Ranbaxy Laboratories, a subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo Company of Japan, has suffered heavy setback during the first quarter ended March 2009 mainly due to lower sales and higher foreign exchange loss. It incurred a standalone net loss of Rs 778 crore as against a net profit of Rs 103.42 crore in the corresponding period of last year. It has shown a total foreign exchange loss of Rs 180.25 crore as compared to Rs 21.42 in the last period.

The company's standalone net sales declined by 18.7 per cent to Rs 802.22 crore from Rs 987.29 crore as its exports dropped by 32 per cent to Rs 440.66 crore from Rs 647.94 crore in the first quarter of last year. Its domestic sales improved marginally by 4.7 per cent to Rs 365.14 crore from Rs 348.77 crore.

Ranbaxy's consolidated net sales for the first quarter ended March 2009 declined by 4 per cent to Rs 15,584 crore from Rs 16,231 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Sales were slow due to poor monetary conditions, pricing pressures, an import alert on products in the USA and the devaluation of several currencies in countries where the company has its operations. The consolidated net loss touched to Rs 26.20 crore as against a net profit of Rs 85.80 crore in the last period.

The company's US sales declined by 14 per cent to Rs 3,401 crore. Similarly, its sales in Europe also moved down by 14 per cent to Rs 2,831 crore. Emerging markets accounted for 54 per cent of global sales at Rs 8,376 crore, down by 2 per cent in quarter under review. Sales in the North America declined by 7 per cent to Rs 4,040 crore.

Commenting on the performance, Malvinder Mohan Singh, chairman, managing director and CEO, said, "This quarter has been challenging for the global economy and also the pharmaceutical industry with depreciation in several currencies and a downturn in demand and liquidity affecting performance, across sectors. Our diversified market bas has helped us deal with these issues, mitigating their impact to a large extent Synergies from our relationship with Daiichi Sankyo are starting to kick in. Early signs of this were evident as we have launched Olmesartan in India. This traction will increase as we move forward, bringing benefits to both organizations."

The company expects to achieve marginally lower sales at Rs 7000 crore in the year 2009 and net loss of Rs 800 crore on account of volatile exchange rates. However, there will be no further adverse impact of US FDA decisions.