Piramal Enterprises, a Rs. 4,502 crore diversified entity engaged in pharmaceuticals, financial services and information management, has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs. 249 crore during the third quarter ended December 2014 as against a net loss of Rs. 11.14 crore in the similar period of last year mainly due to lower interest charges and lower R&D expenditure. Its interest cost declined by 56.3 per cent to Rs. 100.51 crore from Rs. 230.04 crore and R&D expenditure 24.5 per cent to Rs. 46.90 crore from Rs. 62.14 crore. Its EBDITA went up by 31.1 per cent to Rs. 387.82 crore from Rs. 295.74 crore.

The company's consolidated net sales improved by 8.2 per cent to Rs. 1,381 crore from Rs. 1,276 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Pharmaceutical sales improved only by 4.6 per cent to Rs. 802 crore from Rs. 767 crore. Pharmaceutical sales contributed 57.4 per cent to its total sales. Revenues from the pharma solutions business grew by 3.4 per cent and that from critical care grew by 8.1 per cent. Revenue from the OTC and ophthalmology went up by 14.2 per cent mainly on account of improved marketing strategy for existing brands and effective launch of new brands (including Quikkool, a pain relieving mouth ulcer gel).

Its sales from financial services increased by 9 per cent to Rs. 219 crore from Rs. 201 crore. Its income from information management segment went up by 18.5 per cent to Rs. 377 crore from Rs. 318 crore.

Ajay Piramal, chairman, said, “Our diversification across businesses & geographies and our successful organic & inorganic growth strategy, has enabled us to continue to deliver strong financial performance, despite volatile global economic environment. We remain committed to our approach of efficiently allocating capital while undertaking controlled risk, to consistently generate higher profitability and deliver superior shareholder returns.”

The company entered sterile injectable market by acquiring Coldstream Laboratories, a US based contract development and manufacturing organisation with specific expertise in high potency & cytotoxic compounds (including ADC) in January 2015 for a consideration of US$ 30.65 million.

For the nine months ended December 2014, Piramal's consolidated net sales improved by 12.7 per cent to Rs. 3,781 crore from Rs. 3,354 crore in the similar period of last year. Its earned a net profit of Rs. 2,754 crore as against a net loss of Rs. 190 crore. EPS worked out to positive Rs. 159.6 as against negative Rs. 11 in the last period. Its pharmaceutical sales improved by 10.2 per cent to Rs. 2,327 crore from Rs. 2,112 crore and contributed 60.8 per cent to its total revenues. Its sales from financial services moved up 23.9 per cent to Rs. 674 crore and sales of information management segment improved by 13.6 per cent to Rs. 825 crore from Rs. 726 crore.