Stride Arcolab, a Rs 395 crore pharma company from Bangalore, has suffered heavy setback during the second quarter ended June 2008 on account of exceptional items like restatement of FCCB and loans to subsidiaries, external commercial borrowings and mark to market provisions. The company incurred a standalone net loss Rs 55.96 crore as against a net profit of Rs 10.18 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.
The company's standalone net sales increased sharply by 52.8 per cent to Rs 160.77 crore from Rs 105.22 crore.
Its exceptional items, which impacted its bottom line adversely, amounted to Rs 76.82 crore during the quarter under review as against an unrealised gain of Rs 15 crore in last period. The mark to market provision on option contracts amounted to Rs 28.10 crore, restatement of FCCBS and loans given to subsidiaries reached at Rs 38.31 crore and external commercial borrowings worked out to Rs 6.67 crore. Its standalone EBDIT improved to Rs 34.76 crore from Rs 1.24 crore in the similar period of last year.
Commenting on the performance, Arun Kumar, vice chairman and group CEO, said, "By any measure, Q2-08 was an outstanding operating quarter for Strides Arcolab. The achievements in the quarter go beyond the bottom line, as much has been done to set the foundations for future growth. The consolidated net loss at Rs 48 crore has been impacted by exceptional factors relating to restatement of FCCBs and ECB borrowings and provisioning of MTM loss to the extent of Rs 28 crore."
The company commenced the shipments to the North American continent including the US and Canada during second quarter. With a robust filing and approval pipeline, we are confident of ramping of this business with our niche product strategy and de-risked partnership model for the US markets, Kumar added.
The company completed the acquisition of Genepharm Australasia Ltd (GAA), Australia during the quarter an now holding around 55 per cent of the expanded capital base of GAA. The combined regional businesses are expected to have revenues of approx Australian $100 million on closing of the GAA transaction.
For the first six months of 2008, Strides' standalone net loss reached at Rs 72.01 crore due to exceptional items from a profit of Rs 17.94 core in the similar period of last year. Its standalone net sales improved to Rs 280.46 core from Rs 211.29 core, a growth of 32.7 per cent.