Sterling Biotech sees 35 pct profit growth in 2008

Pharmaceutical Gelatin MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical gelatin maker Sterling Biotech Ltd expects 30-35 percent growth in net profit and revenue for two years, as it expands capacity to meet rising demand, a senior company official said on Monday.Mumbai-based Sterling, which follows a calendar year, last week said first-quarter profit jumped 45 percent to 550.9 million rupees. Profit for 2007 rose 36 percent to 1.8 billion rupees on a 50 percent revenue rise to 9.1 billion rupees.Sterling plans to spend $100 million to raise manufacturing capacity of gelatin and CoQ10, a co-enzyme used to treat a variety of diseases that the company started making recently, said Shashikant Jadhav, vice president, corporate strategy."Our capacity additions will keep on giving us this kind of growth," Jadhav told Reuters in an interview. "Our capacities are fully booked."CoQ10 capacity will be doubled by December while gelatin production will be raised 10 percent to 18,000 tonnes by early 2009, he added.He declined to give the current production figures for CoQ10, citing competition, but said its contribution to total revenue will rise to about 15 percent in 2008, from about 10 percent last year. By 2009, this will rise to 25 percent.Gelatin, which made up for 90 percent of revenue last year, is a protein extracted from animal bones that is used to make capsule coverings.In 2008, profit margins will be maintained at 22 percent for the company, he added.