BackNovartis Q4 net rises 19% on higher sales
Novartis Q4 net rises 19% on higher sales
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Mumbai: Novartis India Ltd announced a 19% growth in its fourth-quarter net profit, to Rs23.87 crore, up from Rs19.99 crore in the previous period, as sales grew by the same proportion, to Rs144.64 crore from Rs121.52 crore.
Novartis is a 51% subsidiary of the Swiss drug maker Novartis AG.
However, the company’s net profit for the full year dropped 21%. Novartis posted a net profit of Rs88.55 crore for the year ended 31 March, against Rs107.89 crore the previous year.
“The previous year had exceptional profits of Rs17 crore from the sale of land in Goregaon and also a reversal of an old excise-duty provision, which amounted to Rs8 crore. So, the net profit and income of these two years are not exactly comparable," said a Novartis spokesperson.
Sales for the year were only marginally higher at Rs592.32 crore, up from Rs591.93 crore the year before.
The price of Novartis India’s shares rose 0.97% to Rs323.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 11 May.
Novartis’ board has recommended an interim dividend of 200% (Rs10 per equity share of Rs5 each).
The pharma company, in a statement, said the company had commenced making provisions for sales returns, based on a detailed evaluation by the business segments, which adversely affected sales by Rs6 crore, during the period of 2006-07.
The company also decided to implement a new accounting standard for employee benefits, resulting in an additional charge of Rs1 crore.
Since 1 April, 2006, Novartis had changed the method of providing depreciation on fixed assets. Based on an internal evaluation, the company had also revised the estimated useful life of certain fixed assets with effect from April 2005.
Such revision in useful lives, and change in the method, resulted in a net writeback of depreciation in the previous year and hence, the depreciation charge for the previous year is also not comparable with that for the current year, the company said.
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