GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Q1 net dips 43%

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals today posted 42.87% decline in its net profit at Rs 96.54 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, as the company continued to be impacted by the revamped price control order.

The company had registered a net profit of Rs 169.01 crore during the same period last year.

Net sales of the company declined to Rs 599.85 crore for the first quarter, as compared to Rs 632.14 crore in the same period a year ago, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals said in a BSE filing.

The company follows a January-December financial year.

"The quarter ended march 31, 2014, continued to see the impact of the revamped price control order, extending coverage to the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM)," the company said.

Last year, Department of Pharmaceuticals had notified the Drugs (Prices Control) Order 2013 under which prices of 348 medicines in the NLEM have been brought under price control, thus replacing an earlier order of 1995 that regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs.

Shares of GlaxoSmithKline Pharma closed at Rs 2,497.40 apiece, down 0.43% on the BSE.