Strides Arcolab scrip of Rs. 10 each has gained nearly 47 per cent within less than three and half months and is now moving around Rs. 900 on Bombay Stock Exchange on account of expected higher stake by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), divestment of Agila Specialties business to Mylan Inc, divestment of Ascent Pharmahealth in Australia as well as Southeast Asia to Watson Pharmaceuticals, redemption of entire outstanding FCCBs and setting up of biotech facility in Malaysia. These divestments, new investments and higher FIIs stake will help the company to reduce its debt, create strong fundamentals and offer higher returns to shareholders in the current year.

 Strides scrip touched its 52-week low of Rs. 552.65 on June 1, 2013 as against its yearly highest level of Rs. 1224.90 during December 2012. The current market capitalisation works out to Rs. 5,415 crore.  

Strides Arcolab has entered into a definitive agreement during February 2013 with Mylan Inc., to sell off Agila division for a cash consideration of Rs. 8,610 crore and potential additional consideration of Rs. 1,345 crore. Recently, Mylan Inc. has received approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for acquisition of Agila Specialties business of Strides Arcolab. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013, subject to remaining regulatory approvals and certain closing conditions. Similarly, the company has sold its Ascent Pharmahealth, a generic pharmaceutical operations in Australia and Southeast Asia to Watson Pharmaceuticals for a consideration of Rs. 1,900 crore.

The company is now setting up a biotech facility in Nusajya, Johor, Malaysia in collaboration with Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd (Bio-XCell). The facility is located on an 8.77 acre plot and expected to commence operations by the end of 2014.

For the first half ended June 2013, Strides' standalone net sales (pharmaceutical business) increased by 10.3 per cent to Rs. 312.17 crore from Rs. 283.07 crore in the similar period of last year. Its EBDITA moved up by 6.5 per cent to Rs. 88.48 crore from Rs. 83.05 crore. The company provided lower amount of Rs. 11.59 crore for forex loss as against Rs. 77.05 crore in the same period of last year. Due to lower forex loss, it achieved net profit of Rs. 33.73 crore as against a net loss of Rs. 48.06 crore in the last period. Profit before exceptional items increased by 46 per cent to Rs. 42.03 crore from Rs. 28.78 crore as its interest cost declined significantly to Rs. 28.40 crore from Rs. 45.40 crore in the previous half year. Currently, Strides Arcolab has 14 manufacturing facilities across 6 countries with presence in more than 75 countries in developed and emerging market.

Strides Arcolab, a Rs. 2,300 crore pharma major, has undertaken restructuring programme and transferred Strides Specialties (Holdings) Ltd, Mauritius from Agila Specialities Pvt Ltd, India to Strides Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Cyprus during the second quarter of 2013 and Inbiopro Solutions Pvt Ltd, India has been transferred from Agila Specialities Pvt Ltd, India to the company. Further, Agila Marketing e distribicao de Productos Hospitalaries Limiteda, Cyprus has been transferred from Strides Pharmaceuticals Ltd to Agila Specialties Americas, Cyprus. The Singapore based Agila specialities Global Pte Ltd has acquired balance 49 per cent stake in Agila Australasia Pty Ltd from JNZ Tango Pty Ltd, Australia, making Agila Australasia Pty Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of the group.   

The company incorporated two new subsidiaries namely, Strides Pharma Inc., USA and Strides Actives Pvt Ltd, India. Similarly, Strides Pharma Ltd, Cyprus has divested its stake in Scentia Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Australia to Amneal Pharma Australia Pty Ltd, Australia. As at the end of December 2012, Strides has 46 subsidiaries and 2 joint ventures spread across the world.

For the full year ended December 2012, the company registered lower consolidated net sales of Rs. 2,321 crore as against Rs. 2,563 crore in the previous year. The EBDITA improved by 13.7 per cent to Rs. 594 crore from Rs. 522 crore. Its consolidated net profit, however, went up sharply to Rs. 84.62 crore from Rs. 22.45 crore on account of higher exceptional items resulted from sale of Ascent Pharma Health Ltd, Australia to Watson Pharmaceuticals. The aggregate exceptional items amounted to Rs. 659 crore as compared to Rs. 49 crore in the previous year. The earnings per share of Rs. 10 each worked out to Rs. 144.30 as compared to Rs. 38.65.

The company's sales in North America & Europe increased sharply by 97.3 per cent during the year ended December 2012 to Rs. 1,156 crore from Rs. 586 crore in the previous year. These sales contributed over 50 per cent during the year ended December 2012 as against 23 per cent in the previous year. Its sales in Africa improved by 27.7 per cent to Rs. 235 crore from Rs. 184 crore. Its domestic sales moved up sharply by 48.3 per cent to Rs. 132 crore from Rs. 89.41 crore. The sales in Australasia and Rest of the World declined by 63.3 per cent and 69.2 per cent to Rs. 330 crore and Rs. 161 crore respectively.

The pharma division contributed 40 per cent to its total sales of Rs. 926 crore from Rs. 716 crore in the previous year and Specialties division contributed remaining 60 per cent at Rs. 1,032 crore. The company entered into an in-licensing agreement to collaborate with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to promote access to high quality, low-cost generic versions of Gilead's HIV medicine emtricitabine in developing countries. The company is establishing facilities in Africa with the the help of funding of US$ 12.5 million from French Development Financing Institution Proparco.    

The company has spend 5.3 per cent of its turnover on research and development during 2012 to Rs. 122.38 crore as compared to Rs. 110.37 crore in the previous year. The company received 25 approvals in US and 48 approvals in other developed markets with 135 in emerging markets. The R&D continues to remain the growth engine for future growth.