Wockhardt Net Up 22% At Rs 31 Cr

Wockhardt Ltd has posted a 22.09 rise in net profit and a 32.3 per cent increase in income from operations for first half of 1996-97. The annualised EPS went up from Rs 14.72 to Rs 17.97 this year.

Total sales rose from Rs 129 crore last year to Rs 170.7 crore this year, while other income rose 88 per cent from Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 6.6 crore.

Total expenditure went up by 32.9 per cent from Rs 103.9 crore to Rs 138.1 crore. The company made a Rs 2.3-crore provision for taxation this year on account of MAT. The net profit rose from Rs 25.8 crore to Rs 31.5 crore.

 

The company's core business of pharmaceuticals grew 28.5 per cent in the first half and exports was 17 per cent of sales.

Wockhardt's subsidiaries in US, Europe and its joint ventures in China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have widened its reach in global market.

The exemption of export profits from MAT announced in the budget is likely to push Wockhardt into exporting more.

With the expiry of the patent on its product, Captopril, Wockhardt has started exporting it to the US. It is already being sold in Germany and the Ireland subsidiary of Wockhardt is developing the European market.

The company also has a joint venture company in the name of Wockhardt (Middle East) Ltd in Saudi Arabia, which will be setting up a manufacturing facility to cater to the gulf market.

On the biotech front, it has a joint venture with Rhein Biotech of Germany. Called Wockhardt Rhein Biotech, it is being set up in Maharashtra for making biotechnology based bulk drugs and formulations. Two products, Hepatitis B vaccine and insulin, are being developed through recombinant technology.

ockhardt recently launched three products- Kaizem CD for hypertension, Sparx, an anti-bacterial and Pyrexon 650, dispensible paracetamol tablets.