Alembic Pharma surges 10% on strong Q4 results; stock zooms 56% in a month

Last week, the stock hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 706 on the BSE

Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals surged 10 per cent to Rs 699 on the BSE on Thursday after the company's consolidated profit before tax (PBT) more than doubled at Rs 298 crore in the January-March quarter (Q4FY20), on the back of healthy revenue. The drug maker had a PBT of Rs 139 crore during the same quarter in previous fiscal.

Total revenue of the company during the quarter under review grew 30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 1,207 crore against Rs 927 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

The company’s international formulations business grew 80 per cent YoY to Rs 710 crore in the quarter, while US Generics grew 84 per cent YoY to Rs 577 crore for the quarter.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) during the quarter jumped 95 per cent to Rs 339 crore from Rs 174 crore in Q4FY19. Ebitda margin expanded 900 basis points to 28 per cent from 19 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The management said the company recorded highest ever revenue and profit for a financial year. This was led by strong growth in the US generics business. During the fourth quarter the company saw India and rest of world (ROW) business also getting back to a robust growth, it said.

In the past one month, the stock has zoomed 56 per cent, as compared to 22 per cent rise in the benchmark index. Last week, the stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 706 on the BSE. It touched its all-time high of Rs 792 in July 2015.

At 02:23 am, Alembic Pharma was trading 9 per cent higher at Rs 695 on the BSE, against 1.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter nearly doubled with a combined around 800,000 shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE so far.