New Delhi, Delhi, India:  The Board of Directors of SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare (SBCH) today announced an Interim dividend of 33 per cent or Rs 3.30 per share for the year 2001. The Company declared the dividend post reporting of a robust first six months performance for the period January 2001 - June 2001. The Company registered a 20.8 per cent growth in sales (Rs 460.25 crores) over the corresponding six months last year (Rs 381.07 crores). The Profit Before Tax for the half year ended 30th June 2001 was Rs 94.55 crores, an increase of 44.9 per cent over last year's corresponding first half (Rs 65.23). The Profit After Tax during this period was Rs 68.84 crores, reflecting a 37.5 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year. Simon J Scarff, Chairman and Managing Director, SBCH, said, " SBCH has a tradition of rewarding its shareholders through a consistent dividend allocation and it becomes all the more heartening to maintain the tradition inspite of the slow down in the economy. The strong bottom line has been made possible as a result of a number of measures introduced to re-engineer the existing cost structure. The results are evidence of the strong relation which we share with our customers and the zeal of our employees to perform in these challenging macro-economic conditions."