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Biocon net zooms by 187% in Q3 to Rs 81 crore

Our Bureau, BangaloreThursday, January 21, 2010, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Biocon, a Bangalore based Rs 1600 crore plus biotechnology company, has posted impressive performance during the third quarter ended December 2009 on account of higher sales of statins and immuno-suppressants in developed markets, healthy insulin sales in India and emerging market and significant higher income from research services. Its consolidated net profit has taken quantum jump of 187 per cent to Rs 80.89 crore from Rs 28.20 crore. However, its EBDITA improved only by 19.5 per cent to Rs 133.12 crore from Rs 111.44 crore. Biocon has shown an exceptional item regarding mark to market loss in respect of foreign exchange forward contracts of Rs 45.80 crore in the last period as against nil in the current period. This figure inflated its bottom line in the quarter ended December 2009. The earning per share went up to Rs 4.2 from Rs 3.8 in the last period. The company's consolidated net sales for the quarter increased by 45.6 per cent to Rs 635.12 crore from Rs 436.19 crore. The sales of biopharmaceuticals improved smartly by 51 per cent to Rs 566 crore during the third quarter ended December 2009 from Rs 375 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its income from contract research improved by 14 per cent to Rs 69 crore from Rs 61 crore. The research and development expenditure increased by 26 per cent to Rs 17 crore from Rs 14 crore. Commenting on the results, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, said, “Biocon has delivered strong growth in all business segments and we are confident of maintaining this momentum in the next quarter. We have filed a US IND application for IN 105 (oral insulin), one of our leading innovative research programmes”. “We are pleased to report continued progress in driving near-term growth through a strong focus on our insulins portfolio in emerging markets, our branded formulations sales in India and our API sales globally. This strategic focus has helped fuel our R&D investments in novel and biosimilar antibodies and in oral insulin in a risk-mitigated way,” said Dr Arun Chandavarkar, chief operating officer. Biocon’s R&D programmes have been financed entirely from internal accruals. Total R&D spend, as a proportion of Biocon standalone revenue, now stands at 8 per cent. This is reflective of our increased investment in pipeline expansion and advancing our novel programmes to phase II/III Human Clinical trials. The Mylan partnership for biosimilars is also making satisfactory progress. Additionally, Biocon’s strategic research alliances with Amylin and Vaccinex is enabling us to expand our footprint in drug innovation. This multi-pronged research strategy has yielded a high potential R&D pipeline that is risk balanced between novel and generic programs. The company filed a US IND application for IN-105 (oral insulin) programme. Dr Goutam Das, COO, of Syngene International, Biocon's division engaged in discovery research, said, “Syngene has posted a strong top line growth and anticipates a further ramp-up in business with existing global customers. This is supported by investments made in the last 18 months. Importantly, there is a clear trend of increased outsourcing of integrated drug discovery programs which Syngene is well positioned to capitalize on.” For the first nine months of the year 2009-10, Biocon's net sales increased by 49.8 per cent to Rs 1711 crore from Rs 1142 crore. Its net profit also jumped by 212 per cent to Rs 212.63 crore from Rs 68.24 crore. The company provided Rs 105.76 crore for exceptional items regarding mark to market loss during similar period of last year as against nil in the current period.

 
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