed both top line and margins higher. The company also says it is already present in around 15 export markets, with a plan to extend to 30 by FY27 – a goal that, if achieved, would diversify currency exposure and product risk.
Second, biologics – specifically GLP 1s – offer an avenue for step change growth. Being the only domestic manufacturer with vial, pre filled syringe and pre filled pen formats in semaglutide allows Macter to compete across prescriber preferences and patient segments. A tirzepatide launch, if cleared by DRAP, would enlarge that beachhead. Over a multi year horizon, management believes patent expiries could also open export optionality for these molecules.
Third, the consumer pivot via Misbah Cosmetics could smooth earnings by adding a portfolio with different cycles and cash conversion dynamics. The company is explicit that MCPL’s margins are improving as local manufacturing replaces imports, and that access to the Depilex salon network provides a ready test and learn platform – advantages that many new to manufacturing beauty entrants lack.
If there is a caution, it is the same one facing the broader sector: the policy transition must continue to balance affordability with the economics necessary to sustain local production, especially as energy prices and imported input costs fluctuate. Government reporting to date indicates that availability of non essential medicines has improved since deregulation, and that reforms around essential drug pricing are being considered to streamline governance; stable, predictable implementation will be the key variable for capital allocation decisions across the industry.
For now, the numbers – and the pipeline – tilt in Macter’s favour. Faster than market growth, a full suite of semaglutide presentations, and a cosmetics arm edging into profitability give the company a set of diversified growth levers rare among peers of its size on the PSX.
