preetblog

[preetblog]

Gravita  starts battery recycling unit in Gujarat; to invest Rs 62 cr in india

Recycling firm Gravita India on Monday said it has operationalised its new battery recycling unit near Mundra Port in Gujarat and plans to invest a total of Rs 62 crore to enhance its overall capacity to 48,000 MTPA.

In Phase-I, the plant has a capacity of 19,500 MTPA and the company has incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 32 crore on it, out of which Rs 26 crore has been funded through external borrowings and remaining by internal accruals, Gravita India said in a regulatory filing.

"Going forward, the company has plans to incur additional capital expenditure of Rs 30 crore on this facility so as to increase the capacity of this plant from 19,500 MTPA to 48,000 MTPA," it added.

Gravita said it expects an increase in share of higher-margin business from the key overseas market across lead, aluminium and plastic recycling segments.

"Closer proximity to the port will increase efficiency of operations as import of scrap and export of finished goods will be carried out using the same port. This will result in optimisation of logistics cost coupled with reduction in the working capital cycle of the company," it said.

Overall, the company said its plant is "well positioned to cater to the growing demand from overseas markets and with higher operational efficiency it is expected to further enhance profitability".

[preetblog]

Biocon connection up with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals to sell medicines in Middle East

Biotechnology major Biocon on Tuesday said it has inked a pact with Saudi Arabia-based drug firm Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company to commercialise select speciality products in the Middle East region.

Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company is a fully-owned subsidiary of Astra Industrial Group, a leading pharmaceutical company in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Under the terms of this agreement, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals will hold the marketing authorisation for select speciality products of Biocon and be responsible to register, importing, and promoting them in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.

As part of the out-licensing deal with Tabuk, Biocon will develop and manufacture the products, and Tabuk will commercialise them, the biotechnology company said in a statement.

As part of our role and mission at Tabuk Pharmaceuticals to deliver unique health solutions and enhance the well-being of people in Saudi Arabia and countries we operate in, our partnership with as distinguished and renowned a company as Biocon, comes in as an evident choice to further support our mission in line with Saudi Vision 2030, regarding localising speciality and value-added pharmaceutical products," Astra Industrial Group President Mohammed Alhagbani stated.

The company is driven by its purpose to enhance global healthcare through high quality and affordable biopharmaceuticals, he added.

[preetblog]

UltraTech Cement: profit 4%, hits record high on strong demand outlook

Shares of UltraTech Cement hit a record high of Rs 8,219.95, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Monday’s intra-day trade on strong demand outlook in an otherwise subdued market. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.41 per cent at 59,856 points at 10:11 am.

The stock of Aditya Birla Group Company surpassed its previous high of Rs 8,070.60 touched on September 4, 2021. In past two weeks, the stock has rallied 15 per cent from a level of Rs 7,147 on October 25.

UltraTech Cement is witnessing strong demand from various infrastructure constructions such as highway construction, railways, metro rail, irrigation projects, airports and urban housing market in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.

“Recovery in rural housing, higher MSP (minimum support price) for kharif corp; improved food grain production in rabi harvest; a third consecutive normal monsoon and pick-up in infrastructure-led construction activity are likely to drive cement demand off-take”, UltraTech Cement said while announcing September quarter results on October 18.

However, continuous increases input costs like coal, pet coke and diesel pose a challenge for the industry. “UltraTech is confident of weathering the storm of increase in input costs, with its sustainable efficiency improvement programs, accompanied by increase in selling price to absorb the increase in costs,” the company said.

“UltraTech has successfully integrated acquired assets while protecting its balance sheet. Given the positive outlook, the new capex targeting central and east region would address the issue of capacity constraint post FY24E. With a target to become net debt free by FY23E and with RoCE of 18% per cent, we remain positive on company and maintain BUY rating with a revised target price of Rs 8950 per share,” analysts at ICICI Securities had said in result update.

[preetblog]

Biocon net rises 11% in Q2 to Rs 188 cr, revenue up 10% at Rs 1,945 cr

Biotechnology major Biocon's consolidated net profit rose 11 per cent, before exceptional items, to Rs 188 crore for the September quarter compared to Rs 169 crore reported in the corresponding period last year.

