Global pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories, on Wednesday, posted a four-fold rise in net profit at Rs.1,247.76 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, riding on the back of robust sales in international and domestic markets. The company had posted a net profit of Rs.304.38 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The launch of a generic version of Pfizer's Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering drug, seems to have done the trick with the company doing well in major markets, including the U.S., West Europe and Australia, it said in a statement issued here.
Reacting to the results, Ranbaxy CEO and Managing Director Arun Sawhney said the focus on key products and markets, while maintaining emphasis on further strengthening quality and compliance standards, had a positive impact on the performance of Ranbaxy during the quarter.
The company's net sales, on a consolidated basis, rose to Rs.3,695.40 crore during the quarter under review from Rs.2,141.49 crore in the year-ago period. “The Indian rupee strengthened against the U.S. dollar in the quarter. This led to reversal of $87 million (Rs.439.6 crore) of the marked-to-market losses on derivative options outstanding and foreign currency loans,” the statement said.
On a standalone basis, the company was back in black with a net profit of Rs.827.23 crore in the first quarter. It had posted a net loss of Rs.52.9 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year. During the quarter, net sales on a standalone basis rose to Rs.1,810.22 crore from Rs.1,054.92 crore.
The company's India region sales grew over 10 per cent in rupee terms during the first quarter of this year, the company said. It said its U.S.-based business continued to be strong during the quarter with robust sales of products under exclusivity like Atorvastatin and Amlodipine+Atorvastatin, Ranbaxy said. “The company is working towards creating a sustainable, profitable, growing business in the long run with differentiated, branded generics business at its base. An important development has been the resumption of exports to the U.S. from our Indian facility,” Mr. Sawhney said.
Ranbaxy Laboratories shares closed at Rs.512.45 on the BSE, up 3.80 per cent from its previous close.
