Morepen Laboratories soars on reports of likely sale of OTC brands

Morepen Laboratories rose 5.85% to Rs 26.25 at 09:51 IST on BSE on reports that the company may sell its over-the-counter brands to focus on active pharmaceutical ingredient and home diagnostics business as growth drivers.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 15.34 points, or 0.05%, to 28,757.59

On BSE, so far 10.07 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 4.33 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 27.25 and a low of Rs 26.10 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 41.80 on 5 January 2016. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 13.14 on 23 September 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past 30 days till 22 September 2016, rising 25.25% compared with 2.54% rise in the Sensex. The scrip, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 8.3% as against Sensex's 9% rise.

The small-cap drug maker has an equity capital of Rs 89.97 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

As per reports, Morepen Laboratories is considering a business rejig which could lead to a potential sale of the over-the-counter brands, including antiseptic cream Burnol. The company's OTC portfolio include Lemolate cold and cough relief remedy , Sat-Isabgol, anti-fungal and antibacterial cream Itch Beat, Fever-X, Pain-X, a face wash and 2 Cool hair oil, among other brands. Piramal Healthcare, Cipla and Zydus Cadila could be among the potential suitors, reports indicated.

Morepen Laboratories' net profit surged 60.4% to Rs 4.01 crore on 17.57% rise in net sales to Rs 116.72 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

Morepen Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company having four divisions including active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), domestic formulations, diagnostics and over the counter (OTC).

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