Bengaluru, April 24, 2025 — Syngene International Ltd., the Biocon arm that’s been a heavyweight in contract research and manufacturing, took a brutal hit on the stock market Thursday, with shares cratering over 13% in a single day. The plunge came hot on the heels of the company’s fourth-quarter results, which showed a 3% year-on-year drop in net profit, a bitter pill for investors who’d been banking on steadier growth.
The numbers tell a stark story. For the quarter ending March 2025, Syngene posted a consolidated net profit of ₹183.3 crore, down from ₹188.6 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from operations climbed 11% to ₹1,018 crore, up from ₹916.9 crore, but it wasn’t enough to cushion the blow. The company’s EBITDA ticked up 9% to ₹363 crore, with margins holding at 35%. Still, the profit dip and a weaker-than-expected outlook sent the stock into a tailspin, hitting ₹674.25 at its lowest—an intraday loss not seen in over five years.
The market didn’t hold back. By mid-morning, Syngene’s shares were trading 8.8% lower at ₹683, while the broader Nifty50 barely flinched, dipping just 0.23%. The company’s market cap, hovering around ₹27,499 crore, felt the sting as nearly ₹3,000 crore in value got wiped out. This wasn’t just a bad day—it snapped a two-day rally where the stock had clawed back 15% from its early April lows of ₹652.
What’s behind the slump? Syngene’s leadership pointed to a rough patch in the U.S. biotech sector, where funding dried up for much of the year, hammering demand for research and development services. Peter Bains, the managing director and CEO, called the first half of the year “subdued” but noted signs of recovery in the second half. He’s banking on momentum from a growing pipeline in small and large molecules, plus new pilot programs in discovery services. But the street wasn’t buying the optimism—not yet.
The company made a big move in Q4, snapping up a biologics manufacturing facility in the U.S. for about $50 million. It’s a bold play to beef up Syngene’s foothold in the fast-growing biologics CDMO market, boosting its single-use bioreactor capacity to 50,000 liters. Bains called it a “strategic foothold” in the U.S., with the deal set to close in March 2025. Still, investors seemed spooked by the added costs and depreciation that’ll hit margins as the new site comes online.
Looking ahead, Syngene’s guidance didn’t inspire confidence. Deepak Jain, the chief financial officer, projected mid-single-digit revenue growth for fiscal 2026, with EBITDA margins slipping to the mid-20s. Profit after tax? Expect a year-on-year decline, Jain warned, as the new biologics facilities ramp up. That’s a far cry from the high-single to low-double-digit growth the company had dangled earlier.
On the dividend front, Syngene’s board recommended a final payout of ₹1.25 per share for FY25, pending shareholder approval. It’s a 150% jump from last year’s 50 paise core dividend, but it did little to soften the market’s mood.
For the full year, Syngene’s net profit fell 2.71% to ₹496.2 crore, compared to ₹510 crore in FY24. Sales inched up 4.41% to ₹3,642.4 crore. The company’s biologics CDMO business showed “robust growth,” fueled by commercial manufacturing and new development projects, but it wasn’t enough to offset the broader challenges.
Syngene, founded in 1993 as a Biocon subsidiary, employs over 6,000 scientists and holds more than 400 patents with clients. Its sprawling 1.9 million square feet of research and manufacturing space serves 400-plus customers, including 13 of the top 15 global pharma giants. But Thursday’s rout shows even the heavyweights can stumble when the numbers don’t add up.
The stock closed at ₹683, with a 52-week high of ₹960.60 and a low of ₹607.65. Trading volume spiked as investors fled, and the company’s price-to-earnings ratio sat at 65, reflecting its high valuations. Promoter holding stood at 52.73% as of December 2024, down from 54.79% in March 2024.