Hit by foreign exchange losses, drug maker
Ranbaxy Laboratories on Wednesday posted a net loss of Rs 464.58 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 307.93 crore in the same period previous fiscal, Ranbaxy Laboratories said in a statement.
Net sales during the third quarter this fiscal, however, rose to Rs 2,022.75 crore, compared to Rs 1,877.48 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The company said its combined foreign exchange loss during the quarter stood at Rs 651 crore, which included derivative transactions entered into by the company in earlier years and forex denominated loans. Commenting on the results Ranbaxy CEO and Managing Director Arun Sawhney said focus on long term improvement of base business and margins has begun to reflect in the company's performance.
"This is resulting from an increased focus on strengthening manufacturing processes while re-aligning our products and markets for value creation," he added. During the quarter, the company's sales in North America stood at Rs 472 crore. Its sales from the US market, stood at Rs 385.8 crore, it said.
Ranbaxy's sales in India rose to Rs 515.7 crore in the third quarter, from Rs 484.4 crore in the same period previous fiscal. "Consumer healthcare, or the OTC business contributed Rs 86.6 crore, while the acute therapy part of business was impacted by industry-wide slow-down in the anti-infective space (in India)," the company said.
In Europe, the company posted sales of Rs 330.8 crore for the third quarter with branded generics markets of Romania, South and Central Europe posting strong growth when compared to the previous year, it added. During the quarter, sales in the CIS countries stood at Rs 145.6 crore. In Africa the posted posted sales of Rs 200.9 crore in the third quarter, it said.
The company's sales in Asia Pacific region, including Middle East and Sri Lanka, stood at Rs 126.6 crore during the third quarter.
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