Pharma shares in focus; Cipla, Sun Pharma surge over 5%

Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in focus with the Nifty Pharma index gaining nearly 4% on back of strong rally in Cipla and Cadila Healthcare post their December quarter results.

At 02:59 pm; Nifty Pharma index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 3.6% as compared to 1.01% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.

Among the pharma index, Cipla and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have rallied more than 5% each, while Cadila Healthcare, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Divi’s Laboratories up in the range of 2% to 4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

FDC and Morepen Laboratories from the non-index stocks rallied more than 10% each, Sequent Scientific, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC), Hester Biosciences, Hikal, Ajanta Pharma, Biocon and Ipca Laboratories up between 4% and 7% on BSE.

Among the individual stocks, Cipla rallied 8% to Rs 617 on NSE in intra-day trade, after the company reported a healthy performance in December quarter (Q3FY18) with EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margins improved 230 bps to 20.9% from 18.6% in year ago quarter and 19.7% in previous quarter.

EBITDA margins have been improving continuously driven by cost optimization across all spend lines despite R&D getting stepped up to 7.6% of sales during the quarter, Cipla said in a press release.

Cadila Healthcare soared 6% to Rs 418 after the company reported a better than expected 68% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 5.43 billion on back of strong  operational and revenue performance. The total income from operations grew 38% YoY at Rs 32.60 billion, while EBITDA profit increased 108% at Rs 8.41 billion over the previous year quarter.

Analysts on an average had expected net profit of Rs 5.19 billion and operational revenue of Rs 31.37 billion for the quarter.

FDC hits a 52-week high of Rs 294, up 16%, extending its previous days 6% surge, after the company said that its board has approved the buyback proposal at a price of Rs 350 per equity share through tender offer.

“The board approved the buyback of 3.43 million equity shares of the Company at a price of Rs 350 per equity share for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1,200 million from the equity shareholders of the Company on a proportionate basis through the "Tender Offer" route,” FDC said in a regulatory filing.

Meanwhile, the pharmaceuticals company reported a strong 94% jump in net profit at Rs 427 million in Q3FY18 quarter against Rs 220 million in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN(%)
FDC	284.00	254.65	11.5
CIPLA	608.80	569.15	7.0
SEQUENT SCIEN.	77.75	72.75	6.9
SUN PHARMA.INDS.	581.30	548.70	5.9
AJANTA PHARMA	1392.80	1330.35	4.7
CAPLIN POINT LAB	617.50	590.60	4.6
IPCA LABS.	598.00	574.15	4.2
MARKSANS PHARMA	39.25	37.70	4.1
BIOCON	614.40	590.95	4.0
VINATI ORGANICS	880.00	849.05	3.7
UNICHEM LABS.	371.60	358.95	3.5
DR REDDY'S LABS	2185.00	2111.70	3.5
CADILA HEALTH.	409.50	396.30	3.3
STRIDES SHASUN	713.00	694.25	2.7
WOCKHARDT	787.60	768.65	2.5
SUVEN LIFE SCIE.	196.70	192.00	2.5
PIRAMAL ENTERP.	2705.45	2649.05	2.1
GLENMARK PHARMA.	578.50	569.65	1.6
DIVI'S LAB.	1027.30	1011.80	1.5
ALEMBIC PHARMA	543.70	537.40	1.2