Curis Lifesciences Limited Makes Strong Debut with 10.16% Premium, Lists at ₹141.00 Against Exceptional Subscription

Curis Lifesciences Limited, a pharmaceutical company incorporated in 2010 specializing in developing, manufacturing, and distributing diverse pharmaceutical products including general pharmaceutical tablets and capsules, oral liquids, external preparations, and sterile ophthalmic ointments, manufacturing globally and domestically on loan license or contract basis as well as for own brand marketing, serving over 100 corporate clients on loan licenses or contract manufacturing and 2 clients for own brand marketing in Yemen and Kenya, operating state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sanand, Gujarat adhering to stringent quality control measures ensuring product safety and efficacy with 95 permanent employees as of July 2025, made a strong debut on NSE SME on November 14, 2025. After closing its IPO bidding between November 7-11, 2025, the company commenced trading with premium of 14.14% opening at ₹146.10 and settled at ₹141.00 with gains of 10.16%, reflecting positive investor sentiment towards the contract pharmaceutical manufacturing sector backed by exceptional subscription of 74.39 times and anchor backing of ₹7.80 crore.

Curis Lifesciences Limited Listing Details

Curis Lifesciences launched its IPO at ₹128 per share with minimum investment of 2,000 shares costing ₹2,56,000. The IPO received exceptional response with subscription of 74.39 times - retail at impressive 44.28 times, QIB at strong 96.17 times, and NII at exceptional 115.46 times (bNII at outstanding 142.74 times and sNII at solid 60.38 times), indicating overwhelming institutional and retail confidence in the contract pharmaceutical manufacturing business backed by experienced management and wide product range.

First-Day Trading Performance

Listing Price: Curis Lifesciences opened at ₹146.10 representing premium of 14.14% from issue price of ₹128.00, touched intraday high of ₹147.00 (up 14.84%) and low of ₹138.80 (up 8.44%), with VWAP at ₹144.80, settling at ₹141.00 delivering gains of 10.16% reflecting positive market sentiment towards pharmaceutical contract manufacturing despite sustainability concerns about recent profit surge.

Growth Drivers and Challenges

Growth Drivers:

Diversified Product Portfolio and Client Base: Wide range of pharmaceutical products including tablets, capsules, oral liquids, external preparations, and sterile ophthalmic ointments, serving over 100 corporate clients on loan license or contract manufacturing basis, own brand marketing in Yemen and Kenya, diversified revenue streams reducing dependency on single market.

Strategic Manufacturing Capabilities: State-of-the-art manufacturing facility in strategically located Sanand, Gujarat GIDC Industrial Estate, stringent quality control measures ensuring product safety and efficacy, scalable business model enabling capacity expansion, experienced promoters and management team with industry expertise.

Strong Financial Growth: Revenue increased impressive 38% and PAT rose 25% between FY24 and FY25, exceptional ROE of 55.25%, solid ROCE of 27.83%, healthy PAT margin of 12.43%, robust EBITDA margin of 19.41%, quality assurance driving client retention and new business.

Challenges

Sustainability Concerns and Aggressive Valuation: Boosted profits from FY24 onwards raising eyebrows about sustainability going forward, post-issue P/E of 12.01x and price-to-book of 12.64x appearing fully priced based on recent financial data, expert review cautioning that issue appears fully priced operating in highly competitive and fragmented pharmaceutical contract manufacturing segment.

High Debt and Small Equity Base: Elevated debt-to-equity of 0.96, total borrowings of ₹15.32 crore as of July 2025, small post-IPO equity base of ₹8.08 crore indicating longer gestation period for migration to main board, significant promoter dilution from 92.68% to 68.03% raising concerns about stake reduction timing.

Competitive Pressures and Execution Risks: Operating in highly competitive and fragmented pharmaceutical contract manufacturing segment with numerous established players, dependence on over 100 clients for loan license and contract manufacturing creating concentration risks, quality control and regulatory compliance critical for sustaining business relationships and growth trajectory.

Utilisation of IPO Proceeds

Capacity Enhancement: ₹2.44 crore for capital expenditure towards upgradation/improvement of existing manufacturing facilities and ₹3.62 crore for construction of storage facility enhancing operational efficiency and capacity.

Business Expansion: ₹2.69 crore for product registrations in other countries expanding international market presence, ₹11.25 crore funding working capital requirements supporting operational cash flows, ₹1.86 crore for prepayment/repayment of outstanding secured loans reducing debt-to-equity from 0.96 level, plus ₹2.85 crore for general corporate purposes.

Financial Performance

Revenue: ₹49.65 crore for FY25, impressive growth of 38% from ₹35.87 crore in FY24, reflecting expanding contract pharmaceutical manufacturing operations and client base.

Net Profit: ₹6.11 crore in FY25, growth of 25% from ₹4.87 crore in FY24, demonstrating operational leverage though sustainability remains concern.

Financial Metrics: Exceptional ROE of 55.25%, solid ROCE of 27.83%, elevated debt-to-equity of 0.96, healthy PAT margin of 12.43%, robust EBITDA margin of 19.41%, price-to-book of 12.64x, post-issue EPS of ₹10.66, P/E of 12.01x, and market capitalisation of ₹113.99 crore.