Biocon, a Bangalore based Rs 850 crore pharma entity, has reported standalone net profit of Rs 284.04 crore during the third quarter ended December 2007 as against Rs 47.51 crore in the corresponding period of last year mainly due to divestment of its enzymes business to Novozymes South Asia Pvt Ltd during July 2007.The company received a net gain of Rs 238.46 crore from this transaction. Its net profit before exceptional items declined by 4.1 per cent to Rs 45.58 crore from Rs 47.51 crore in the similar quarter of last year. The company's standalone net sales declined by 9.3 per cent to Rs 194.19 crore from Rs 214.08 crore.

The standalone operating profit moved down by 6.5 per cent to Rs 64.65 crore in the third quarter of 2007-08 from Rs 69.16 crore. The pharmaceutical sales improved only by 2.1 per cent to Rs 194.19 crore from Rs 190.15 crore.

Biocon is planning to list Syngene, its wholly owned research services company, during FY 2008-09. Syngene is a pioneer in contract research and is recognized as among Asia's largest CROs.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, said, "I am pleased that we have sustained both revenue and profit growth post the divestment of our Enzymes business. We continue to increase R&D investments in the firm belief that our innovation led business strategy will deliver rich dividends to our shareholders in the foreseeable future. The sale of our enzymes business has put us in a strong financial position to pursue our international acquisition efforts that are aimed at building marketing and distribution capabilities for our range of biologics in the developed markets".

For the first nine months of 2007-08, the company's net profit reached at Rs 372.90 crore from Rs 111.06 crore in the corresponding period of last year basically due to gain of Rs 234.45 crore from sell of its enzymes business. Profit before exceptional item increased by 21.1 per cent to Rs 134.45 crore from Rs 111.06 crore in the first nine months of last year. The net sales improved by 6.4 per cent to Rs 657.18 crore from Rs 617.38 crore and its pharmaceutical sales amounted to Rs 611.48 crore as against Rs 539.37 crore. The earning per share worked out to Rs 38.58 as compared to Rs 11.52 in the last period.

Biocon's consolidated net sales including its subsidiaries for the first nine months improved by 11.3 per cent to Rs 787.16 crore from Rs 707.49 crore in the previous period. Its consolidated net profit reached at Rs 398.61 crore from Rs 139.56 crore.