JB Chemicals stock is in focus on the back of their Q1 earnings. The stock is down about 4 percent in the last five days and is currently trading at Rs 1,722 on the NSE. It's because the margins have contracted for the company, however, the India business has done really well and is up around 40 odd percent.

To throw more light on the quarterly performance and the outlook, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Nikhil Chopra, CEO and whole time director, JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. According to Chopra, India Business could deliver a growth of 39 percent this quarter, mainly due to uptick in big franchises, such as Rantac and Metrogyl. He also added that going ahead, as things normalise, the company would continue to deliver market-beating growth with Rantac, Metrogyl and also with some of their new offerings that they have put in the market in terms of paediatrics, respiratory and nephrology segments.

He said, “With regards to Rantac, there is an ability for price escalation. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in its notification talked about a one-time revision in price.” When asked if that would that be applicable to JB Chemicals, Chopra said, “The Rantac price increase will be from end of Q3 and this is a one-time increase that’s allowed and is a big respite for our medicine, which is more accessible and affordable to the patients in the field of GI.” He further mentioned, “We had a good inventory of Rantac with us and despite the COVID conditions, we had proper supply chain so that the patients were not denied the right medications.”

“The price increase which will be from end of Q3 will be close to 50 percent. Rantac price increase will help us overall, from a perspective of maintaining better EBITDA margin, but it will also neutralise our issues, our headwinds in the international markets,” he added.

On inorganic acquisitions, he said, “There are some assets which are available, which we are evaluating, but we will be more than happy to share the details at the right time. We are cash rich, we have close to Rs 700 crore on our book.”

For full interview, watch the video.

(Edited by : Dipika Ghosh)

First Published:Aug 16, 2021 2:19 PM IST