Ranbaxy global sales cross $1bn

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, aided by the recent acquisition of RPG Aventis, the generics arm of Aventis in France, announced that its global sales had exceeded $1 billion for the 12 months ending February 2004.

"Ranbaxy proudly announces that the company has surpassed its vision of achieving global sales of $1billion (February, 2004, moving annual total [MAT] basis)," a Ranbaxy release issued here today said.

The Ranbaxy stock closed at Rs 990.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 10 per cent from its previous close of Rs 981.50.

The company's 1993 vision had targeted global sales of $1 billion by 2004. The company's new vision for 2013, called Garuda, targets global sales of $5 billion with 40 per cent of the turnover coming from proprietory products. (In the last few months, Ranbaxy has entered the branded formulations market in the US and the UK.)

Ranbaxy had closed the year 2003 with global sales of $969 million, up 26.8 per cent from $764 million in 2002. In January, it completed the acquisition of RPG Aventis.

This gave Ranbaxy an additional turnover of euros 62 million (around $75 million) and helped the company breach the $1 billion mark.

"The credit for this successful achievement truly belongs to the combined efforts of the over 9000 strong Ranbaxy family," the Ranbaxy release added.

Ranbaxy is slated to record an impressive growth in global sales in 2004 also.

Talking about prospects for the current year, Ranbaxy joint managing director and CEO designate Brian Tempest had said in Janaury that the company will grow by 17-20 per cent, though he refused to say what will be the growth in bottomline.

"The first half of 2004 could be flattish, but the second half will be buoyant," Tempest said.