ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆), which supplies active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) on a made-to-order basis, has become the nation’s biggest biotechnology company on the main board by market capitalization.
Shares in ScinoPharm rose 1.76 percent to NT$80.9 in Taipei trading on Friday, the highest closing price since the company’s debut on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Sept. 29, 2011, which pushed its market value to NT$52.58 billion (US$1.76 billion), Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The stock has risen 15.9 percent so far this year and represented a return of nearly 76 percent for its investors compared with its initial public offering price of NT$46 a share. Analysts said the stock could climb even higher this year.
In his latest report on the company released last week, Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) analyst Chang Li-chun (張立群) set a new target price on ScinoPharm’s shares at NT$94, up from a previous NT$82.
During the second half of the year, more cooperation between Taiwanese and Japanese pharmaceutical firms, and positive clinical results of several new drugs will help boost the shares of companies such as ScinoPharm, Chang said.
In addition, ScinoPharm is deepening ties with international partners and stepping up expansion in Japan and China to beef up global market shares, a move that Chang said will lend extra momentum to its operations beyond this year.
Citigroup Global Markets also raised its target share price on the stock to NT$84 from NT$82, citing ScinoPharm’s strong performance in the second quarter and major product launches in the pipeline in the second half of the year.
“The bright spot in the second half of 2013 comes from new product launches that demonstrate ScinoPharm’s research and development capabilities and whose contributions will carry over to 2014,” Citigroup Taiwan research head Peter Kurz said on Monday last week.
The company’s shares have also been buoyed by a welcome improvement in its gross margin amid a better product mix, a more efficient production process and larger economies of scale, which hit a record level of 55 percent in the first quarter.
Citigroup forecast the company’s gross margin would reach 52.3 percent this year and 51.5 percent next year, up from NT$50.6 last year.
Earlier this month, ScinoPharm posted an increase of 33.97 percent in consolidated revenue to NT$2.52 billion in two quarters from NT$1.88 billion in the same period last year.
In the April-to-June quarter, revenue increased 46.6 percent year-on-year and 12.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$1.34 billion, which Kurz attributed mainly to higher shipments of topiramate, the API for anti-obesity drug Qsymia, and those of anti-cancer ingredient Docetaxel.
With ScinoPharm planning seven new products this year, with five in the US and two in Japan, Kurz said new products would help drive the company’s sales to NT$3 billion during the July-to-December period.
Citigroup estimates the company’s full-year revenue will rise 18.82 percent to NT$5.43 billion this year and increase by another 9 percent to NT$5.92 billion next year. It forecast net profit for this year to reach NT$1.51 billion, or NT$2.32 per share, and hit NT$1.58 billion, or NT$2.43 a share, next year, compared with last year’s NT$1.17 billion, or NT$1.8 a share.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
RSS