Nicholas profit leaps 142%

Mumbai, April 24: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has posted a 142 per cent growth in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008 despite providing over Rs 4 crore for derivative losses.

Net profit grew to Rs 132.82 crore from Rs 54.9 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The surge in NPIL’s bottomline can be credited to strong growth in both its businesses — domestic formulations and custom manufacturing.

During the quarter, NPIL’s domestic formulation business grew 18 per cent, led by segments such as anti- infectives, nutritional, gastro-intestinal, diabetes and over-the-counter drugs. Last year, this business grew 12 per cent.

The revenue growth in custom manufacturing was 15 per cent during the quarter. NPIL is investing in its global custom manufacturing business and has acquired the injectable formulations manufacturing facility of Healthline Pvt Ltd, Bangalore.

Total income of NPIL during the quarter stood at Rs 767.9 crore, up from Rs 645.21 crore in the corresponding period last year.

For the year ended March 31, 2008, while total income was Rs 2,878.91 crore (Rs 2,472.32 crore), net profit was at Rs 333.78 crore (Rs 218.05 crore).

According to Ajay Piramal, chairman of NPIL, the current fiscal will also be robust and on a consolidated basis, topline growth could be over 16 per cent. Piramal said NPIL brought down costs on various fronts, while it invested more in sales and marketing.

Operating profit margins rose 18.9 per cent, which indicate that investments in custom manufacturing have started yielding results, Piramal said .

HCL Infosystems

Net profit of HCL Infosystems during January-March fell 52 per cent from the year-ago period, when it had certain tax-benefits, its finance chief said.

HCL makes desktops, notebooks and liquid crystal monitors at its plants in Chennai, Uttarakhand and Pondicherry.

“We had some tax reversals in the previous quarter due to amalgamation of our business,” chief financial officer Sandeep Kanwar said today.

HCL merged the telecommunication and office automation business with itself in 2007.