Favourable Sectoral Dynamics and Supportive Regulations Should Lend Support to Bilcare Limited

Focus on cost reduction and improvement in production efficiencies should lend support to next leg of growth. Support of regulatory environment and opportunities offered by global clinical supplies market should help Bilcare Limited achieve reasonable growth rates.

About Bilcare Limited

Bilcare Limited is a global leader and is an innovation-led packaging solutions provider, partnering with pharmaceutical industry to improve patient healthcare outcomes. Focus is on delivering effective and affordable solutions that enhance speed and quality of discovery of drug and help build and protect brands by assuring delivery of genuine medicines to patients. Bilcare PPI helps in providing innovative pharmaceutical packaging solutions, having wide range of specialty polymer films and aluminum foils principally used for packaging of solid dosage pharmaceutical products. Bilcare GCS offers global clinical material supplies for new drug discovery projects.

The company’s multiple manufacturing and R&D facilities on innovative pharma packaging solutions span across Europe, USA and Asia. These facilities and global sales force help the company reach and serve customers to 100+ countries with wide range of products and services. The company has global customer base and its customers comprise many largest global pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Reddy’s, GlaxoSmithKline, etc.

Growth Enablers of Bilcare Limited

•  Strong Annual and Quarterly Results: Bilcare Ltd has been through a restructuring phase over past couple of years. It saw an improvement in performance despite working capital constraints. Help of customers and suppliers allowed the company sustain operations. It has focused on cost reduction and production efficiency. The company achieved significant improvements in several parameters. In FY22, its turnover increased to INR430 Crore from INR304 Crore. Bilcare Ltd expects this trend to continue. On consolidated basis, the company’s profit/ (loss) before interest, depreciation, tax and exceptional items came in at INR75.01 Crore in FY22 against INR69.34 Crore in FY21. In 1Q23, the company delivered total income of INR136.62 Crore, exhibiting a significant jump from INR87.44 Crore in 1Q22. Net loss of the company in 1Q23 was INR6.5 Crore against loss of INR18.62 Crores in 1Q22.  
• Capable to Capitalizing on Industry Dynamics: Indian pharma market should be able to see sound growth which should stem from ageing and growing population, higher income levels, emergence of medical conditions, and new diseases, etc. as per market research report. Given that packaging plays an important role in this industry and is connector between industry and end consumer, it will have bigger role to play. India has one of lowest manufacturing costs and is seen as more economical than that of USA and almost half of Europe. Globally, it is also largest supplier of generic medicines. This country has fueled research and development of efficient packing solutions for pharma sector that shields contamination, provides drug safety, and convenience of delivery and handling.
• Pharma Packaging Innovations Business Should Lend Support: Bilcare’s pharma packaging innovations business is technologically driven and is focused on producing a range of films and foils to address most challenging requirements of pharma industry. The company works on bringing innovation to its products and services. Indian market in line with global trend is seeing voluntary use of child resistant and senior friendly lid foils. Bilcare is a global leader in CRSF market and it has natural advantage in this shift as it is qualified as CRSF supplier globally. Other trend which is noticeable was focus on cost-effective ultra-high barrier films. Bilcare is a pioneer in this segment and it has come out with a few variants. Bilcare is able to consolidate its brand - Bilcare Venus, as market leader not only in India but also in other important markets. Market shift to newer printed ideas segment is being seen which should further consolidate its position in this segment.
• Opportunities Offered by Global Clinical Supplies Market: Growth of clinical trial supplies market should principally be driven by increasing R&D expenditure in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies and globalization of clinical trials and harmonization of regulations. Rapid growth in some regions should be supported by increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, patient recruitment, lesser cost of conducting a clinical trial and government initiatives to conduct clinical trials.
• Support of Regulatory Environment: With clinical trial market seeing exponential growth, country focuses to be one of hottest destinations for global clinical trials. With implementation of new rules, CDSCO made significant changes in regulatory framework governing clinical trials in this country. New rules give predictable, clear and transparent system for clinical trials regulation. Changes like reduced approval period and online registry should be able to revive and drive growth of clinical trials industry. New rules should put clinical trials industry back on track. Condition of waiving local clinical trials under new rules will help achieve early access to drugs for patients in this country. Faster approval process should be speeding up trial procedure and promote local drug development.

Sharp Focus on Pharmaceutical Sector

Bilcare Limited has shifted and overhauled business processes so that it can adapt to changing times and exceed expectations of customer by offering innovative pharma packaging products. In FY20, the company divested overseas subsidiaries in last financial year, helping the company reduce overall liabilities by INR2000+ crores, which is ~75% of group debt. This was part of the company’s debt restructuring plan. Overseas subsidiaries assets were into certain non-core activities including credit card films & sleeves for FMCG packaging, dragging down the company’s value. After divesting business, the company is now more streamlined and focuses on generating value by catering to pharma sector. Indian PharmaCos have gained strength because of new world order and considering the company’s high-quality offerings, it should able to see significant growth.

Enterprising ability and research capability of pharma companies in India is getting global admiration. The company’s ability to offer value-based research solutions and patient-first focus of care & convenience should be able to lend some support to Bilcare and act as growth enablers. Child resistant, senior citizen friendly & anti-counterfeit security are some features growing in demand. Bilcare should be able to capitalise on sectoral opportunities and should be able to strengthen its position in sector. Products of Bilcare Ltd are approved & registered globally, including USA and Europe. Exports made ~25.7% of the company’s total turnover in FY22. Focus is on penetrating global reach with renewed energy and determination to grow exports.

Industry Opportunity

Global blister packaging market touched US$22.7 billion in FY21. In long run, market should compound at 5.8% to reach US$32.2 billion during 2022-2027. Blister packaging means pre-formed plastic packaging which comprises of a cavity that is made using a thermoformed plastic and a paper or aluminum foil back. This packaging displays a significant part of content to consumers, while saving it from heat, UV rays, humidity and contamination. As a result of this, it eliminates requirement for cartons and supports in reducing packaging costs.

Pharmaceutical packaging market was valued at ~$71.0 billion in 2018 and it is projected to compound at ~6% during FY19-FY29. Therefore, an estimated valuation of market should $149.3 billion by 2026. This impressive growth in market is likely to be contributed by emerging markets such as India, China, Brazil, Russia, and Turkey. This is because healthcare continues to become more accessible.

According to Care Ratings, over 49% of paper produced in India is used for packaging purposes. Rapid growth is primarily due to pharmaceuticals and foods and beverages industries.

Bilcare Limited is expected to capitalize on significant opportunities which are expected to arise.  There is a continuous series of opportunities, which should lead to innovations for improving productivity and deliverables of existing solutions. These opportunities should enhance value proposition through clinical research, development and commercialization of new products. The company with solitary focus on quality & innovation in pharmaceutical packaging has been able to match dynamic regulations & requirements. To prevent economic burden, several pharmaceutical companies continue to research and develop a novel vaccine that should support growth of pharmaceutical packaging market in India.

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