The Spanish Pharmaceutical Sector Closes Q1 with a 10.5% Drop on the Stock Market

The Spanish pharmaceutical companies listed on the continuous market close the first quarter of 2023 in red, while the Ibex35 closes the period in green. The aggregate capitalization of Grifols, Almirall, Rovi, Faes Farma, Pharma Mar, and Reig Jofre fell by 10.5% between January and March.

The decrease, however, is not as pronounced as at the end of 2022, when the pharmaceutical sector left  31.8% on the stock market. The evolution of the sector in the first quarter of the year has nothing to do with that of the Ibex35, the selective benchmark in the Spanish market, which started in 2023 with signs of a comeback.

The reference index of the Spanish stock market ended the quarter with a rise of 12.2%, its biggest rise since the end of 2020, when it rebounded more than 20% after the announcement of Pfizer’s vaccine against Covid-19. The rises in the Ibex35 are led by tourist companies, especially Meliá, with an increase of 30%.

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The six listed pharmaceutical companies closed the first quarter with a stock market value of €9.5 billion

The six listed pharmaceutical companies closed the first quarter with a stock market value of €9.5 billion, compared to €10.6 billion at the close of the previous quarter. Pharma Mar, Grifols, Almirall, and Faes Farma took a step back on the stock market, although if there is a clear and negative protagonist it is Pharma Mar. In the opposite direction, Rovi and Reig Jofre are improving.

The titles of the Madrid-based pharmaceutical company corrected by 31.2% at the end of the first quarter of 2023, up to €44.2 per share. It is the company with the worst stock market performance and among the factors that explain this situation is the closure in February of the Neptuno phase III study with plistidepsin for the treatment of Covid-19 in hospitalized patients.

Given the favorable evolution of the disease after the vaccines and the new doses, Pharma Mar did not find the necessary patients to recruit for the study, thus closing the door on the possibilities of Aplidin in the pandemic. The company is also not accompanied by the latest economic results, corresponding to 2022, a year in which its profit fell by 47% compared to 2021, to €49.3 million.

Pharma Mar did not find necessary patients to recruit for the study

Pharma Mar is followed by Grifols. The multinational specialized in the production of blood products closed the session on Friday with €9.1 per share, which represents a decrease of 15.5% compared to the previous quarter. The Catalan company is the largest by capitalization, with €3.9 billion, which translates to more than 41%.

The Grifols pharmaceutical company announced this week that it will reduce its employment regulation file (ERE) in Spain from 92 employees to 51 employees. The company announced last February a plan for “operational improvements” that plans to save up to  €400 million in costs annually, starting next year. However, the company, which currently has 27,000 workers, plans to make staff cuts of up to 8%, which means a total of 2,300 layoffs globally. Faes Farma recorded a fall of 10.2% at the end of March, up to €3.1 per share.

The titles of the Catalan pharmaceutical company Almirall corrected by 4.8% in the period, up to €8.6 per share. The group decided last February that Carlos Gallardo would continue as CEO and suspended “for the moment” the search for a new chief executive for the company, which paid €5.63 million last year to Gianfranco Nazzi, who was CEO until November 2022.

Almirall continues to trust Carlos Gallardo with the leadership of the pharmaceutical company

In the opposite direction, Reig Jofre and Rovi improve on the floor. Reig Jofre closes the first quarter with an increase of 10.9%, with €2.43 per title. The company led by Ignasi Biosca closed 2022 with the best result in its history, with more than €250 million in sales and €8 million in profit. In addition, last Thursday, the CEO of pharma announced that the group’s forecast is to increase its income to €300 million in 2023.

Rovi, Moderna’s ally in Europe, closed the first quarter with a rise of 6.7%, with €8.6 per share. However, the pharmaceutical company has already anticipated that it plans to reduce its revenues between 10% and 20% in 2023 compared to €200 million in 2022.

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(Featured image by PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay)

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