Renata now set to export drugs to US market

Drug maker Renata Limited is now set to extend its footprint in the USA as the firm recently availed of the regulatory approval to enter the sophisticated US drug market.

The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) recently approved Renata’s Gazipur-based General Plant-2 facility, a recognition that allows the drug maker to export medicines to the US market, said filing posted on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Thursday.

Jubayer Alam, company secretary at Renata Limited said, “We are contemplating exporting eight drug items to the US market. The USFDA approval initially allowed us to export one item there, while the export procedures of another seven products are in the pipeline.”

“The drugs we are planning to export to the US market are already being marketed in the domestic market. We always solely try to produce quality medicines, proved by the recent approval by the USFDA,” he added.

According to the DSE filing, the USFDA recently approved Renata’s Gazipur-based General Plant-2 after a long process of inspections. This approval allowed the local drug maker to export Metoprolol Tartrate tablets to the US market.

This approval would also enable the company to strengthen its footprint in the global markets.

Currently, Renata is exporting medicines to more than 27 countries, including the UK and the EU region.

The company is expecting to inroad into the US market with plain generics, Para IV, and NCE-1 filings, the DSE filing read.

The export volume of Renata surged by 15.1 per cent to Tk 79.86 crore in FY21 against Tk 69.36 crore in the previous year.

Against the export receipts, it received Tk 0.58 crore as subsidies from the government that year, according to the drug maker’s financial report prepared for FY21.

The company’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 47.68 for the FY22 period against Tk 47.22 in the previous year.

The pharmaceutical firm posted Tk 511 crore in net profit in the fiscal year 2021-22, which was 8.9 per cent higher that the figure of Tk 460 crore in the previous fiscal.

Its net asset value (NAV) per share stood at Tk274.39 till June this year.

Renata Limited recommended 147 per cent dividends (140 per cent cash and 7 per cent stock) for its shareholders for the fiscal year 2021-22.

The company is slated to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on 17 December this year. It has fixed the record date as 10 November for the share splits.

The firm for the first time hit the Tk 500 crore mark in profit in FY22, enabling it to offer a lucrative dividend for shareholders.

The company has a paid-up capital of Tk 107.19 crore.

The board of directors of the drug maker proposed a bonus share from its accumulated profit to be used as capital for the expansion of its manufacturing facility, according to the DSE filing.

Previously known as Pfizer (Bangladesh) Limited, the firm was renamed Renata Limited after its Bangladesh operations were shifted to local shareholders in 1993.

Listed with the capital market back in 1979, the company has export destinations in more than 27 countries.

The shares of Renata Limited were traded at Tk 1303.2 per share on the trading board of the DSE on Thursday.

Sponsors and directors held a 51.29 stake in the company’s board, while institutional investors own 19.28 per cent, foreign investors 22.84 per cent, and general investors 6.59 per cent till 30 September 2022.