Cipla, the third largest pharma company in India with consolidated net sales of Rs 4975 crore, has achieved only single digit growth of 6.3 per cent in net sales during the third quarter ended December 2009 on account of lower formulations exports. The company's consolidated net sales reached at Rs 1344 crore from Rs 1264 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

With lower provision for foreign exchange loss, the net profit improved by 29.4 per cent to Rs 289.03 crore from Rs 223.44 crore. The earnings per share worked out to s 3.60 as compared to 2.87 in the last period. Cipla's net profit margins worked out to 19.9 per cent as against 16.5 per cent. The company provided Rs 24 crore for foreign exchange loss as compared to Rs 43 crore in the last period. Its interest cost has decreased by about Rs 7 crore due to repayment of short-term working capital loans and fixed deposits availed by the company.

The company's domestic sales improved by 14 per cent to Rs 659.21 crore from Rs 578.06 crore. However, its exports of formulations declined by 2.5 per cent to Rs 575.76 crore from Rs 590.72 crore. Exports of APIs and others went up by 10.1 per cent to Rs 122.90 crore from Rs 111.63 crore. Its exports as percentage of sales came down to 51.5 per cent in the quarter ended December 2009 from 54.9 per cent in the similar period of last year.

The lower growth in formulation exports is primarily due to lower sales of ARV products particularly in the case of tender business. The reduction in volume is mainly due to conscious policy of the company to be more cost effective in such type of business. As a result, while there has been an adverse impact on turnover the margins have improved.

For the first nine months ended December 2009, Cipla has registered net sales of Rs 4041 crore as compared to Rs 3738 crore in the previous period, a growth of 8.1 per cent. Its net profit for the period went up by 56.6 per cent to Rs 806.48 crore from Rs 514.91 crore, giving net profit margin of 18.8 per cent as against 13.1 per cent in the same period of last year. Its total exports increased by 5.3 per cent to Rs 2138.71 crore from Rs 2030.19 crore. Exports as percentage of net sales worked out to 52.4 per cent during the first nine months as compared to 53.6 per cent in the last period. Formulations exports increased by 5.4 per cent to Rs 1704.83 crore and that of APIs and other products improved by 5.1 per cent to Rs 433.88 crore from Rs 412.98 crore.