The Hindu Business Line : Ranbaxy's Q4 net more than doubles to Rs 186 cr

Propelled by an impressive performance in its international business, especially in the US market, Ranbaxy Laboratories more than doubled its consolidated net profit to Rs 186 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2006. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 70 crore for the same period last year.

While consolidated sales grew by 22 per cent to Rs 1,697 crore (Rs 1,388 crore) operating profits almost doubled to Rs 389 crore. For calendar year 2006, consolidated net profit doubled to Rs 520 crore (Rs 264 crore) while consolidated sales grew by 18 per cent to Rs 6,022 crore.

However, Ranbaxy's performance in the domestic market raises some cause for concern with sales growing only by 4 per cent for the quarter to Rs 304 crore, while for the year it was up by 8 per cent.

Though net profit grew by 42 per cent to Rs 139 crore during the quarter, it was largely due to a forex gain of Rs 97 crore as compared to a forex loss of Rs 21 crore during the same period previous year.

In fact, operating profit is up by just 7 per cent during the fourth quarter to Rs 105 crore.

US sales higher

Ranbaxy reported a good performance in the key American and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) markets. Sales were up 16 per cent in the US market during the fourth quarter, riding on the back of Simvastatin, the generic copy of Merck's Zocor, which enjoyed a 180-day exclusivity period. The drug captured a 56 per cent share of the US market during this time, logging sales of $60 million.

The story from Europe was however not too good with a 6 per cent drop in sales to $52 million during the quarter.

Ranbaxy's CEO and MD, Mr Malvinder Singh said the company would continue to look at opportunities of only strategic fit and value and that Western Europe markets will continue to see healthcare reforms. He confirmed that the company was weighing a bid for Merck KGaA's generic business.

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