Novartis India Ltd has reported a 83.48 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 113.76 crore (Rs 1,137.6 million) for the fiscal ended March 31, 2004, compared to Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) in the previous financial year.
The board has recommended a dividend of 200 per cent (Rs 10 per equity share of Rs 5 each) for fiscal 2003-04, a company release said on Friday.
Net sales in the period under review also increased to Rs 504.94 crore (Rs 5,049.4 million) from Rs 471.7 crore (Rs 4,717 million) in FY03, it said.
For the fourth quarter ended March, the net profit jumped to Rs 20.87 crore (Rs 208.7 million) [Rs 1.32 crore (Rs 13.2 million) in FY03] on net sales of Rs 102.34 crore (Rs 1,023.4 million).
Pharmaceutical sales for the period closed at Rs 310 crore (Rs 3100 million), registering a growth of 6.2 per cent.