Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest pharma entity, suffered setback during the fourth quarter ended December 2004 and its consolidated net profit declined by 11 per cent to Rs 156.50 crore from Rs 175.80 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Heavy investment in R&D as a result of the large number of US FDA filings in December 2004 and the volume of studies undertaken put pressure on bottomline. Its profit before tax (after exceptional items) declined sharply by 26 per cent to Rs 182.60 crore from Rs 246.70 crore.
Though the consolidated sales increased by 24.4 per cent in the fourth quarter to Rs 1423.50 crore from Rs 1144.40 crore, the operating profit before interest, depreciation, exceptional items and taxation declined by 18.8 per cent to Rs 220.60 crore from Rs 271.60 crore. The company's domestic sales increased by 6 per cent to US$ 53 million during the fourth quarter. The prescription share improved from 3.23 per cent to 3.25 per cent. Ranbaxy continued to consolidate its position in the chronic therapy areas.
Its USA operations achieved sales of US$ 128 million registering a growth of 19 per cent while sales in Europe recorded USD 53 million, clocking a growth of 139 per cent. The company has expanded its share in the US market despite the pricing pressures in the generic market. The stiff competition intensified further in Q4. The company's sales in Russia went up by 55 per cent to US$ 15 million.
The consolidated sales for the year ended December 2004 increased by 18 per cent to Rs 5333 crore from Rs 4530 crore. Despite better growth in sales, its net profit declined by 2.2 per cent to Rs 743 crore from Rs 759.40 crore in the previous year. The company has made year-end adjustments for pension contributions, product discontinuation and the write offs of Rofecoxib and HIV products. The company also absorbed the depreciation of the US$ against the Indian Rupee.
Dr Brian W Tempest, CEO & managing director said, "We see winds of change in an increasingly competitive international pharmaceutical business and are implementing a robust strategy, brick by brick, to secure the future of our company amongst the leading global pharma players of tomorrow.''
Ranbaxy received 4 ANDA approvals during the year ended December 2004 and it made 26 filings to the US FDA. It received 16 approvals. The cumulative product filings reached 146 with 96 approved and 50 awaiting approvals. The company made additional 3 ARV filings under the US Presidents PEPFAR programme. It is making arrangements with Teva and Andrx to expand further the penetration of its generic products. The company launched Clarithromycin in the UK during November 2004 by defending a court action. Ranbaxy made 39 national filings for 25 products in 11 EU reference member states and 71 mutual recognition procedure applications for 6 products in 21 EU members.
The company is now setting up a New Drug Discovery Research facility near New Delhi and is likely to be operational by second quarter of current year. It is also setting up new facilities in Batamandi, Mohali and Lalru. The company entered new market by setting up its own subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal and Canada. With these investment, the company hopes to achieve sales of US$ 2 billion in 2007.