Matrix net dips 23.5% to Rs 25.5 cr

BS 200 SCORECARD

The Hyderabad-based Matrix Laboratories' net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, fell 23.52 per cent to Rs 25.55 crore compared with Rs 33.41 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

The company's sales turnover for the quarter, however, recorded a growth of 21.68 per cent to Rs 175.46 crore (Rs 144.19 crore). The profit before tax for the quarter was Rs 35.54 crore (Rs 40.41 crore).

N Prasad, chairman and chief executive officer said: "The fall in the net profit during the quarter was primarily owing to the delay in the launch of some products in the regulatory markets and a more than anticipated fall in the prices of the anti-depressant drug, Citalopram."

"The company anticipated a fall of around 30 per cent in generic Citalopram prices but in reality the price fall was almost 50 per cent," he added.

Matrix Laboratories, Prasad said, was confident of reaching Rs 1,000 crore mark by the end of 2007 as envisaged earlier from Rs 557 crore during last fiscal.