Lupin Ltd, a Mumbai based fourth largest pharm company in India, achieved satisfactory performance during the quarter ended December 2006. The company's net profit went up by 26.8 per cent to Rs 56.03 crore from Rs 44.19 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The net sales for the quarter went up by 15.5 per cent to Rs 492.94 crore from Rs 426.90 crore.

The earning per share, after taking into consideration rise in equity capital, worked out to Rs 6.98 as compared to Rs 5.51 in the last period.

The company's profit before interest, depreciation and taxation moved up by 39.6 per cent to Rs 93.79 crore from Rs 67.19 crore. The interest burden increased by 12.7 per cent to Rs 8.87 crore and depreciation provision by 19.7 per cent to Rs 12.07 crore. Its R&D expenditure went up to Rs 31.60 crore from Rs 27.50 crore, around 6.4 per cent of the sales. The profit before tax reached a Rs 72.85 crore from Rs 49.24 crore. The taxation profit went up sharply to Rs 16.82 crore from Rs 5.05 crore, which put pressure on bottom line.

Lupin's total formulation sales from the advanced markets like North America and Europe touched to Rs 85.10 crore during the third quarter of 2006-07 as against Rs 66.60 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Suprax sales by its US subsidiary amounted to US$ 7.6 million as compared to $3.7 million in the previous period. The company enhanced the capacity of its oral non-cephalosporin plant at Goa. Its API sales to developed markets move dup by 17 per cent to Rs 40.80 crore.

The company's API sales in developing markets, including India, declined by 8 per cent to Rs 154.30 crore from Rs 168.10 crore in the previous period. However, sales of finished dosage increased by 32 per cent 226.90 crore.

Lupin's anti-migraine NCE moved into phase III clinical trials. It filed two ANDAs, two DMFs and four MAAs (European Union) during the quarter and its total reached at nine ANDAs, six DMFs and eight MAAs respectively during the first nine months of 2006-07.

For the first nine months of 2006-07, its net sales increased by 22.7 per cent to Rs 1452.87 crore from Rs 1184.10 crore in the last period. The net profit increased by 24.5 per cent to Rs 164.98 crore from Rs 132.53 crore.