The Mumbai based pharma major, Cipla, recorded a healthy growth of 21.9 per cent in net profit on a net sales growth of 15.6 per cent during the quarter ended September 2002. This was mainly due to a faster rise in sales than the costs. In absolute term, the company earned a net profit of Rs 73.7 crore on a turnover of Rs 394.3 crore during Q2. The domestic sales grew by 16 per cent to Rs 259 crore while export sales slowed by 16 per cent to Rs 130 crore. However, the company is hopeful to achieve an export growth of 40 per cent during the current fiscal. The earning per share works our higher at Rs 12.2 in Q2 as compared to Rs 10.08 in the previous year.

In the first half of the current fiscal, the net profit of the company grew by 28.1 per cent to Rs 134.3 crore while the net sales increased by 24.5 per cent to Rs 797.3 crore. These growth rates would have been higher but for the slowdown in growth in sales and profit during Q2. The company is optimistic to sustain at least an overall 20 per cent growth during the current fiscal. The operating profit on sales improved from 23 per cent to 23.7 per cent while the net return on sales was higher at 16.8 per cent than 16.4 per cent in H1.

The company's state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant at Goa was completed in a record time of 11 months. A fifth unit in Goa dedicated for the manufacture for oncological products both for local and international markets is expected to be ready by early 2003.