Fulford India Jumps 16% On Schering Stake Buzz

The Fulford India scrip witnessed a leap of 16 per cent in price during the last four trading sessions on reports that its foreign promoter Schering-Plough of the US was planning to hike its equity holding to 51 per cent from the current level of 40 per cent. The stock was quoted at Rs 241.3 yesterday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

When contacted, Fulford's managing director, K D Shah refused to comment on the sudden spurt in the stock price as well as the foreign promoter increasing equity holding in the company.

The scrip which had closed on Rs 208.3 on the BSE with volumes of around 3,000 shares has spurted to a level of Rs 241.3 with volumes tripling to around 9,000 shares.

The stock has become more volatile in terms of price movement as the company has small equity base and low floating stock.

Fulford India, a pharma company mainly in formulations, has a paid -up capital of Rs 3.20 crore.

The US promoters hold 40 per cent while Indian promoters Shah & Family have close to 20 per cent, institutions hold 35 per cent and the remaining five per cent stake is held by the Indian public.

Schering -Plough, a leading pharma companies in the US with a major thrust in the Research & Development. The foreign partner provides both technical and managerial support to Fulford.

Market sources point out that, "talks with foreign promoters for increasing equity stake are on for sometime. The foreign partner will be able to launch its range of products as soon as it has a controlling stake in the company."

Sources claim "due to the low profile of the US company, Fulford's sales growth has plateaued in the past 12 months".

Fulford has it's presence mainly in the oncology and virology segments constituting around 36 per cent of it's turnover.

The other main product lines include some dermatological products and the recently launched anti allergic product Alaspan.

Last year, the company also launched a new brand of interferon Alpha-2b called Viraferon for the Hepatitis segment.