The Chennai based Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Orchid) has reported a turnover and operating income of Rs.170.90 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2003, registering an increase of 33 per cent in comparison to the same period last year.
According to a company release, gross profit before interest, depreciation and tax stood at Rs.36.82 crore, an increase by 44 per cent in comparison to Rs 25.59 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. Net profit after deferred tax was Rs.8.41 crore compared to Rs.3.72 crore of the corresponding Q3 last fiscal representing a growth of 126 per cent.
The sources said Orchid’s turnover and operating income for the nine months in the financial year of 2003-04 rose to Rs.505.66 crore, which is an increase of 46 per cent in comparison to the previous year comparative period turnover of Rs.346.45 crore.
Gross profit before interest, depreciation and tax stood at Rs.109.01 crore compared to Rs.70.14 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year registering a growth of 55 per cent. Net profit after deferred tax for the nine months by end of December, 2003 was Rs.23.27 crore compared to Rs.9.52 crore registered during the same period of the last fiscal growing by 144 per cent. EPS for this period stood at Rs.7.19 compared to Rs 3.31 of the corresponding period last year.
Commenting on the performance, K Raghavendra Rao, managing director, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., said, “We are happy with the strong results that we have posted during the third quarter. We have been keenly focusing on unlocking value from all the strategic initiatives that we undertook during the last couple of years. Significant progress and growth has been achieved in all the three identified growth drivers of bulk actives, formulations and drug discovery. We are confident that we would be able to better our performance going forward and sustain the growth momentum.”