The Hindu Business Line : Pfizer Q1 net up 84 pc; plant sale likely soon

Pfizer Ltd has posted an 84 per cent growth in net profit after taxation at Rs 24.77 crore for the three-month period ended February 28, 2006, compared with Rs 13.46 crore for the quarter ended February 28, 2005.

The Pfizer's Managing Director in India, Mr Kewal Handa, told Business Line that better cost management and improvements in product-mix contributed to the growth in net profits. The company's total income was up 11.55 per cent, from Rs 141.67 crore in the first quarter for the year 2004-05 to Rs 158.04 crore for quarter under review this year.

Asset sale

During the quarter under review, Pfizer has also executed the sale of assets at its Ankleshwar plant, in Gujarat, for a total consideration of Rs 5.75 crore. The profit on sale amounting to Rs 2 lakh has also been included in the quarter under review, the company said. This plant came into the Pfizer fold through its Pharmacia merger, a company official said.

Two more Pfizer plants in Hyderabad and Chandigarh are also on the block and a decision on the sale of the Hyderabad facility is expected shortly, the official said.

Pfizer's Hyderabad plant has been shut down and employees have been given VRS, the official said. The plant belongs to Parke-Davis (India) Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Warner Lambert Co, the company that had globally merged with Pfizer Inc. The Chandigarh plant is a fermentation facility that employed 83 workmen. The plant has been closed since February 2004.

Pfizer closed at Rs 1,027.35 on the BSE, up 2.26 percent.