Nicholas Piramal India Ltd registered a smart gain of 85 per cent in net profits during the first quarter ended June 2004. The net profit went up to Rs 48.74 crore from Rs 26.32 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The company's net sales increased by 16.2 per cent to Rs 343.56 crore from Rs 295.68 crore during the period under review. With strong improvement in bottomline, its earning per share moved up by 83 per cent to Rs 12.6 from Rs 6.9.

The company's chairman Ajay Piramal stated, "The quarter's performance is another sure step to build on our ore blocks -custom manufacturing, domestic formulations and R&D. Given our growth plans, it is crucial that we continue to invest, and yet maintain a healthy organic growth rate and profitability. We have a strong business pipeline, and are on course for our targets for the year."

NPIL's domestic formulations business outperformed the market for the ninth consecutive quarter, growing 14.6 per cent against industry growth rate of 7.8 per cent (ORG-IMSMT). During the quarter NPIL delivered double-digit growth in all the nine therapeutic areas in which the company operates. Performance was particularly strong in respiratory, CVS, CNS, anti-diabetic, dermatology and NSAIDs segments.

Its exports continued to expand, reaching 11 per cent of net sales compared with 7.4 per cent in first quarter of 2004. These exports sales reached at Rs 37.79 crore. These exports sales do not include any turnover under the AMO contract, which is under implementation and slated to commence shipment in January 2005.

The operating profit before interest, depreciation and tax increased by 6.8 per cent to Rs 62.80 crore from Rs 58.80 crore in the previous year. The R&D expenditure went up sharply by 71 to Rs 9.36 crore from Rs 5.47 crore.

The management expects a strong sales growth of 18-20 per cent from continuing business, with profits to grow faster than sales, and exports to cross Rs 160 crore.