A stay on a winding up petition in the Bombay High Court has helped Wockhardt jump 4.64% or Rs 14.70 in trade today for a close at Rs 331.65. It touched an intraday high of Rs 341.70 and an intraday low of Rs 318. There were pending buy orders of 720 shares, with no sellers available. The total traded volumes were 503,836 shares. The stock gained 146.21% in nine months.
The stock touched its 52-week high Rs 425.60 and 52-week low Rs 115.00 on 15 Nov, 2010 and 25 May, 2010, respectively. Currently, it is trading -22.07% below its 52-week high and 188.39% above its 52-week low. Its market capitalisation stands at Rs 3,629.44 crore. The Bombay High Court issued a stay order on a winding up petition filed against the company by overseas bondholders till May 3. The company would have to deposit Rs 115 crore in Bombay HC. The next hearing has been scheduled for May 4. Debt-laden Wockhardt had to face the winding up petition after it failed to repay foreign currency convertible bonds held by some overseas financial institutions. The bondholders had sought recovery of their investmenet through sale of Wockhardt's assets. A winding up petition or order against a company could trigger cross-defaults in other contracts of the company, which put pressure on the company to satisfy its debt. Wockhardt had undertaken a corporate debt restructuring programme to recast about Rs 3,700 crore of its debt (more than current market cap) in 2009. The company had offered to settle repayment of USD 110 million in FCCB, issued by it in 2004, at a discount. Also, rising input costs in its insulin brands which it manufactures locally and sells at a third of the prices when compared with imported brands, have put pressure on margins. However, the company got the nod from the drug price regulator recently to increase prices of insulin. Peer comparison:| Company | Last Price (Rs) | Market Cap (Rs in Cr) | Sales Turnover (Rs in Cr) | PAT (Rs in Cr) |
| Sun Pharma | 456.25 | 47248.43 | 3861.55 | 1265.29 |
| Dr Reddys Labs | 1556.85 | 26346.15 | 4553.21 | 846.08 |
| Cipla | 303.95 | 24404.79 | 5624.91 | 1081.49 |
| Ranbaxy Labs | 440.2 | 18543.53 | 5672.1 | 1148.73 |
| Lupin | 415.3 | 18528.54 | 3708.51 | 648.93 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 2024.75 | 17150.24 | 2146.43 | 563.69 |
| Cadila Health | 779.1 | 15951.96 | 1945.72 | 265.91 |
| Piramal Health | 477.75 | 9985.6 | 2666.21 | 443.22 |
| Divis Labs | 632.9 | 8391.94 | 1203.49 | 421.26 |
| Glenmark | 280.2 | 7563.61 | 856.11 | 217.93 |
| Wockhardt | 331.65 | 3629.44 | 1868.51 | -794.21 |
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