Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli company with its U.S. headquarters in Hawthorne, reported a rise in earnings for the quarter ended June 30.
Earnings rose to $63 million, or $1.41 a share, from $36 million, or 80 cents, a year earlier. Sales jumped to $159 million from $111 million.
Taro changed its fiscal year end from Dec. 31 to Mar. 31 to align itself with the cycles of its major shareholder, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries of India.
Research and development expenses were up almost 50 percent to $11.5 million.
Taro Chairman Kal Sundaram said in a statement that the company’s success during the previous quarter reflects a good performance “despite the prevailing economic uncertainties in our major markets.”
“We are also pleased to note the increased R&D (spending) which is essential to (keeping) us competitive in the long term,” Sundaram said. “However, we remain cautious of the increasing competition and consequential erosion of volume on some of our major products and the challenge in maintaining current performance.”
