FDC Ltd, a Rs 375 crore plus Aurangabad based pharmaceutical company, posted small growth of 4.3 per cent in net profit during the second quarter ended September 2006 to Rs 16.60 crore from Rs 15.91 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Though its net sales moved up by 35.6 per cent to Rs 118.61 crore, the higher raw material cost as well as staff cost put pressure on profitability. The earning per share also improved only to Rs 0.87 crore Rs 0.83 in the last period.

FDC commenced commercial production at its Baddi Plant during the quarter under review. The company has provided Rs 35 lakh as extra-ordinary item related to VRS. Its total staff cost went up by 27.6 per cent to Rs 11.15 crore in the quarter ended September 2006 as compared to Rs 8.73 crore in the last period.

For the first half of the 2006-07, the company's net profit touched to Rs 46.77 crore as against Rs 45.41 crore, registering a growth of 3 per cent only. Its net sales, however, went up by 26.8 per cent to Rs 242.72 crore from Rs 191.41 crore. The net profit margin i.e. Net profit as per cent of net sales, declined to 19.3 per cent from 23.7 per cent in the similar period of last year.

The company achieved net sales of Rs 338.91 crore during the full year ended March 2006 and earned a net profit of Rs 69.43 crore with EPS of Rs 3.63.