GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd has no plan to delist the company from the country's stock exchanges. The chairman, Deepak S Parekh, has given this assurance to the shareholders at the annual general meeting (and the first since the merger of Glaxo India and SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals Ltd) held here this morning.

Though the year 2001 was difficult for the company and the company witnessed a growth rate of seven per cent, lower than the industry average of nine per cent, Parekh said implementation of certain actions in the last year will ensure a better margin in the current year and projected a growth of seven per cent in sales turnover. Foremost among these measures were a planned destocking at the distributor level all over the country which led to lower sales.

The company currently has a market share of 6.6 per cent of the entire domestic pharmaceutical formulations market, he said.

V Thyagarajan, the company's managing director, said that their inability to introduce new products, like other Indian companies, resulted in the lower performance. Exports were down by 36 per cent due to reduced demand for ranitidine from the parent GSK plc.

Asked about the proceeds of the sale of the Worli building (no 72) which was leased by HSBC to the same bank for Rs 40 crores, Parekh said it was invested in national highway bonds and NABARD bonds. The VRS expense came upto Rs 95 crores for a total of 822 employees of which 625 were from the Worli office.

The merger has given the company a momentum, depth in its product portfolio, strong financials and greater marketing power. In the current year, the company will focus on high profit margin brands, he said. The company has also implemented JDE software solution for better logistics decision-making.

The company's expense on R&D is the least as there is no IPR rule in place here. Glaxo will definitely have R&D once the product patents law is in place, he said. GSK has the one of the strongest early stage pipelines in the industry with 118 projects in clinical development, including 56 new chemical entities, 21 new vaccines and 41 new line extensions.

Tough corrective measures adopted during the last year will result in improved profitability and strong value creation for our shareholders in the years to come, he said.