Aditya Birla Group firm Aditya Birla Nuvo on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 180 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 146 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

?Aditya Birla Nuvo?s earnings growth was driven by improved profitability in the manufacturing businesses coupled with reduced losses in the life insurance, IT & ITeS and garments businesses,? the company said in a statement.

Net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 4,478 crore against Rs 4,124 crore in Q4 FY 2009.

AB Nuvo?s shares on Friday were up 1.73% to close at Rs 769.05 crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the company will invest Rs 300 crore in FY 2011, including Rs 125 crore in normal maintenance, Rs 150 crore in caustic soda expansion (partly to be spent in FY11 and partly in FY12). The remaining will be spent in garments business. It will also invest Rs 40-45 crore in carbon black expansion, Sushil Agarwal, CFO of AB Nuvo told FE.

Cipla net at Rs 275 crore

The country?s largest domestic drug manufacturer, Cipla, on Friday reported an 8.9% increase in net profit at Rs 275.5 crore for the quarter ended March 2010 compared with Rs 253 crore in the same period last year. Revenues grew by 6.4% to Rs 1,329 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 1248.6 crore in the year-ago period. Domestic sales grew by 8.5% and total export sales grew by 5%. For the year ended March 2010 (FY10), net profit was at

Rs 1,082 crore up 39.3% from

Rs 776.81 crore in the previous financial year. Revenues in FY10 touched Rs 5,410.25 crore as against Rs 5021.64 crore in FY09. Shares of Cipla fell 1.26% on the BSE to close at Rs 341.80.

The decline in exports of APIs & others is primarily due to seasonal variations, the firm said in a statement to the exchanges.

Novartis profit up

Novartis India, a pharmaceutical major, has reported 34% improvement in its net profit, which stood at Rs 27.8 crore for the quarter ended March 2010, as against Rs 20.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenues increased to Rs 148.9 crore as compared to Rs 134.3 in same period previous year. ?During the quarter under review, our core business, pharmaceuticals with sales of Rs 101.4 crore, grew by 6.3% over the corresponding previous period (Rs 95.4 crore). The generics business recorded sales of Rs 9.4 crore (Rs 8.6 crore). The animal health business registered sales of Rs 14.9 crore.

NIIT net surges 40%

IT company NIIT on Friday said its consolidated net profit grew by 40% to Rs 24.7 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. Net revenue of the company fell to Rs 295 crore for the quarter from Rs 300.8 crore during the year-ago period. For the year ended March 31, 2010, the company reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 70.2 crore, up 1% over the same period last year. ?We had a strong quarter with 40% growth in PAT, in a challenging environment,? CEO Vijay K Thadani said.