KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): Shares in Pharmaniaga Bhd jumped 12% in active trade early on Wednesday (April 19) after the Health Ministry confirmed that Pharmaniaga’s concession agreement to provide medicine and medical supplies to the ministry’s facilities has been extended for 10 more years.

At 9.30am, Pharmaniaga rose 4.5 sen to 42 sen with 33.75 million shares done.

The counter closed up 1.5 sen or 4% at 39 sen, its highest since Feb 28.

Pharmaniaga saw 80.56 million shares traded, double the 40.44 million shares done on Tuesday and 20 times its 200-day average trading volume of 4.08 million shares.

At Wednesday’s closing price, the pharmaceutical company’s market capitalisation stood at RM503 million.

An analyst contacted by The Edge said the rise in share price suggested an interest among investors following the extension of the concession, but pointed out that Pharmaniaga had not acknowledged the minister's announcement yet.

Pharmaniaga’s wholly-owned subsidiary Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd was initially granted a concession agreement to supply public health facilities with medicines and medical supplies in 1994.

The concession agreement with the ministry was extended by six months last December until end-June to facilitate a new agreement.

Pharmaniaga fell into PN17 status after it recorded negative equity following its largest ever quarterly net loss of RM664.39 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4QFY2022), from a net profit of RM85.47 million in 4QFY2021, while revenue improved 21.2% to RM862.72 million.