The Hindu Business Line : Nicholas Piramal posts 76 pc growth in third quarter net

NICHOLAS Piramal India Ltd (NPIL), the country's second largest pharmaceutical and healthcare company, on Wednesday said it registered a 19.3 per cent growth in net sales and 76.1 per cent growth in net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal.

The company clocked a sales of Rs 262 crore, as compared to Rs 219 crore. Net profit grew to Rs 37.3 crore as compared to Rs 21.1 crore, the company said in a communiqué issued here today.

According to Mr Ajay Piramal, Chairman of the company, "NPIL's differentiated business strategy has now taken deep roots. Our performance is an outcome of that."

The domestic formulations business outperformed the market for the seventh consecutive quarter, the company said, growing 13.4 per cent against an industry growth rate of 5.1 per cent.

It registered a robust growth in therapeutic areas such as respiratory, the cardio-vascular segment, the central nervous system and anti-diabetic, among others.

In the quarter under review, the company acquired 100 per cent ownership of Sarabhai Piramal Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd (SPPL). This has given NPIL strategic advantages in its brands portfolio, therapeutic area ranking, doctors' coverage and field force expansion, the company said.

SPPL has 12 brands with a sales over Rs 5 crore, forming over 60 per cent of its sales. Some brands from the SPPL's stable include Pentids, Esgipyrin, Tossex, Mazetol, Resteclin and Suganril.

Significantly, the buyout increases NPIL's domestic formulations market share to 4.4 per cent, up from the current 3.4 per cent. The Board of NPIL also approved merger of SPPL with NPIL from April 1, 2003 and the full operational and integration benefits arising from the merger are expected to flow in the fiscal of 2005. NPIL's exports grew to Rs 28.1 crore in the third quarter, taking the total exports sales for nine months of this fiscal to Rs 76.3 crore or 9.1 per cent of sales.

Board okays Canere merger

THE board of Nicholas Piramal has approved the merger of the Hyderabad-based Canere Actives & Fine Chemicals Pvt Ltd. Canere is a new active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) facility, that is set for inspection by the US regulatory authorities.

The Canere facility has capacities to produce 350 tonnes of high-end API per annum, the company said in its communiqué. The facility is situated in the vicinity of NPIL's existing USFDA-approved API facility at Digwal, Hyderabad.

Canere's facility is ideally suited for on-patent, custom manufacturing contracts that NPIL is negotiating with three of the top-20 global innovator companies. The merger of Canere with Nicholas Piramal will expedite contracts and save time on drug mater files and regulatory clearances.

NPIL will pay a total consideration of Rs 116 crore consisting of an issue of 5 per cent cumulative redeemable preference shares aggregating Rs 38.3 crore and debt of Rs. 77.8 crore towards the merger of Canere.

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