MUMBAI, May 17: Dr Reddy's Laboratories has registered a 33 per cent drop in net profits for the year-ended March 31, 1997 to Rs 33.53 crore from Rs 51.08 crore in the previous year. The company, however, registered a higher turnover of Rs 249 crore against Rs 220.33 crore in the previous year.

According to a press release, the company maintained its pre-interest profit at the previous years' level. However, the growth in the company's net profit was offset by a steep fall in non-operational income to the tune of Rs 12.08 crore, a one-time write off of Rs 4.82 crore on account of investment losses, bad debts pertaining to the previous year and other provisions, and a decline in the end prices of bulk drugs. The provision of MAT also affected the bottomline.

Operating profit was Rs 51.74 crore against Rs 45.16 crore in 1995-96. Operating profit margins fell to 18.77 per cent from 20.49 per cent in the previous year. Net profit margin fell from 22.77 per cent to 13.41 per cent.

Sales of domestic formulations rose by 39 per cent over the previous year, to touch Rs 97.67 crore in 1996-97. While the total bulk drug sales increased from Rs 110.67 crore in 1995-96 to Rs 112.73 crore in 1996-97, the share of this business in the total turnover of the compnay declined from 50 per cent to 45 per cent. The share of formulations rose from 48 per cent to 53 per cent and is expected to rise to 62 per cent in 1997-98.

According to the press release issued by the company, total expenditure includes a one time writeoff on account of loss on sale of investments worth Rs 3.94 crore, bad debts totalling Rs 7.86 lakhs and depreciation amounting to Rs 81.03 lakhs on leased assets of the former Standard Equity Fund. The figures have been calculated after adjusting contingency reserve of Rs 22 crore.