Shares of India's second-largest retail pharmacy chain, Medplus Health Services, zoomed over 19% during early trade on Friday after the company posted robust numbers for the March quarter.
The pharmacy company on Thursday reported a 145% surge in its Q4 consolidated net profit at ₹27 crore. The company had reported a net profit of ₹11 crore in the year-ago quarter and ₹13 crore in Q3FY23.
The company experienced a decline in net profit during the initial and subsequent quarters of FY23, with ₹4 crore in the first quarter and ₹6 crore in the second quarter.
During Q4, the company reported a 30% surge in revenues to ₹1,253 crore from ₹966 crore in March 2022. Its revenue from the retail segment, which contributes almost all of revenue, jumped 28.59% YoY to ₹1,240 crore, while the revenue from the diagnostic services business came in at ₹12 crore.
The operating profit came in at ₹82 crore, compared to ₹72 crore in the preceding December quarter and ₹52 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The company said it added 284 stores in the March quarter, and it also said that the stores greater than 12 months have delivered a strong store-level EBITDA margin of 10.3% and an overall EBITDA margin of 5%.
"Our diagnostic pilot in Hyderabad is progressing well with three full-service centers, four level 2 centres, and 100+ collection centres," the company said.
Earlier in a note, global brokerage firm Nomura Group stated that Medplus will gain from additional store traction and ease in competitive pressures.
Following the robust Q4 numbers, the stock got off to a strong start, opening at ₹738 as against the previous day's closing price of ₹689. It then climbed further, reaching an intraday high of ₹824 in early trade or 19.59% higher, marking the largest intraday gain since listing.
Medplus made a solid debut on the exchanges on December 23, 2021. The scrip was listed at a premium of 40%, around ₹1,121 per share, on the NSE, as against the issue price of ₹796 apiece. A month after it debuted, the stock reached an all-time high of ₹1,343.
The stock, however, has struggled to continue its upward trend since then, dropping nearly 41% in the five months leading up to June 2022. It then continued the same trend towards the end of December 2022, reaching an all-time low of ₹548.25 apiece.
Following a period of decline that led to a record low, the stock has experienced a significant rebound, with an impressive surge of approximately 48% to date.
06 analysts polled by MintGenie on average have a 'strong buy' call on the stock.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of MintGenie.
