Biocon Ltd, a Rs 850 crore Bangalore based pharma company, has posted satisfactory financial performance during the second quarter ended September 2007. Its net profit moved up by 22.4 per cent to Rs 44.01 crore from Rs 35.97 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The net sales improved by 7.5 per cent to Rs 235.59 crore from Rs 219.11 crore. With improvement in profits, its earning per share gone up to Rs 4.55 as against Rs 3.73 in the last period.

Though the pharmaceutical sales during the second quarter improved by 12.7 per cent to Rs 213.90 crore, the sales of enzymes declined by 28.4 per cent to Rs 22.45 crore. The company sold its enzymes business to Novozymes South Asia Pvt Ltd for a consideration of Rs 467 crore with effect from October 1, 2007. As a part of the sale agreement, Biocon has also entered into a lease agreement and support services agreement to lease certain fix3ed assets and to provide certain specified support services to the buyer.

For the first half ended September 2007, Biocon's sales increased by 14.8 per cent to Rs 462.99 crore from Rs 403.31 crore in the similar half of last year. Its net profit went up by 39.8 per cent to Rs 88.87 crore from Rs 63.55 crore. The earning per share for the first half worked out to Rs 9.20 as compared to Rs 6.59. Its pharmaceutical sales for the first half moved up by 19.5 per cent to Rs 417.29 crore from Rs 349.23 crore and that of enzymes declined by 17.8 per cent to Rs 47.72 crore.

The company consolidated net sales increased by 12 per cent to Rs 278.99 crore during the quarter ended September 2007 and its consolidated net profit moved up by 19 per cent to Rs 53.96 crore from Rs 45.34 crore in the last period. Consolidated figures include figures of its two subsidiaries viz., Syngene and Clinigene, and joint venture company Biocon Biopharmaceuticals.