On the National Stock Exchange, Morepen Labs is currently trading at its all-time high of Rs 238.85. The 1999-earning of Rs 25 discounts the current market price by a multiple of 9.6.

During the year ended March 1999, Morepen Labs' total sales at Rs 250 crore was a good 35 per cent improvement over its total sales of Rs 186 crore for 1998. However, net profit margin (NPM) of 12.8 per cent during fiscal 1999 is marginally higher than its fiscal 1998 NPM of 12.59 per cent.

The company assigns thegood performance to its strategy of product restructuring that was initiated during the past couple of years. According to the company, Morepen's strategy of restructuring its product base by shelving the production of antibiotics like amoxycilin, cloxacyllina and ketrolac, added focus on potential drugs like cisapride and loratadine and starting production of sultamicillin has paid rich dividends.

The company is also concentrating more on formulations which have long-term potentials. It has established presence in formulations like loratidien, cisparide, normide, claridin, lanzopen and dom-dt. Also the company's loratidine manufacturing plant at Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, received the US Food & Drug Administration approval for the manufacture of loratidine, an anti-allergic bulk-drug. This, according to the firm, will help its loratidine exports to the US and other countries. On the tax front, Morepen's increased exports and the new manufacturing facility set up during the last fiscal have resulted inlower taxes. This boosted its bottomline.