Strides Arcolab, a Rs.1,000 crore plus pharma giant, has posted standalone net profit of Rs.97.40 crore after adjustment during the quarter ended December 2014 as against Rs.3,525 crore in the corresponding period of last year due to hefty exceptional items of Rs.4,630 crore on account of net gain on sale of long term investments (Rs.3,266 crore) and higher dividend income from wholly-owned subsidiary (Rs.1,353 crore). Its profit before tax and exceptional income was higher at Rs.35.03 crore as against Rs.12.86 crore. Interest cost reduced to Rs.6.92 crore from Rs.39.91 crore. EBDITA declined by 13.2 per cent to Rs.54.26 crore from Rs.62.48 crore. Its standalone net sales declined by 3.3 per cent to Rs.232.43 crore from Rs.240.24 crore.

The figures are not strictly comparable as the company changed its year ending from December to March. The company will amalgamated Shasun Pharmaceuticals and pursuant to the Scheme of Amalgamation, each equity shareholder of Shasun will be entitled to receive five equity shares of the company in lieu of 16 equity shares held in Shasun. The appointed date for the scheme is fixed at April 1, 2015. Further, as per the agreement GMS Holdings will invest US$ 21.90 million for 25.1 per cent stake in Stelis Biopharma Pvt Ltd, the biotech arm of the Strides Group.

For the nine months ended December 2014, Strides' standalone net sales amounted to Rs.622 crore as against Rs.752 crore and net profit after adjustment worked out to Rs.463 crore as compared to Rs.3,561 crore. Its consolidate net sales worked out to Rs.881 crore as compared to Rs.800 crore. Consolidated EBDITA improved by 29 per cent to Rs.181 crore from Rs.140 crore.

Its revenue in regulated market declined by 12 per cent to Rs.96.6 crore and that in emerging markets moved down by one per cent to Rs.101 crore. Its institutional business moved up smartly by 58 per cent to Rs.128 crore.

Arun Kumar, founder and Group CEO, said, “We had a steady quarter across our businesses with strong US filings of our niche products. We are particularly delighted with the ramp-up of anti-malarial business and our recent partnerships with Gilead.”

It filed 4 new products with US FDA during the quarter under review and itt received approval for Calcitriol softgel capsules. Its R&D expenditure for nine months touched to Rs.20.4 crore from Rs.12 crore in the similar period of last year. The company commenced construction of multi product biologics facility at Bioxcell Biotechnology Park, Hohor, Malaysia.