Mankind Pharma slips 4% on Beige's likely 3% stake sale via block deal

Shares of Mankind Pharma slipped 4 per cent to Rs 2,117 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after over 3 per cent of its equity changed hands via block deals.

Till 11:13 am; as many as 14.2 million equity shares, representing 3.5 per cent of total equity of the pharma giant, changed hands on the NSE, exchange data showed.

The stock erased its intra-day losses and was trading 1 per cent lower at Rs 2,194.55 at 11:45 am. The names of the buyers and sellers of the deal were not known.

According to media reports, Beige Ltd, an affiliate of private equity firm ChrysCapital, was looking to offload 2.90 per cent stake in the drugmaker through block deals. The offer price for the transaction was expected to be around Rs 2,103-2,214 apiece.

As on December 31, 2023, Beige Ltd held 11.98 million equity shares or 2.99 per cent of total equity of Mankind Pharma, according to shareholding pattern data.

Mankind Pharma is principally engaged in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and health care products. The company made its stock market debut on May 9, 2023. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 2,297.40 on February 8, 2024. Today, it was trading at a 96 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 1,080 per share.

During the December 2023 quarter (Q3FY24), Mankind Pharma’s revenue from operations increased 25 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,607 crore as compared to Rs 2,091 crore for Q3FY23.

The EBITDA has grown by 39 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 611 crore with the margin expansion of 2.4 bps to 23.4 per cent.  Profit after tax jumped 55 per cent YoY at Rs 460 crore.

The margin improvement was driven by an increase in the gross margin of 0.7 per cent and the balance was supported by operating leverage being achieved due to strong revenue growth. The gross margin improved on account of favorable sales mix and the price increase effect, which was undertaken in the prior quarters, according to the management.

The company also has aggressive plans to expand its consumer healthcare business and increase the market share of key consumer healthcare brands, such as Manforce, Prega News and Gas-o-Fast.