IBN Sina Pharma to start food, plastic and API businesses

The IBN SINA Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd has plans to invest Tk100 crore to expand into the businesses of food, polymer and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API).

The company will also start a business of bio-technology products.

Speaking with The Business Standard, IBN SINA Pharma's Chief Financial Officer Md Jasim Uddin said, "We are investing in the three emerging sectors to diversify our business. We are optimistic that the move will bring more profit to the company and shareholders will also get more returns."

Polymer Project

IBN Sina Pharma's board of directors decided in the last meeting that the company will get involved in the polymer business. Accordingly, they will form a subsidiary company named IBN Sina Polymer Industry Ltd.

The factory of this subsidiary company will be built in Gazipur, with joint investments from IBN Sina Pharma and IBN Sina Trust.

The IBN Sina Polymer Industry Ltd will produce and market plastic products and pet-bottles. The size of the plastics market in Bangladesh reached approximately Tk25,000 crore in 2017, according to the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Md Jasim Uddin, chief financial officer of the pharma company, revealed that the amount of investment they intend to make has not been fixed yet.

API Project

IBN Sina Pharma will produce raw Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). The API is the primary ingredient in a tablet or capsule. They are setting up a subsidiary company named IBN Sina API Ltd for this purpose.

The company is also building a plant at the API Park in the Gajaria area of Munshiganj.

The company finalised a good number of API molecules during the product development phase, and is waiting to start trial production by February-March of 2020, said a company official.

Biotech Project

The official further said that the company has plans to set up a biotech project, and is presently building a product development lab and animal enclosures.

IBN Sina has appointed an American firm named QbD Pharmaceutical Services Ltd for setting up a bio-tech manufacturing facility.

Meanwhile, a high-level management team from IBN Sina has visited a number of biotech facilities in China to explore the possibility of technical collaboration. Two Chinese companies have already signed agreements with IBN Sina for transfer of technology.

Investment to produce Consumer Products

IBN Sina Pharma will also start the business of making consumer products such as confectionery items because the demand for these grows significantly every year. The pharma company has established a subsidiary company named IBN Sina Consumer Products Ltd at Manikganj.

A pharma company official said that the company has invested Tk4 crore as the capital for IBN Sina Consumer Products Ltd. The subsidiary company's paid up capital is Tk10 crore.

Doing well in Pharma

IBN Sina Pharma is doing well in the pharma business. Its revenue increased by 96 percent to TK526.39 crore in the last five years up to the 2018-19 fiscal year. Earnings per share (EPS) rose by 90 percent to TK10.76 in that period.

In the first half of the 2019-20 fiscal year, the company's revenue was Tk306.86 crore, a 19 percent increase from that in the first half of the previous year. In that period, the EPS stood at Tk7.30, up from Tk5.96 in the previous year.