Polish Protective Gloves Maker Sees 1,000% Gain as Demand Soars
(Bloomberg) --
Mercator Medical SA, a Polish producer of disposable medical supplies, has risen 1,000% in Warsaw trading this year after the coronavirus pandemic fueled demand for protective products and the company signed new contracts to supply to the U.S. and Australia.
The shares were up 21% at 1:14 p.m. local time after Mercator agreed to provide gloves from its factory in Thailand to Australia's Unispace Health. It brings the value of this year's key deals to 552.5 million zloty ($139 million), outpacing its total sales in 2019.
The “pandemic allowed Mercator to show its potential and boost margins” Tomasz Rodak, analyst at BOS Bank SA said by phone. “More investors are now convinced that in the new reality the stock will be re-rated for the long-term, and will be a very valuable add-on to equity portfolios as a unique exposure to the growing medical industry and shield against potential new outbreaks.”
The reopening of economies may boost orders for protective gloves amid new sanitary restrictions in the coming quarters, Rodak said. The analyst sees a market test coming in 2021, when competitors open new production facilities, boosting supply. Meanwhile, the company's valuation discount to bigger Malaysian peers means its shares are attractive, he said.
READ: The Gloves Kingdom Has Been Minting New Billionaires
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
