Strides Arcolab, a Rs.995 crore pharma giant, has posted standalone net profit of Rs.338.47 crore during the second quarter ended September 2014 basically due to dividend income of Rs.397.48 crore from non-current investment in wholly-owned subsidiaries as against Rs.2.22 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The standalone net sales improved marginally by 1.1 per cent to Rs.201.35 crore from Rs.199.2 crore.

Its EBDITA increased by 14.5 per cent to Rs.59.18 crore from Rs.51.70 crore due to higher other income. Its other income moved up by 64.9 per cent to Rs.27.25 crore from Rs.16.53 crore and its other operating income went up by 58.2 per cent to Rs.15.44 crore from Rs 9.76 crore. The company's employees cost increased significantly by 49.5 per cent to Rs.29.30 crore from Rs.19.61 crore during the quarter under review.

The consolidated net sales increased by 19 per cent to Rs.292.9 crore from Rs.245.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and its consolidated EBDITA improved by 60 per cent to Rs.62.8 crore from Rs.39.4 crore. Its revenue in regulated market contributed 37 per cent to its total revenue and reached at Rs.109 crore. Its institutional business moved up to Rs.81 crore and worked out to 28 per cent of its revenue. Emerging markets contributed 35 per cent to its revenues with sales of Rs.102 crore.

The Board of Directors approved the proposed scheme of amalgamation with Shasun Pharmaceuticals. Strides Arcolab successfully acquired Bafna Domestic Business including Raricap enabling pan India presence for the India branded generics business. The company also acquired a majority stake in Fagris Medica, an entry for the CIS market. GMS Holdings invested US$ 21.90 million for a 25.1 per cent stake in Stelis Biopharma. Meanwhile, High Court of Karnataka approved the merger of Stelis with Inbiopro.

Strides Pharma Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore received US$ 150 million from Mylan Inc as full and final settlement against the contingent holdback of upto $250 million. It distributed special dividend of Rs.105 per share.

Arun Kumar, founder and group chief executive officer, said, “We continue to see positive results on our calibrated approach to product selection and margin maximisation across our businesses. With our recently commissioned R&D infrastructure for both the Pharma and Biotech business, we will achieve momentum of products filing in the near term. Additionally our announced merger with Shasun, on completion, will accelerated our growth & strategy.”

The company commissioned its new dedicated global R&D centre at ODF facility, Bangalore. It filed one product filing with US FDA and during the first half of current year, Strides received 5 product approvals. Its R&D expenditure reached at Rs.6.7 crore in the second quarter and R&D spending in Biotech touched to Rs.2.4 crore. The company is installing bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

For the first half ended September 2014, Strides' standalone net sales declined by 23.9 per cent to Rs 389 crore from Rs.511 crore in the corresponding half of last year. However, with special dividend, its net profit went up to Rs.365.26 crore from Rs.35.94 crore. Its consolidated net sales increased by 16 per cent to Rs.552 crore from Rs.475 crore and its consolidated EBDITA went up by 44 per cent to Rs.115 crore as against Rs.80 crore.