By IANS
Bangalore : India’s biotech major Biocon Ltd posted net profit of Rs 2.84 billion for the third quarter (October-December) of this fiscal (2007-08), registering a whopping 498 percent increase over the same period of last fiscal (2006-07) at Rs 475 million.
According to the listed company’s notification to the stock exchanges Thursday, the quantum jump (nearly six times) in the net income was on account of one-time exceptional pre-tax gain of Rs 3.3 billion from the sale of its enzymes unit during the quarter (Q3) under review.
Biocon divested its enzymes business vertical to Novozymes South Asia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novozymes of Denmark, for $115 million (Rs 4.6 billion) October 1, 2007.
Revenue from net sales for the quarter, however, dipped by 9.3 percent to Rs 1.94 billion from Rs 2.14 billion in the same period of the last fiscal, posting a negative growth.
“We have sustained revenue and profit growth even after divesting our enzymes business. We continue to increase research and development (R&D) investments in the belief that our innovation-led business strategy will deliver dividends to our shareholders in the foreseeable future,” Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said in a statement here.