Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (APL), the Rs 1200-crore pharmaceutical company, though registered only a modest 15.40 per cent growth in its revenue for the year ended March 31, 2003, has earned Rs 103.14 crore net profit, which is an increase by 50.55 per cent compared to the previous year’s Rs 68.51 crore. The company’s total income increased from Rs 1052.40 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 1,214.43 crore in 2002-03. Bulk drug and drug intermediaries contributed Rs 1,217.91 crore to the company during 2002-03 while the formulations segment brought in Rs 64.25 crore. The formulations revenue dropped significantly compared to the previous year’s Rs 106.17 crore.

The company’s board, which took on record the audited financial results in Hyderabad on Monday, has recommended a dividend of 35 per cent for the year as against 30 per cent in the previous year. The board also approved the delisting of the company’s shares from the Ahmedabad and Madras stock exchanges. The company would remain listed on Hyderabad, Bombay and the National stock exchanges, according to a statement from the company.

Aurobindo has an equity base of Rs 23.25 crore. On this the earnings per share work out to Rs 45.46 crore.

The company’s exports for the year amounted to Rs 579.30 crore as against Rs 495.18 crore posted last year. The total exports are 49 per cent of the total sales of the company.

On a consolidated basis, the company achieved a turnover of Rs 1,362.16 crore (Rs 1,181.49 crore) and a net profit of Rs 86.94 crore (Rs 73.09crore). According to K Nityananda Reddy, Managing director of the company, the financial results for the fourth quarter and year 2002-03 were not comparable with those of the corresponding previous quarter and year since the latest figures include the financial results of Ranit Pharma Ltd and Calac Private Ltd which were amalgamated with the company with effect from April 1, 2002.

On the consolidated financial results, Reddy explained that most of the joint ventures and subsidiaries were currently in the initial operations phase wherein expenses were written off reflecting lower consolidated profit.

According to the press statement, “Aurobindo has committed significant resources to become an R&D-led pharma company with presence in regulated and unregulated markets.” The company’s R&D has achieved important breakthroughs such as obtaining patents and filing several process and product patents.

The two Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and formulations hubs of the company were geared up for approval from the regulated markets. The Greenfield API project at Visakhapatnam and the revamped unit at Hyderabad would be the backbone of the company with global scale manufacturing, the statement added.

The company has filed its maiden US Drugs Master Files in the CNS segment and is poised to file a significant number of DMFs and ANDAs during the current year to create a product portfolio for successful presence in the regulated markets.