Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd recorded Tk 1,465 crore profit in the July-March period of the ongoing financial year, up around 9 percent year-on-year.

The pharmaceuticals giant made a profit of Tk 1,345 crore in the July-March period of 2022-23, according to its unaudited financial statement published on its website.

Thus, the Earnings Per Share (EPS) of Square Pharma grew to Tk 18.24 in nine months to the end of March this year from Tk 16.82 in the same period of 2022-23.

"This is healthy growth. We have been able to book double-digit growth in profit despite there has been a slowdown in the economy," said Muhammad Zahangir Alam, chief financial officer at Square Pharma,

He said both revenue and profits were satisfactory in the third quarter as the disposable income of people dropped and people celebrated the eid-ul-fitr festival during the period.

Square Pharmaceuticals' profit increased 15 percent year-on-year to Tk 441.4 crore in January-March of FY24 from Tk 383 crore in the same year a year ago.

He said the drug maker could have made higher profits had the cost of operation not been increased. He said the company had to face higher costs of power and, gas alongside the price of dollars for imports.

"We did not pass on the cost of production to the consumers. For this reason, our EPS has not increased substantially," he said.

Square Pharma offered a 105 percent cash dividend in the financial year 2022-23, the highest since the company got listed with the stock exchanges.

Square Pharmaceuticals registered a 4.53 percent year-on-year growth in profit to Tk 1,898 crore in the fiscal year ending on June 30 last year.

Shares of Square Pharma rose 1.39 percent to Tk 210.9 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange today.