One of the world's top five gelatine capsule manufacturers, Strides Arcolab Ltd. posted a 280 per cent rise in its bottom-line for the quarter ended on March 31, 2010. The company sited sales growth in specialty and pharmaceutical products as the reason for such outstanding performance.     

Fourth quarter profit of the company remained at Rs. 398.3 million as compared to Rs. 104.8 million in the year-ago period. Sales of the company surged to Rs. 3.73 billion in the last quarter from Rs. 2.84 billion for the quarter ended in March 2009.

Chief Executive Officer of the group, Mr. Arun Kumar said in a statement that the company has managed to register a continued growth momentum in both specialty and pharmaceutical categories due to its strong licensing income.

The drug-maker also opted for many inorganic routes to carry on its growth during the last fiscal as well as in the future. During the fourth quarter itself, it bought the Brazilian manufacturing set up of South African drug-maker Aspen Pharmacare. The Aspen factory manufactures penems and penicillin.

The company also raised its stake from 50 per cent to 100 per cent in two different joint ventures with Aspen.