Piramal Enterprises has posted consolidated net profit of Rs.95.40 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 2015 as against a net loss of Rs.311.35 crore in the corresponding period of last year due to lower interest burden, higher other income and adjustments. Its interest cost declined 56 per cent to Rs.119 crore from Rs.270 crore in the last quarter. Exceptional income amounted to Rs.4.34 crore as against loss of Rs.5.47 crore. Its other income moved up to Rs.73.45 crore due to foreign exchange gain of Rs.38.42 crore as against loss of Rs.17.88 crore. The board has declared equity dividend of Rs.20 per share of Rs.2 each for the year 2014-15.
The company's consolidated net sales improved by 16.1 per cent to Rs.1,289 crore from Rs.1,110 crore in the similar quarter of last year. Pharmaceuticals sales improved by 9.7 per cent to Rs.839 crore and contributed 64.7 per cent to its total sales. Financial services and information management contributed 20.3 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
For the full year ended March 2015, Piramal's consolidated net sales improved by 13.8 per cent to Rs.5,081 crore from Rs.4,464 crore in the previous year. Its sales from pharmaceutical manufacturing and services increased by 10.1 per cent to Rs.3,166 crore from Rs.2,877 crore. Pharma sales contributed 61.8 per cent to its total net sales followed by financial services 18.3 per cent and information management 19.9 per cent respectively.
The company's pharma solutions sales increased by 12 per cent to Rs.2,008 crore from Rs.1,786 crore and that of Piramal critical care moved up by 5 per cent to Rs.757 crore from Rs.720 crore. The sales of OTC and ophthalmology went up by 14 per cent to Rs.357 crore from Rs.313 crore due to marketing strategy and new launches.
EBDITA went up by 32.5 per cent to Rs.1140 crore from Rs.860 crore in the previous year. Its interest cost declined sharply by 51.3 per cent to Rs.511 crore from Rs.1,050 crore. R&D expenditure declined to Rs.267 crore from Rs.296 crore. However, tax provision went up significantly to Rs.345 crore from Rs.63 crore in the previous year.
Due to exceptional items, its net profit reached at Rs.2,850 crore during 2014-15 as against a net loss of Rs.501 crore in the previous year. Its exceptional income was at Rs.2,696 crore on account of sale of investment in Vodafone India Ltd amounting to Rs.3,036 crore. Further, exceptional items included amount of Rs.299 towards scaled down the R&D activities of the NCE division and write-down of license fee amounted to Rs.18 crore. Share of profit of associates reached at Rs.159 crore as compared to Rs.3 crore in the previous year. EPS worked out to Rs.165.2 as against negative Rs.29.1 in the previous year.
The US FDA audit has cleared successfully at Pithampur, Morpeth and Canada facilities during 2014-15. Piramal acquired Coldstream, a US based CDMO, focused on development and manufacturing of injecjtables. The company has commissioned sales of NeuraCeq in USA, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Netherlands and Italy. Licensing deals have also been signed for Australia, Canada & Ireland.