Nectar Lifesciences, a Rs. 1,625 crore pharma major from Punjab, has suffered a setback during the third quarter ended December 2013 and its net profit declined by 20.1 per cent to Rs. 17.13 crore from Rs. 21.45 crore in the corresponding period of last year due to significant interest burden. Its net sales improved only by 6 per cent to Rs. 391.04 crore from Rs. 368.89 crore. EBDITA improved by 7.7 per cent to Rs. 81.96 crore from Rs. 76.07 crore. With fall in profit, its EPS of face value per share of Rs. 1 declined to Rs. 0.76 from Rs. 0.96 in the last period. Its interest cost went up by 41.4 per cent to Rs. 39.83 crore from Rs. 28.17 crore, which impacted its bottom line.

For the first nine months ended December 2013, Nectar's net sales declined by 6.4 per cent to Rs. 1,177 crore from Rs. 1,257 crore and its net profit declined sharply by 27.7 per cent to Rs. 43.38 crore from Rs. 60.02 crore. Its interest cost went up by 30 per cent to Rs. 105 crore from Rs. 81 crore.

The company clocked net sales of Rs. 1,625 crore during the full year ended March 2013 and generated net profit of Rs. 86 crore with EPS of Rs. 3.82.