Ranbaxy boosts Daiichi Sankyo’s Q1 profits

Driven by the strong results of Indian subsidiary Ranbaxy Laboratories, Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo today reported a net profit of 41.8 billion yen (Rs2,028 crore) for the quarter fiscal ended 31 March.
 
However, forecast a surprise 18 per cent drop in profits this year as Japan's third-biggest drugmaker ramps up spending to develop and market new drugs.

Daiichi Sankyo has a stake of around 64 per cent in Gurgaon-based Ranbaxy Laboratories, which is India's largest drug firm by sales.

The Japanese company had reported a loss of 215.4 billion yen in the corresponding period a year ago, Daiichi Sankyo said in a statement posted on its website.

During the quarter, Daiichi Sankyo reported net sales of 952.1 billion yen, a growth of over 13.1 per cent compared to 842.1 billion yen in the previous fiscal.

"This was mainly due to a sales contribution of 146.6 billion yen (Rs7,000 crore) by Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, which became a subsidiary in November 2008," the statement said.

The company's net sales in India stood at 59.9 billion yen (Rs2,900 crore), an increase of 292.8 per cent compared to the same period last year, it added. "This mainly reflected Ranbaxy's sales," the company said.

Daichi also announced the promotion of executive vice president Joji Nakayama to president to replace Takashi Shoda, who will become chairman, and five new candidates for its board, including three external directors.

For the year to March 2011, Daiichi forecast recurring profit to fall 18 percent to 85 billion yen, short of the consensus of a 104.8 billion yen profit in a poll of 16 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.