Strides Arcolab Jan-Mar net zooms to Rs 642 cr

Bottom line up almost 15-fold largely due to sale of entire stake in Aussie arm for A$375 million

Drug firm Strides Arcolab today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 642.18 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, primarily on the back of its entire stake sale in Australian arm Ascent Pharmahealth.

The Bangalore-headquartered firm had sold its entire stake in Australian subsidiary Ascent Pharmahealth to Watson Pharmaceuticals for 375 million Australian dollars in January this year.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 45.08 crore in the same period last year, Strides Arcolab said in a statement.

Net sales of the company stood at Rs 527.47 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, as against Rs 487.47 crore in the same period previous year.

Commenting on the results Strides Arcolab Ltd Vice- Chairman and Group CEO Arun Kumar said: "The quarter's strong operational performance in both Specialties and Pharma businesses reflect the company's strongly articulated niche IP led strategy."

"Agila's performance is driven by significant operating leverage and ramp up in capacity utilisation with continued regulatory approval momentum," he added.

Agila, which is the specialties business of Strides Arcolab is focused on key domains such as oncolytics, penems, pencillins, cephalosporins, ophthalmics, peptides and biosimilars.

On a standalone basis, the company posted a net loss of Rs 28.15 crore for the first quarter. It had posted a net profit of Rs 12.74 crore in the same period last year.

Shares of Strides Arcolab were trading at Rs 650.50 on the BSE in the late afternoon trade, down 1.48% from its previous close.