Marksans Pharma surges 18% on share buyback plan

Shares of Marksans Pharma soared 18% in early deals on Tuesday after the pharma company unveiled a share buyback plan. The Mumbai-headquartered global pharmaceutical company in an exchange filing says its board will meet on July 8 to consider a proposal for share buyback. The company, however, didn’t disclose the details regarding the scheme.

“A meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled to be held on Friday, 8th July, 2022 to consider the proposal for buyback of fully paid up equity shares of the company upto such amount of the aggregate of Company's paid up equity share capital and free reserves as the Board may decide in accordance with the provisions of Section 68, 69 and 70 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the SEBI (Buyback of Securities) Regulations, 2018,” Marksans Pharma says in a BSE filing on Monday.

Snapping two-session losing streak, Marksans Pharma share price opened sharply higher at ₹48.20, as against the previous closing price of ₹43.2 on the BSE. During the session so far, the stock gained as much as 18% to hit a high of ₹51, driven by huge volume. As many as 8.87 lakh shares worth 4.35 crore changed hands over the counter on the BSE as compared to two-week average of 0.74 lakh stocks by 12:30 PM. In comparision, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 607 points higher at 53,842 levels.

With a market capitalisation of ₹2,038.4 crore, the microcap stock trades higher than its 5-day, 20-day, and 50-day moving averages, but lower than 100-day and 200-day average. It hit a 52-week high of ₹93.50 July 6, 2021, while it touched a 52-week low of ₹38.70 on June 20, 2022. The stock has gained 18.6% in a week and 9% in a month, while it has fallen 18.7% in the calendar year 2022. The stock has plunged more than 44% over a year period.

Marksans was incorporated in 2001 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. In 2003, it was spun off into a separate entity, focused on the research, manufacturing and marketing of generic pharmaceuticals products. Headquartered in Mumbai, Marksans has subsidiaries in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia, with proprietary marketing networks in these countries. The company has three manufacturing units – one each in India, the U.K. and the U.S., and a research and development centre in Navi Mumbai.

Last month, the company has acquired 100% stake in Dubai-based Access Healthcare for Medical Products LLC,a front-marketing and promotion company for a cash consideration of AED (United Arab Emirates dirham) 13 million. This acquisition will enable Marksans to use the front-end sales and marketing infrastructure of Access Healthcare for marketing its products manufactured in the India, U.K., and USA regions. It will also bolster Marksans' presence in the Middle East and North African regions by leveraging Access Health's knowledge of local business cultures and access to a network of partners and distributors in those regions.