Biocon Ltd, the Rs 650-crore plus Bangalore-based pharma entity, received another blow during the third quarter ended December 2005, mainly due to pricing pressure in the European Statins market. Its consolidated net profit declined by 13 per cent to Rs 44 crore from Rs 50 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The operating profit also moved down by 6 per cent to Rs 61 crore from Rs 65 crore in the last period. The company's consolidated sales through biopharmaceuticals, enzymes and contract research improved by 12 per cent to Rs 199 crore from Rs 178 crore in the last period.

The consolidated figures considers the financial performance of Biocon Ltd, its wholly owned subsidiaries Syngene International Pvt Ltd and Clinigene International Pvy Ltd and its 51 per cent joint venture Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd.

The consolidated revenue from Contract Research activity saved the company as the sales from this activity went up by 49 per cent to Rs 27 crore from Rs 18 crore. The Biopharmaceauticals sales also increased by 11 per cent to Rs 154 crore from Rs 138 crore. However, sales of enzymes were under pressure and declined by 14 per cent to Rs 18 crore from Rs 22 crore. The lower sales growth and higher expenditure put pressure on margins. The earnings per share declined to Rs 4.4 per cent during the third quarter of 2005-'06 from Rs 5 in the last period.

Despite poor performance Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon, said, "I am pleased that we continue to deliver healthy profits at a time when we are investing in our discovery led research pograms. Operating margins of 30 per cent demonstrate the quality and spread of our various businesses. We are excited with the progress being made on the research & development front as we believe that we are creating powerful innovation platform for our future. We are now building domain knowledge in both Oncology and Diabetes which are the focal points of our discovery led research programs. This research combined with our manufacturing expertise reinforces our integrated bio-pharmaceutical mode.''

The company's consolidated net profit for the nine months period ended December 2005 declined by 19 per cent to Rs 126 crore from Rs 155 crore. Its consolidated sales moved up only by 7 per cent, mainly because of significant rise in Contract Research activity. The sales from biopharmaceuticals segment increased only by 5 per cent to Rs 445 crore and that from enzymes declined by 8 per cent to Rs 60 crore. The revenues from Contract Research increased by 45 per cent to Rs 69 crore. The earning per share for the first nine months period came down to Rs 12.6 from Rs 15.5 in the corresponding period of last year.