Review of Indian pharma 1st-qtr results

The latest first-quarter 2001 results to be posted by Indianpharmaceutical companies show net profits 21%-60% higher compared with the same 2000 period, which is all the more laudable because of a slower growth of the retail market during that time, reports the Marketletter's New Delhi correspondent Ajoy Sen.

However, one of the exceptions to the rule was Glaxo India, where net profit slumped 28% to 100 million rupees ($2.1 million), while sales grew just 6% to 1.94 billion rupees in the latest quarter. Net profit and sales at sister company Burroughs Wellcome remained flat at 30 million rupees and 330 million rupees respectively, hit by a significant price reduction for the antibacterial Septran (sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim), the company's lead product.

Barring these two companies, a good number of pharmaceutical firms in India did well in the first quarter of 2001. Ranbaxy posted a strong set of results (Marketletter May 14), while Hoechst Marion Roussel's net profits jumped 59.8% to 211 million rupees. Sales rose 14.6% to 1.18 billion rupees and operating margins improved to 19.1% from 15% in the corresponding period last year.