PRESS RELEASE

Nicholas Piramal reports HY-FY05 results;
Sales from continuing operations up 16.4%, 
Profit after tax up 34.2%

Company's Board approves a 5:1 Stock Split

Mumbai 21 October 2004:Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL) registered * a 16.4% growth in Net Sales from Continuing Operations and a 34.2% growth in Net Profit for the Half-year ended 30 September 2004 (HY-FY05).

The Company today also announced that it has concluded an agreement for discontinuation of exclusive distribution of Roche Diagnostic Products in India. Nicholas Piramal had registered FY2004 Sales of Rs. 726 million from the Diagnostic products of Roche in India. The process and negotiations to discontinue the agreement had commenced since early-2004.

At Rs. 3,530.5 million, NPIL Q2-FY05 Sales grew 11.7% on continuing business basis. The Company had lower Sales of Roche Diagnostic products and certain other Roche biotech formulations because of the planned return to the parent Company.

During Q2-FY05, Nicholas Piramal continued its drive to improve product-mix. Gross Contribution improved 14.5%. R&D expenditure more than doubled to Rs. 118.2 million during the Quarter, in-line with the Company’s greater focus on research.

Operating Margins improved to 21.7% on better portfolio mix, higher Exports, and the Diagnostics Sales shrinkage; as did Profit after tax, which grew 7.7% to Rs. 543.9 million. This resulted in an EPS (not annualized) of Rs. 14.1 per share, compared with Rs. 13.2 per share in Q2-FY04.

On a continuing businesses basis, NPIL’s Domestic Formulations continued to outperform the market for the tenth consecutive quarter, growing 12.5% against industry growth rate of 7.7% (ORG-IMS-MAT-Aug-04). Formulations growth - without excluding the returned Roche Biotech products, was 5.8% during Q2-FY05. During the Quarter, NPIL outperformed therapy area growth in 6-of-10 therapy areas. Performance was particularly strong in Respiratory, Anti-infective, CVS, Anti-diabetic, GI, and Dermatology segments. Recently, Strepsils and Saridon have also been selected among the Top-100 Super Brands of India. NPIL’s inlicensing strategy also gained momentum during HY-FY05 resulting in in-licensing deals with Ethypharm, Genzyme, Pierre Fabre, and takeover of Dobutrex rights for India.

Nicholas Piramal’s Exports continued to expand, reaching 11.8% of Net Sales, for Q2-FY05 vs. 7.2% in Q2-FY04. These Exports Sales, at Rs. 444.1 million, do not yet include any turnover under the AMO custom-manufacturing contract, which is under implementation and slated to commence shipment in January 2005.

The Board of Nicholas Piramal, at its meeting today, also approved a 5:1 Split of the Company’s shares. The Company’s shares will therefore, have a face value of Rs.2/- after the Stock Split.


Vijay Sathye
Vice President, Investor Relations and M&A
Nicholas Piramal India Ltd.
Tel: 9122 - 56637899
Mobile:  98218 79774/+9324689774
E-mail: vsathye@nicholaspiramal.co.in

* The results in the press release are on audited stand-alone basis. Stand Alone Accounts represent results without considering Joint Venture and Subsidiaries.