Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 20, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 20, 2006 |
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Corporate Results
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Pharmaceuticals Corporate - Financial Performance Ranbaxy profits inch up Our Bureau
POSITIVE SHOW: Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and Managing Director of Ranbaxy Laboratories, with Mr Ram S. Ramasundar, CFO & President, at a press conference at Gurgaon, Haryana, on Wednesday. — Kamal Narang
New Delhi , April 19 After six quarters, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has registered a marginal hike in net profits during the first quarter ended March 31, 2006, which stood at Rs 71.4 crore compared to Rs 70.8 crore recorded in the same period last year. The total sales for the first three months stood at Rs 1,275.3 crore, a growth over the previous year's Rs 1,138.3 crore, mainly on account of better sales in the US and domestic markets. Speaking to newspersons, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and Managing Director, Ranbaxy said, "The focus in the US market has been on enlarging our customer base, while in India we have launched several new products. We have had a good start and maintain our earlier forecast of sales growth of 18 per cent for this year." The domestic market, which registered a growth of 49 per cent at $58 million, had been hit last year with distributors holding off purchases on account of VAT implementation. Though US recorded sales of $88 million, a growth of 10 per cent, the market continues to be competitive and downward pricing pressure persists here. However, Ranbaxy expects to launch at least 15 new drugs in that market this year. Europe, where the company concluded three acquisitions recently, registered sales of $47 million, a growth of 8 per cent. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grew by 31 per cent at $89 million. The company expects to record lower capital expenses and its research and development (R&D) cost for the first quarter is lower at Rs 73 crore compared to Rs 80.6 crore recorded last year. The company's capital expenditure was about $130 million in 2005. Ranbaxy has so far filed 170 abbreviated new drug approval (ANDA) applications in the US, with 59 awaiting approval. The value of the products pending approval is estimated to be $42 billion.
Marketing rights
The company had in January said that it has six-month exclusive marketing rights for the 80-milligram generic version of Bristol Myers Squibb's cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol (pravastatin), which has annual sales of $2.26 billion. The company is awaiting US regulatory approval for marketing exclusivity, the patent for which expires this month. It is also embroiled in a legal battle with Merck & Co for launching exclusively its 80-milligram version of Zocor, the world's second-biggest-selling cholesterol drug with sales of $4.38 billion. The patent for simvastatin, the main ingredient in Zocor, expires in June and the company hopes that a decision would be reached before that. The share price of Ranbaxy rose 3.2 per cent to close at Rs 480.50 on Wednesday on the BSE.
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