Scrips like E Merck, Rhone Poulenc, Pfizer, Clariant, Burroughs Wellcome and German Remedies have been been hitting new highs. Rhone Poulenc crossed the Rs 1000-mark to touch an all-time high of Rs 1039; Pfizer has risen by Rs 65 to Rs 928; and, E Merck has shot up by Rs 60 in two trading sessions to a new high of Rs 478. Boards of Hoechst Marrion, Agrevo and Wyeth Ledrel are meeting on January 22 to take up the quarterly results. Similarly, boards of Pfizer, Procter & gamble and Novartis are meeting on January 27, 28 and 29, respectively.

Rhone Poulenc has set the tone for the other pharmaceutical companies with a 300 per cent surge in netprofit for the third-quarter ended December 1998. As indicated by most of these companies in their results for the quarter ended September 1998, earnings are expected to growth by leaps and bounds. Although, Novartis is unlikely to repeat a 100 per cent growth, its earnings are expected to be substantially higher. For the first-half ended September 1998, Novartis reported a 100 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 31.5 crore against Rs 15.4 crore on a 17 per cent growth in turnover to Rs 390.5 crore. Higher sales, benefits of synergies on account of the merger and lower interest costs were the resons for the growth in bottomline.

Smithkline Pharmaceuticals, too, is expected to report excellent results. Hoechst Marrion suffered badly due to exports to Russia with net profit dipping to Rs 1.55 crore for the second-quarter ended September 1998 against Rs 14.91 crore for the first-quarter. Turnover, too, dropped from Rs 114.55 to Rs 98 crore in the second quarter. With exports now being restored to some extent,the company is likley to make a smart comeback on the profit charts with a decent growth in earnings. Expectations of exports revival to Russia and a possible merger with Rhone Poulenc drove the company's stock past the Rs 400 level in December. The scrip is on the rise ahead of its results. The company's board is meeting on January 22 to take up the quarterly results.

Rhone Poulenc's excellent third-quarter performance saw the stock soaring past the Rs 1,000 mark. The scrip has been frozen at the upper end of the circuit filter for two consecutive trading sessions and rose by Rs 150 in two days to Rs 1,039. It rose further to Rs 1,075 on Tuesday before settling at Rs 1,014 on the BSE. Rhone-Poulenc (India) has clocked a net profit of Rs 20.22 crore during the first nine months of the current financial year, up from Rs 8.73 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company's net sales at Rs 151.46 crore was 30 per cent higher than the first three quarters of 1997-98. During the third-quarter endedDecember 31, 1999, the company posted a net profit of Rs 6.39 crore, as against Rs 1.93 crore in the same period last year.

However, German Remedies' net profit of Rs4.07 crore for the quarter fell well short of market expectations and the scrip was hammered to the lower-end of the circuit. In anticipation of the results, the stock had shot up by Rs 200 to around Rs 800 in the past 15 trading sessions.

Among the FMCG companies, Smithkline Beecham Consumer, a subsidiary of Smithkline Beecham Plc., UK, is expected to announce encouraging results for the year-ended December 1998. The company is expected to announce a fourth quarter net profit of around Rs 27-30 crore and a full year net of Rs 86-90 crore against Rs 62 crore reported in 1997. The growth is expected to be volume-driven and the volume growth will be achieved through a mix of a new product launches and capacity expansions. Smithkline is the largest player in the domestic malted food industry with its flagship product, Horlicks. The company alsomarkets products like Eno, Crocin, Tums and Aquafresh.