India's Ranbaxy posts 23% sales growth for 2012

India’s largest drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories (AB: BO) yesterday reported financial results for 2012, showing that consolidated sales rose 23% (in rupee terms) reaching 122.53 billion rupees ($2.27 billion).

EBITDA without considering exceptional items was 15% of sales at 18.23 billion rupees, compared with 16.04 billion rupees in 2011. Profit after tax (PAT) was 9.23 billion rupees compared with a loss of just under 29 billion rupees the year earlier. PAT for 2012 was 8% of sales after incorporating one time charges of 1.86 billion rupees and Rs.1.65 billion rupees on account of recall and forex MTM. Base business profitability, excluding forex gains and one-time gains/ losses improved over the previous year. The company expects to achieve sales of over 120 billion rupees in 2013, while also growing its base business by over 10%.

Commenting on the business results for the quarter, Arun Sawhney, chief executive and managing director, of Ranbaxy, said: "2012 was a mixed year for us. While we delivered our strongest ever sales performance monetizing our major key product opportunities, we also faced challenges, primarily the recall of atorvastatin in the US market at the end of the year. We took a proactive action to voluntarily recall atorvastatin from the US market in the best interest of patients. We have since taken several Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) and commenced shipment of the API to our formulation facility in the US."