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Moroccan tycoon and leading business executive Lamia Tazi has recorded a significant value loss from her stake in Marocaine Ste de Therapeutique (Sothema), a Casablanca-based pharmaceutical company, as shares in the company fall by double digits on the local bourse.
According to data obtained from the Casablanca bourse, the recent drop in the Moroccan pharmaceutical company’s stock price caused the market value of Tazi’s holdings in Sothema to fall by $7.1 million in less than 54 days.
Sothema has grown into a leading pharmaceutical company in Africa and the Middle East under the supervision of Chairman and CEO Lamia Tazi, a successful business leader who owns 3.93 percent of the company.
Every year, the company manufactures and sells more than 60 million units of pharmaceuticals. It also oversees 35 global laboratories in Europe, the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Persian Gulf.
The $7.1-million drop in the value of Tazi’s stake over the past 54 days occurred despite the drug company’s impressive financial results at the end of its 2021 fiscal year, as investors reduced their stakes in the drug company despite a double-digit increase in revenue.
According to Sothema’s activity indicator for the fourth quarter of 2021, revenue for the year rose by 13.7 percent, from MAD1.81 billion ($189.6 million) in 2020 to more than MAD2.06 billion ($217 million) in 2021, driven by robust growth across all of its major operational sectors.
The increase in revenue could be attributed to strong commercial performance on both domestic and international markets, as well as a gradual return to normal activity in the pharmaceutical sector.
Despite this resilient performance, investors reduced their stakes in the company, causing its share price to fall 14 percent from MAD1,715 ($177.42) on Feb. 3 to MAD1,475 ($152.59) at the time of writing.
As a result of the double-digit decline, Tazi’s stake’s market value has dropped from MAD484.73 million ($50.2 million) to MAD416.9 million ($43.1 million) as of press time.
This equates to a total loss of MAD67.8 million ($7.1 million) for the multimillionaire businesswoman.
