Shares of Indian pharmaceuticals giant Sun Pharma gained as much as 9 per cent in early trade on Monday, even though the company suffered a hefty loss during the April-June quarter.

Sun Pharma late last week reported a net loss of Rs 1,276.1 crore for the three months ended June 30, 2013, as against a net profit of Rs 795.5 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

However, the loss was due to a hefty exceptional charge from the Protonix litigation and because of decline in business. Sun Pharma, along with Teva Pharma, was made to pay rival firm Pfizer $2.15 billion to settle a patent suit related to marketing Protonix's generic versions.

After making adjustments for provisions, the company enjoyed a year-on-year increase of 56 per cent in profits, from 795 crore in April-June quarter of 2012 to Rs 1,241 crore in the same quarter of this year.

Net sales during the three months increased 31 per cent to Rs 3,482.2 crore, though Ebitda margin slipped 200 basis points (bps) to 44 per cent.

Dilip Shanghvi, managing director of Sun Pharma, said that all of the company's businesses performed in line with its expectations.

Annoncing the quarterly results, Shanghvi said, "We remain focused on strengthening our existing businesses and developing a differentiated and specialty driven product basket."

As of 09.31 a. m., Sun Pharma shares were trading 6.7 per cent higher at Rs 539.50 a share, after hitting a high of Rs 551.30.