Novartis Q4 net up 19.40 pc at Rs 23.87 cr

New Delhi, May 11: Pharma major Novartis India Ltd today posted a net profit of 19.40 per cent at Rs 23.87 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 19.99 crore for the same period last year.

Total income registered a growth of 19.02 per cent at Rs 144.64 crore for Q4FY07 from Rs 121.52 crore for the same quarter last year.

The company's net profit stood at Rs 88.55 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2007 dipping at 17.92 per cent from Rs 107.89 crore for the last fiscal.

Total income for the financial year 2006-07 witnessed a marginal 0.06 per cent growth to Rs 592.32 crore from Rs 591.93 crore for last fiscal.

The company will provide, inter alia, interim dividend of 200 per cent (Rs 10 per equity share of five rupees each) as the final dividend.

The company had changed the method of providing depreciation on fixed assets from Written Down Value (WDV) method to Straight Line Method (SLM) effective from April 01, 2005.

UNI