Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd (SCDL) have registered an impressive growth in turnover of 26 per cent for the quarter ending June 30, 2002. The total turnover and export turnover for the period was Rs 54.52 crore (as against Rs. 43.02 crore in the corresponding quarter last year) and Rs 36.29 crore (Rs 22.70 crore in the last quarter) respectively. Gross profit before interest, depreciation and tax for the quarter increased to Rs 8.23 crore, from Rs 5.44 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The profit after tax for the quarter stood at Rs 2.33 crore as against Rs 0.33 crore for the corresponding quarter.
During the quarter the company received 60 per cent (63 per cent) of revenue from ibuprofen, 4 per cent (2 per cent) from ibuprofen derivatives, 19 per cent (25 per cent) from ranitidine and its intermediates, 16 per cent (5 per cent) from new products including nizatidine and 1 per cent (5 per cent) from others. The increase in revenue and profit for the quarter is attributed to increase in volume of sales of ibuprofen, ibuprofen derivatives, nizatidine and new products.
The Company has two manufacturing sites located at Pondicherry and Cuddalore manufacturing bulk drugs. Both the sites are US FDA inspected and Shasun has approval to market bulk ibuprofen, ranitidine, nizatidine and naproxen in USA market. Shasun also has approval from European MCA for marketing its various products.
For the year ended March 2002, the company had recorded the total revenue of Rs.220 crore. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax stood at Rs.35.87 crore while profit after tax stood at Rs.12.03 crore.
In the meanwhile, the company has now earmarked R&D as the key to the current and future success of the organisation. Accordingly, the R&D spend, currently at 3 per cent of the turnover, will be further enhanced by further investments in R&D to the tune of Rs. 40 crore in the next three years. Shasun anticipates that in the next three years over 50 per cent of its turnover will come from new products developed or commercialised by R&D.
The company has developed R&D capability and expertise in areas such as chemical synthesis, chemical development, process research and also caters to specific needs of pharmaceutical companies who wish to outsource their manufacturing as well as research. The company has successfully been able to convert a high-risk research business into a profit centre by offering full-time equivalent research. This has helped in widening the knowledge base and will also enable the organisation to be guaranteed suppliers to key innovator companies in the future. There is also tremendous focus on integrating internal capabilities to provide a seamless one-window solution for chemical intermediates outsourcing needs of all pharma MNCs.
In conjunction with the expertise in process development and organic synthesis, world class manufacturing facilities and excellent supply chain management have enabled Shasun to successfully meet customer needs across the globe and become the preferred outsourcing partner of key innovator companies. Shasun today caters to customers from highly regulated markets in USA, Japan and Europe as well as emerging markets in other parts of the world.
Future plans include biotechnology. Work has already commenced in full earnest at the state-of-the art biotechnology lab commissioned last year. Projects are underway in the areas of microbiology, molecular biology and protein purification. Also on the anvil is a plan to set up new biopharmaceutical and formulation plants as well as identification of potential biogenerics that can be offered to the market.