Shares of Gland Pharma plunged nearly 18% in early trade on May 19, hitting their lowest level in 52 weeks, a day after the company reported a string of dismal fourth-quarter earnings.

The drugmaker’s net profit for the quarter fell 72.5% year-on-year to Rs 78.6 crore as revenue fell nearly 29%.

Revenue declined in the fourth quarter due to a high base due to COVID sales and the shutdown of production lines at the Pashamylaram Penems factory for line upgrades. On top of that, weak offtake in the RoW (rest of world) market due to off-season and reduced business in the domestic B2C segment were other reasons for the drugmaker’s dismal earnings.

Operating results also suffered as EBITDA margins contracted sharply to 21.5% in the January-March period, down from 31.6% a year earlier.

Shares of Gland Pharma were down 19.61% at Rs 1,070.80 on the National Stock Exchange at 9:48 am. The stock also touched a 52-week low of Rs 1,065.60 intraday.

About 900,000 shares of the drugmaker changed hands on exchanges, compared with a daily average of 200,000 shares for the week.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services has a “buy” call on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,460.

Kotak Institutional Equities is very bearish on the pharmaceutical company’s outlook as it downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ and slashed the share price by more than 19% to Rs 1,075.