The Hindu Business Line : Ranbaxy Q3 net down 90% on pricing pressure

DOWNWARD pricing pressure in the key US market has eroded the net profits of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and its subsidiaries, which witnessed a 90.8 per cent dip in net profit during the third quarter of the current year.

Net profit fell to Rs 18.4 crore during the July-September period, compared to Rs 200.1 crore recorded during the same period last year. The consolidated sales of the company fell by two per cent to Rs 1,303.9 crore from Rs 1,343.9 crore last year.

However, the company's board has approved payment of an interim dividend of 50 per cent for the year ending December 2005.

During the same period, the Indian operations recorded net loss of Rs 10.77 crore against profit of Rs 141.30 crore earlier. Net sales stood at Rs 814.63 crore, down from the previous year's Rs 847.08 crore.

For the nine-month period ended September 2005, the company recorded consolidated sales of Rs 3,790.1 crore (Rs 3,909.8 crore), a 3.06 per cent decline. Net profit was down 67.5 per cent at Rs 190.5 crore (Rs 586.5 crore).

However, the company has increased its spending on research and development by 71 per cent to Rs 153 crore (Rs 89.6 crore), it said.

During the third quarter, the US operations fell by 25 per cent to $76 million, while the rest of the regions continued to grow, with European Union going up by five per cent, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) by 16 per cent, and the rest of the world by 16 per cent. For the third quarter, Europe clocked sales of $49 million with France spearheading the market followed by the UK and Germany.

During the same three-month period, the BRIC countries recorded sales of $95 million led by the Indian operations, which registered sales of $69 million, followed by Russia and the Ukraine belt combined with sales at $16 million.

The company's China operations continued to show improvement with sales growth of 14 per cent at $3.5 million, while Brazil recorded sales of $6 million.

In the domestic market, Ranbaxy regained the second position for August 2005. Nineteen brands featured in the top-300 product list of the industry.

Ranbaxy also launched its first product in the Japanese generics market through its joint venture, Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd, by launching its anti-diabetic product, Vogseal.

At its EGM, the company obtained the necessary approval for raising of financial resources through appropriate securities such as FCCBs and/or GDRs and/or ADRs and/or any other appropriate security/instrument up to $1.5 billion equivalent in one or more tranches. These are enabling provisions to raise resources for funding acquisitions.

On Friday, the Ranbaxy scrip fell by 3.11 per cent on the BSE to close at Rs 389.60.

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