Aventis Pharma, an Indian arm of sanofi-aventis, the world's 3rd largest pharmaceutical company, has registered a marginal decline in its net profit during the first half of this calendar year ended June 30, 2007 against the corresponding period last year. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 80.6 crore during this period against Rs 80.8 crore last year, a marginal decline of 0.2 per cent.

Whereas, the company has registered an increase in its net sales by 4.6 per cent. The net sales of the company rose to Rs 443.1 crore during this period from Rs 423.3 crore last year. The lower net profit impacted its EPS, which declined to Rs 35.04 from Rs 35.13 during the period last year.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2007, the company's net profit declined by 15 per cent to Rs 37.3 crore from Rs 43.9 crore in the corresponding period last year. The net sales improved marginally by 3.3 per cent from Rs 222.8 crore to Rs 230.2crore.

During the first half of 2007, the company has received lower supplies of the anti-rabies vaccine Rabipur due to production issue in the manufacturer's plant on account of which the expected growth in the Rabipur distribution business could not be achieved.

The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of Rs 3.50 per equity share of Rs 10 to be paid to the shareholders whose names appear on the register of members of the company on July 26, 2007.