...sales inch towards record Rs 205 crore

Geeta Nair

Pune, May 16: HINDUSTAN Antibiotics Ltd’s (HAL) turnover is inching towards the peak levels of around Rs 205 crore (this was including the penicillin plant) before it went into the red.

HAL’s turnover for year 2000-01 is being pegged at round Rs 130 crore with a cash profit of Rs 5 crore.
This represents a 10 per cent growth in turnover from last year.

The company is getting Rs 17 crore annually as lease rent from the penicillin joint venture (JV) with Max GB.
However, this JV has yet to pay any dividend to HAL though it is close to five years since the venture has been in operation.

Income from lease rent income is expected to go up further from 2001-02 with the leasing of another plant, this time the Streptomycin plant, to RPG Life Sciences Ltd’s fermentation division (earlier knows as Searle India Ltd).

But the attempts to lease off or find a partner for the Gentamycin plant has not fructified.

HAL’s product portfolio is dominated by narrow spectrum antibiotics. The Erythropoeitin vialling unit, commissioned recently, is another addition to the product portfolio. This is the first of its kind plant in the country.

The drug for patients on dialysis is also expected to add to the top-line.