The announcement was made during trading hours today, 20 June 2012.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 11.03 points, or 0.07%, to 16,870.83.

On BSE, 70,415 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 1.40 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 490.60 and a low of Rs 479 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 570 on 2 August 2011. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 366.50 on 19 December 2011.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month until 19 June 2012, falling 1.05% compared with the Sensex's 4.38% rise. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 19.86% as against 2.39% fall in the Sensex.

The large-cap drug maker has an equity capital of Rs 211.06 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Till now, Ranbaxy has been marketing the products in Venezuela through a local distributor. Daiichi Sankyo Venezuela will now take over this role. To kick off the new arrangement Daiichi Sankyo Venezuela has already started the promotion of Ranbaxy products starting this month, the Indian company said in a statement.

Ranbaxy said that the Venezuelan pharmaceutical market is the third largest in Latin America. Daiichi Sankyo has started its business in Venezuela prior to the other Japanese pharmaceutical companies and has built its presence with innovative pharmaceuticals such as the hypertension medicine Benicar® (olmesartan medoxomil). Daiichi Sankyo will now also focus on expanding Ranbaxy's portfolio of medicines to promote the Hybrid Business Model, encompassing both innovative and established pharmaceuticals to expand and strengthen its presence in Venezuela.

Ranbaxy Laboratories' consolidated net profit jumped 309.6% to Rs 1246.76 crore on 72.6% growth in net sales to Rs 3695.40 crore in Q1 March 2012 over Q1 March 2011.

Ranbaxy Laboratories is an integrated, research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines, trusted by healthcare professionals and patients across geographies. Ranbaxy serves its customers in over 125 countries and has an expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, ground operations in 43 countries and manufacturing operations in 8 countries. Ranbaxy is a member of the Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Group.