Shares in local drugmaker SCI Pharmtech Inc (SCI, 旭富製藥) rose 0.5 percent to NT$60.8 yesterday, weaker than the TAIEX’s 0.85 percent increase, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed, one day after the company trimmed its capital by NT$380,000 (US$11,988).
The Taoyuan-based company cut its capital by buying back 38,000 common shares from employees and therefore raised its net worth to NT$31.28 per share, from the previous NT$31.27, according to its stock filing.
As of yesterday, SCI shares had fallen 2.09 percent this year, more than the main bourse’s 0.6 percent retreat and the chemical sector’s 1.3 percent slide, the TAIEX said.
Still, Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) maintained a “buy” rating for the drugmaker, as the company is set to benefit from order reallocations by some clients and its sales of primary drug pipelines remain healthy.
“We maintain our positive earnings outlook for its main drug pipelines,” Fubon research analyst Heather Chang (張雅雯) said in a report.
SCI is an affiliate of Mercuries & Associates Ltd (三商行), whose business interests include Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), Mercuries Data Systems Ltd (三商電腦), supermarket chain Simple Mart (美廉社), shoe retailer Family Shoes (鞋全家福), beef noodle chain Sanshang Chiaofu (三商巧福) and other ventures.
The drugmaker is one of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical active-ingredient providers and has expanded into diet, anti-depression and HIV/AIDS medications in recent years to diversify its revenue sources.
SCI is poised to benefit from order reallocations by certain customers, Chang said, adding that primary drug pipelines’ sales look healthy, with a still-intact growth history from gross margin expansions and long-term operations.
The active-pharmaceutical ingredients category used to make hydroxychloroquine, a medicine used to treat or prevent malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, is on course to outperform estimates, with shipments forecast to surge from 3.3 tonnes last year to 20 tonnes this year, the report said.
At the same time, SCI’s antidepressants unit has struck a new deal with an Indian pharmaceutical firm, with initial shipments to begin soon, the report said.
“We expect antidepressant sales to deliver outstanding growth from mid-year on” after SCI secured a position last year as the secondary supplier for the generic formulation of US drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co’s off-patent fluoxetine at a more competitive price.
SCI posted NT$93 million in revenue last month, down 8.86 percent from the same period last year, the stock filing showed.
As of September last year, pre-tax income totaled NT$266.88 million, or NT$3.15 earnings per share, the filing said.
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