The company said in a late night filing on Thursday that its consolidated revenue rose 10 per cent to Rs 1,945 crore in Q2FY22 on a year on year basis.

his was primarily driven by good performance of its research services and biosimilars business segments, which reported a growth of 17 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 35 per cent at Rs 551 crore and profit before tax (before exceptional items) rose 27 per cent to Rs 276 crore.

The exceptional item relates to modification of the optionally convertible debentures of a private equity investment in its subsidiary Biocon Biologics and reversal of SEIS claims relating to a prior period.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon, said, “Biocon Biologics made strategic moves this quarter which will drive future growth of our biosimilars business and deliver long term value for our shareholders. The US FDA's approval of Semglee as the first interchangeable biosimilar product, under the 351(k) regulatory pathway, is a milestone for both Biocon and Viatris, and will enable us to expand patient access to our Insulin Glargine.”

“The quarter also marked Biocon Biologics' strategic entry into vaccines and the infectious diseases segment through key partnerships with Serum Institute Life Sciences and Adagio Therapeutics,” she added.

Biocon Biologics and Serum Institute Life Sciences (SILS) have entered into a strategic alliance that provides Biocon Biologics an asset light and accelerated entry into the vaccines segment.

The near term focus would be on Covid-19 vaccines and the company will have access to SILS’ current development pipeline to address unmet needs in other communicable diseases like mosquito-borne infections.

The alliance provides Biocon Biologics a committed access to 100 million doses of vaccines annually for a period of 15 years and commercialisation rights to SILS vaccine portfolio leading to a committed revenue stream and related margins in exchange for a 15per cent stake at a post money valuation of about $4.9 billion.

While Biocon’s revenue in Q2FY22 missed the Street’s consensus by 2 per cent, the company’s EBITDA and profit after tax beat analyst estimates by 1 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

“Miss on revenue remains a concern as biosimilar revenues declined nearly 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter, indicating that modest market share gains aren’t translating to incremental revenues and even quarter on growth in Syngene and Generics could not compensate for this. We note a sharp improvement in profitability with Biosimilars profit before tax margin at 23.5 per cent, the highest in 10 quarters,” said an analyst note by brokerage firm Edelweiss post the earnings announcement.

[preetblog]

Fuel costs ; diesel above Rs 99/liter from Srinagar to Chennai

Petrol and diesel costs on Thursday were climbed by 35 paise per liter each

Petrol and diesel costs on Thursday were climbed by 35 paise per liter each, the second successive day of increment that took siphon rates the nation over to record significant levels.

The cost of petrol in Delhi rose to its most noteworthy at any point level of Rs 106.54 a liter and Rs 112.44 per liter in Mumbai, as per a value warning of state-possessed fuel retailers.

This is the second sequential day of value climb. There was no adjustment of rates on October 18 and 19, preceding which costs were climbed by 35 paise per liter each on four straight days.

While petrol has effectively hit the Rs 100-a-liter imprint or more in all significant urban communities of the country, diesel has contacted that level in over twelve states and is stepping towards that imprint in places from Srinagar to Chennai.

Diesel costs Rs 99.14 a litre in Srinagar while it is priced at Rs 99.59 in Chennai.

The costliest fuel was in the bordertown of Ganganagar in Rajasthan, where petrol comes for Rs 118.59 a liter and diesel for Rs 109.41 per liter.

Since the completion of a three-drawn out break in rate modification somewhat recently of September, this is the eighteenth expansion in petrol cost and the 21st time that diesel rates have gone up.

Costs vary from one state to another contingent upon the frequency of neighborhood charges.

Global benchmark Brent unrefined on Thursday was exchanging above USD 85 for each barrel, USD 11 a larger number of than the month before.

Being a net merchant of oil, India costs petrol and diesel at rates comparable to worldwide costs.

The flood in global oil costs finished a three-week rest in rate correction on September 28 for petrol and September 24 for diesel.