Ranbaxy Laboratories, a leading pharmaceutical company in India, achieved impressive financial performance during the third quarter and first nine months of the year 2006. The company's consolidated sales for the third quarter increased by 25.8 per cent to Rs 1640 crore from Rs 1304 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

The profit before interest, depreciation, tax and amortization moved up sharply to Rs 270 crore from Rs 42.70 crore in the last period. Its net profit has taken a quantum jump of over 650 per cent and touched to Rs 140.4 crore from Rs 18.7 crore. Earning per share on fully diluted basis improved to Rs 3.37 from Rs 0.49 in the last period.

Commenting on the financial performance, Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD, said, "We have improved our performance in each successive quarter over the last nine months. This can be attributed in large measure to the growth being driven in some of our key geographies and efficiencies gained from sustained cost containment measures. We will continue to maintain this momentum and press ahead in delivering future growth across geographies, in line with our guidance."

The company's consolidated sales for the nine months went up to Rs 4362 crore from Rs 3790 crore in the similar period of last year, registering a growth of 15 per cent. The net profit improved sharply by 75 per cent to Rs 334.50 crore from Rs 191.40 crore, which pushed its earning per share to Rs 8.89 from Rs 5.10 in the last period.

Ranbaxy's global sales in third quarter increased by 23 per cent to Rs US$ 354 million. The growth was led by sales in key geographies of the USA and the BRICS markets, which recorded an increase of 32 per cent over the corresponding period of last year. This includes the full quarter financials of the recently acquired Romanian business of Terapia S. A. International dosage forms sales at $ 250 million registered a growth of 35 per cent and presently contribute 71 per cent to total sales.

For the nine months ended September 2006, Ranbaxy's global sales increased by 14 per cent to $ 959 million. The USA and BRICS geographies registered a combined growth of 20 per cent over the corresponding period with sales of $ 611 million. International dosage forms sales were at $ 661 million, an increase of 18 per cent.

The ANDA filings with the US FDA are progressing per plan, with 9 ANDAs having been filed in the quarter. The cumulative ANDA filings in USA currently stand at 178, with 62 ANDAs pending approval.

The domestic operations continued to perform well recording sales of $ 79 million, a growth of 13 per cent. In rupee terms sales stood at Rs 364 crore for the third quarter ended September 2006, a growth of 20 per cent. For the nine months period Indian sales increased by 22 per cent to Rs 947.7 crore Ranbaxy continued to grow faster than the market and as a result, in June 2006, achieved the number 1 position in the domestic pharmaceutical market for the first time ever and has retained it over three consecutive months. It has now 19 brands in the Top-300 brands of the industry.