Nicholas Piramal India Ltd has registered a strong growth in sales and profits for the year ended March 31, 2003 (FY03). The company registered gross sales of Rs 1136.13 crore (FY02: Rs. 946.48 crore), a growth of 20.0% over the previous year. The company has improved its EPS Before Extraordinary Items to Rs. 41.0 from Rs. 20.3 in the previous year. OPBIDTA margins as a percentage of net sales have grown to 19.9 % in FY03 from 17.2 % in FY02. ROCE was 32 % while RONW was also 32 % after extraordinary items.
"Through the last 2 years, NPIL has put into place key capabilities that should, in the next few years, make us a leader in the domestic pharmaceuticals market and a substantial player in the export market. We have completely integrated all our acquisitions, realized tremendous efficiencies and grown organically, as reflected by our numbers. This is a significant moment in NPIL's growth plan," Ajay Piramal, the company's Chairman said.
On a comparable basis, if the sales of Cardex division (the erstwhile pharma division of ICI India Limited) and sales of Global Bulk Drugs & Fine Chemicals Private Limited, which was merged with the Company effective January 1, 2003, were excluded, the gross sales growth would be 11 %.
NPIL's domestic formulations business grew at 19.9%. Excluding the sales gained by the acquisition of the erstwhile pharmaceutical division of ICI Ltd, the formulations business grew 13 % against an industry growth rate of 5.7 % (ORG-MARG MAT, March'03). This business has outperformed industry and grown market share through a combination of new products and innovative brand management. NPIL launched 21 products during the year under review, most of them in high growth lifestyle therapeutic segments such as oral anti-diabetics, anti-depressants, cardio-vascular and anti-arthritics. NPIL's material cost reduced from 52.2 % of net sales in FY02 to 48.9 % of net sales during FY03.