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Shares in Marocaine Ste de Therapeutique (Sothema), Morocco’s leading pharmaceutical group, have increased significantly in the past five months, as investors continue to price in an impressive half-year performance, returning millions of dollars in gains to shareholders, including Moroccan businesswoman Lamia Tazi, who owns a significant stake in the firm.
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of Tazi’s stake in Sothema has increased by nearly $4.2 million in the past 155 days as investors continue to pile into the group following the release of its half-year revenue figures.
Sothema is Morocco’s leading healthcare company, producing about 60 million pharmaceutical units per year and managing a diverse portfolio of 35 global laboratories that develop and sell products to Europe, the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Persian Gulf.
Tazi, the group’s chairperson and CEO, who has been instrumental in its growth and expansion, owns a substantial 8.4-percentage stake in the company, or 605,030 shares.
Shares in the Moroccan firm were trading at MAD1,438 ($130.86) per share as of press time on Oct. 18, giving the pharmaceutical company a market cap of MAD10.35 billion ($941.3 million) on the Casablanca bourse.
Since May 16, exactly 155 days ago, shares in the pharmaceutical company have increased from MAD1,362 ($123.95) per share to MAD1,438 ($130.87) at the time of writing this report, resulting in a total gain of 5.58 percent for shareholders.
As a result of the single digit price bump, the market value of Lamia Tazi’s stake in Sothema has increased by MAD45.98 million ($4.18 million) in the past 155 days, rising from MAD824.05 million ($74.99 million) on May 16 to MAD870.03 million ($79.18 million) on Oct. 18.
The recent increase in Sothema’s valuation, which resulted in Tazi’s fortune increasing by $4.2 million, comes after the company announced plans to establish operations in Central Africa as part of a strategic development drive aimed at meeting the group’s international growth targets.
