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Aurobindo Pharma Q1 net, sales down

Our Bureau

HYDERABAD, July 31

AUROBINDO Pharma Ltd (APL) has suffered a fall in both turnover and net profit for the first quarter of current fiscal ended June 30, 2001.

The turnover has fallen to Rs 189.96 crore from Rs 216.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, while the net profit has declined to Rs 11.27 crore from Rs 21.3 crore on an equity base of Rs 20.2 crore (Rs 20 crore).

For the period under review, APL incurred a total expenditure of Rs 163.03 crore (Rs 182.1 crore) and provided Rs 11.01 crore towards interest (Rs 7.58 crore), Rs 3.65 crore towards depreciation (Rs 3.12 crore) and Rs 1 crore towards taxation (Rs 2 crore ).

During the fiscal ended March 31, 2001, the company posted a net profit of Rs 68.31 crore on a turnover of Rs 1007.75 crore, yielding an EPS of Rs 33.82 with reserves amounting to Rs 256.41 crore.

According to the APL Managing Director, Mr K. Nityananda Reddy, the reduced production and sales during the quarter under review were mainly due to strike at the Chennai Port and also upgradation process at some of the plants of the company to comply wit h the US-FDA and European regulations.

``The first quarter performance reflects the short term effect of this restructuring strategy'', the company said in a press communique here.

As a part of its programme of cutting down the high cost facilities, the company closed down its Pondicherry plant. Major revamping of the Srichakra bulk drug facility was also undertaken during the quarter under review, resulting in fall in capacity uti lisation. The port strike at Chennai resulted in loss of 20 days of production for some key products, the company said.

According to APL, the interest and depreciation costs were significantly higher during the period under review on account of major investments made in joint ventures, subsidiaries as well as in modernisation.

Stating that the restructuring and upgradation of facilities would enable access to regulated markets and compete well in the global markets due to cost efficient and controlled facilities, APL said it expects a quantum leap in turnover and profits in th e next year. A robust market mix as well as a strong product mix would boost its bottomline.

On completion of restructuring, APL would have four modern and cost-efficient facilities for bulk drugs and intermediates and two modern formulation facilities backed by strong R&D facility. With this, APL expects to achieve its objective of becoming an R&D led international pharma company.