Pharmaceutical company Square Pharma surpasses a market value of twenty thousand crore rupees, achieving the milestone after nine months of operations.
Square Pharmaceuticals PLC, a leading pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh, surpassed the Tk20,000 crore market capitalization milestone in July 2023. This significant achievement was primarily due to an 11% surge in its share price since early July, reaching Tk229.80 per share.
The company's strong fundamentals, including double-digit growth in revenue and profit for multiple years, played a crucial role in this achievement. The rise in the share price increased Square Pharma's market cap by approximately Tk1,959 crore to Tk20,370 crore, positioning it as the second-highest valued company on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
During a challenging economic period marked by high inflation, Square Pharma could not entirely shield itself from the impact of inflation, which led to a significant increase in expenditures for the purchase of raw materials. However, the company's proactive measures, such as share buybacks by company insiders, helped stabilize the share price amidst broader market volatility.
In contrast, the share price of its competitor BAT Bangladesh dropped by about 8%, causing BAT’s market cap to fall below Square’s, further elevating Square Pharma’s ranking on the DSE.
The latest shareholding disclosure shows that sponsors and directors hold 43.59%, institutional investors 14.05%, foreign investors 15.14%, and the general public 27.22% of Square Pharmaceuticals PLC's shares.
In the first nine months of FY25, Square Pharmaceuticals PLC's revenue stood at Tk5,784.64 crore, marking an 11% year-on-year growth. The company's profit grew by 16% year-on-year to reach Tk1,874.80 crore during the same period. For the January-March quarter, Square Pharma reported a revenue of Tk2,012.87 crore and a net profit of Tk605 crore, marking a 22% and 23% year-on-year increase, respectively.
Market insiders suggest that the spread of diseases during a challenging economic period proved to be an advantage for drugmakers, as people were compelled to purchase medicines. Square Pharmaceuticals PLC accounts for 5.59% of the DSE's total market cap.
Despite the challenges, Square Pharmaceuticals PLC's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.15 based on unaudited financials and 9.73 based on audited results, both below the DSE's average P/E of 10.51, indicate the company's potential for further growth.
Grameenphone remains the top company by market capitalisation at Tk42,224 crore. With its strong performance and strategic moves, Square Pharmaceuticals PLC is poised to continue its growth trajectory in the pharmaceutical sector.
Investors may find Square Pharmaceuticals PLC an attractive prospect for personal-finance due to its continuous growth in revenue and profit, which helped it surpass Tk20,000 crore market capitalization, as well as its competitive price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.15 and 9.73. Businesses in the finance industry might also be interested in Square Pharma's impressive shareholding composition, which includes sponsors, directors, institutional investors, foreign investors, and the general public.
