Ranbaxy Q2 profit up 20 pc at Rs 121 crore

New Delhi, Jul 20: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL) today reported a 20 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 121 crore for the second quarter ending June 30, 2006, as against Rs 101 crore for the corresponding period last year.

The company achieved sales of Rs 1,446 for the same period as against Rs 1,347 last year, representing a growth of 7 per cent.

In line with the company's focused efforts to control costs, Selling, General and Administrative (SGA) and Research and Development expenses were lower by 7 per cent and 27 per cent respectively at Rs 411 crore and Rs 81 crore, as against Q2FY05.

''We have delivered better performance from quarter to quarter and our business has strengthened with gains in market share and improved margins. We see this trend accelerate as we move forward.

We continue to control and reduce our costs to become more competitive and have increased our footprint in Europe, and Japan, both through our own presence and through significant and strategic acquisitions. A judicious mix of organic and inorganic growth will provide the necessary momentum to our future plans,'' Ranbaxy CEO and MD Malvinder Mohan Singh said.

Meanwhile, the company's net profit for the half year ended June 30, 2006, stood at Rs 192 crore as against Rs 172 crore for the same period last year, up by 12 per cent.

Sales for the half year stood at Rs 2,721 crore as against Rs 2,486 crore for the same period last year, recording a jump of 9 per cent.

During the quarter, Ranbaxy entered into a strategic alliance with Zenotech Laboratories of Hyderabad, to market 11 oncology generic formulations in the US and Canada.

Global sales for Q2, registered an increase of 6 per cent at 317 million dollars, primarily due to key geographies of the US and the BRICS markets. For H1, global sales recorded an increase of 9 per cent at 604 million dollars.

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) markets recorded a growth of 11 per cent for the quarter at 112 million dollars, while sales were at 201 million dollars, led primarily by the performances in the CIS countries and India.

RLL, headquartered in India, is an integrated, research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines, trusted by healthcare professionals and patients across geographies.

The company's foray into Novel Drug Delivery Systems has led to proprietary ''platform technologies'', resulting in a number of products under development.

The company is spread across 125 countries and has an expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, ground operations in 49 countries and manufacturing operations in 8 countries.

UNI