Strides Arcolab records 43 pc growth in 2006

Bangalore, Jan 30 (UNI) Strides Arcolab today announced a 43 per cent jump in its consolidated revenue for the year ending December 2006, at Rs 760 crore (US Dollars 170 million), with the quarter four revenue being Rs 270 crore (US Dollar 61 million), up by 70 per cent.

The revenue was 48 per cent up during the quarter sequentially, the highest revenue base the company had achieved in any quarter, the company said in a release here.

The company Board, which took into account the results, recommended a dividend of 20 per cent with the consolidated Profit After Tax and Minority Interest dropping by 17 per cent to Rs 40 crore due to increased provision for tax in the Latin American operations.

The company said its US facility was closed for most part of the year to facilitate conversion from nutritional manufacturing to prescription manufacturing to meet the manufacturing needs of a changing soft gelatin strategy. Consequent to this, the company had incurred a loss of Rs 19.5 crore. The facility was now fully commissioned and ready for Rx manufacturing and expected to turn around in 2008. Similarly, the Polish operations suffered from under-utilisation of capacities and incurred a loss of Rs three crore. Regulatory filings from Poland would commence in 2008, which would take care of the capacity needs in the steriles space.

The company had three joint ventures (two in the US and one in Turkey) based on the company's philosophy of front ending regulated markets through strong regional players. They were in early phase of growth and incurred filing and start-up costs. An operating loss of Rs 5.2 crore was incurred in the JVs. The JVs would bring in revenue from the first half of 2008, the release said.

Company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Arun Kumar said 2006 had been a strong growth year for Strides with further consolidation of its global strategy of becoming a niche pharmaceutical player.

Significant investments in growth strategies and Research and Development pipeline would ensure that the company emerged as a strong and significant player.

UNI