Hikal Ltd resume operations, stock locks in upper circuit

Hikal Limited has informed the bourses that the company has received a permission from the government authorities to restart its operations since it is a provider of the essential services (pharmaceutical and continuous industries), which are exempted from the lockdown.

The company has started limited operations on April 5, at its factories in Taloja (Maharashtra), Mahad (Maharashtra), Panoli (Gujarat), Bengaluru (Karnataka) and the R&D facility located in Pune (Maharashtra).

The company expects operations to ramp up over the next several days.

As of 9MFY20, the company derives ~59 per cent revenue from its pharmaceuticals business. The pharma business consists of APIs and CDMO, i.e. contract manufacturing organisation. Looking at the product portfolio of its pharma business, it has eight to nine products in APIs and five to six products in CDMO.

Hikal is one of the world’s largest suppliers of Gabapentin, the API for neuropathic use and holds around 30-40 per cent market share.

In today's trading session, the stock of Hikal Limited jumped nearly 10 per cent to Rs 81.05 on BSE.