Granules India Ltd, a pharmaceutical formulation intermediates manufacturer with complete vertical integration, achieved 14 per cent rise in net sales during the first quarter ended September 2006 to Rs.45.39 crore from Rs 39.83 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. During the quarter, EBITDA improved significantly by 34 per cent to Rs.7.61 crore from Rs.5.68 crore.

Despite a higher depreciation provision on assets that are not yielding revenues at their full potential, the company achieved a net profit of Rs 2.04 crore for the quarter compared to Rs 1.99 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the board of directors of the company has recommended a final dividend of 12.5 per cent for financial year ended June 30, 2006.

Commenting on the results, C Krishna Prasad, managing director, Granules India Ltd, said, "The increase in revenues is due to the commencement of operations of new API facilities for APAP and metformin which have served as critical API sources to tap the regulated market space. These facilities are expected to yield more revenues in the coming quarters when their capabilities are operational at full swing."

Recently, Granules India and Hubei Biocause Heilen Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., (Biocause) of China have singed an MoU to create a 50:50 joint venture entity to manufacture and sell pharmaceutical APIs, starting with Ibuprofen. The joint venture entity, to be known as Granules Biocause Ltd., would absorb ibuprofen API manufacturing assets of Biocause. The entire transaction is expected to be completed in the next 90 days. Biocause, is the fourth largest manufacturer of Ibuprofen in the world.

Added Prasad, "Granules is also very upbeat about the US FDA's approval of Amneal's ANDA using our PFI. This is opening up whole new avenue of opportunities to Granules India, which we expect to leverage on in the coming quarters."

The company manufactures several strategic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and multiple Pharmaceutical Formulation Intermediates (PFIs), which are distributed in 35 countries. It is foraying into manufacturing of tablets with a capacity of 6 billion tablets per annum. This facility will strengthen its presence in the pharma outsourcing space as it will have capabilities of offering a wide range of products beginning from APIs to finished dosages (coated/uncoated).