Biocon Ltd has posted a 14 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 102.15 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, compared with the year-ago period, the city-based biotechnology company said on Friday, expressing hope that the momentum would continue in the remaining two quarters of the fiscal.
Revenue for the quarter rose 18 per cent to Rs 740.8 crore from Rs 628.6 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The revenue growth was primarily driven by higher earnings from the contract research segment.
Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters at Biocon Park here the company was firing on all cylinders and would continue to see momentum for the remaining six months, which would spill over to the next fiscal as well.
The biopharma business grew 21 per cent, while branded formulations saw a 13 per cent expansion. Research services, which include Syngene, a contract research and manufacturing subsidiary of Biocon, and Clinigene, another unit, grew 36 per cent, compared with the corresponding period last year.
Further, the recent launch of Alzumab, a biologic that treats patients with psoriasis and priced at around Rs 7,500 a bottle, also boosted profit. However, despite this good performance, Syngene incurred a foreign exchange loss of Rs. 19 crore, which the company had hedged in 2007 when the rupee was at Rs 40 against a US dollar. The rupee is now hovering around 61.46 against the greenback.
Mumbai-based brokerage firm Dolat Capital, in a report, pointed out that operating margins of Biocon went up by 334 basis points to 23.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The scrip closed at Rs 332.50 on Friday on the BSE, down 2.41 per cent,.
venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in