Biocon Q1 net up 9%

Bangalore-based publicly held biotechnology major Biocon has reported a decent nine per cent growth in net profit to Rs 103 crore for the first quarter of FY15 as compared to the corresponding quarter of last fiscal, despite a tepid growth of three per cent in sales to Rs 742 crore. Biocon said the flagship biopharma business, which contributes close to 75 per cent of the revenues, was impacted this quarter as it grew by hardly a per cent.

Biocon said that this was due to various external factors including the ongoing geo-political conflicts in West Asia and North Africa, thus affecting the growth of this business. "We believe this is a temporary phasing issue as the underlying demand remains robust. We hope that stability in the region will restore business momentum. We are working towards mitigating the impact of these regional instabilities on our business performance," Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon explained.

The company however was able to maintain its expenditure under a tight leash given the context of dwindling sales and managing to post a nine per cent growth in operating profit to Rs 191 crore.