Piramal Q1 net down 5% at Rs 80 cr

Piramal Healthcare today reported a 5.12 per cent decline in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30 to Rs 80.74 crore due to uncertainty arising from the sale of its solutions business to US-based Abbott and the transition cost of the deal.

The company had registered a consolidated net profit of Rs 85.10 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Net sales of the company stood at Rs 842.41 crore in the April-June quarter, a rise of 2.54 per cent compared to Rs 821.54 crore in the same period a year-ago, Piramal Healthcare said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

"The performance of the healthcare solutions business for the quarter was impacted due to uncertainty related to the sale of the healthcare solutions business and the transition cost associated with the deal," Piramal Healthcare Limited Chairman Ajay Piramal said.

He further added: "The performance is now improving and will soon return to its earlier growth trajectory."

In May, 2010, Piramal healthcare entered into a definitive agreement to sell its solutions (domestic formulations) business to Abbott for a consideration of USD 3.72 billion (about Rs 17,484 crore).

Later, in July, the company entered into a definitive agreement with Super Religare Laboratories to sell its diagnostics business for Rs 600 crore.

The company's custom manufacturing business reported sales of Rs 170 crore during the quarter ended June 30, compared to Rs 210 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Revenue from Indian facilities stood at Rs 66 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2010, compared to Rs 80.7 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The company's critical care business grew by 48.5 per cent to Rs 110 crore in the quarter ended June 30, compared to Rs 72.8 crore in the same period of the previous financial year.

"The second half of the financial year will be much better than the first half due to commencement of revenues from new contracts for our Indian facilities in the pharma solutions business and continued momentum in the critical care business," Piramal added.

Shares of Piramal Healthcare today closed at Rs 482.05 on the BSE, down 2.81 per cent from the previous close.