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Shares of Star Health and Allied Insurance Company (Star Health) slipped 9 per cent to Rs 539.20 on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade after nearly 3 per cent equity of the private general insurance company changed hands on the bourses.
At 09:15 AM; around 8.18 million shares representing 1.4 per cent total equity of Star Healthcare changed hands via block deals on the BSE, the exchange data shows.
Meanwhile, till 11:41 AM; a combined nearly 20 million shares or 3.5 per cent equity of Star Healthcare had changed hands on the BSE and NSE, the data shows. The names of the buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately. Currently, the stock was quoting 6 per cent lower at Rs 547, as compared to 0.56 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
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As on March 31, 2023, the promoters including Rakesh Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala (14.25 per cent) and Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (3.07 per cent) held total 58.28 per cent holding in Star Health.
Star Health made its stock market debut on December 10, 2021. The company had raised funds by issuing shares at price of Rs 900 per share. It hit a record low of Rs 451.10 on January 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, in January-March quarter (Q4FY23), Star Health reported decent performance, completing the year post the pandemic with a combined ratio for FY23 at 95.3 per cent, coming near the top end of around 93/95 per cent combined ratio target.
Premium growth for FY23 at 13 per cent was largely in line with estimates and was driven by 18 per cent growth in retail and a 33 per cent decline in group (in line with management’s guidance of exiting the large corporate group health business). Profit after tax for FY23 came in 13.7 per cent lower than estimate at Rs 620 crore, largely led by lower NEP (net earned premium) than estimates, analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said in result update.
However, with the company achieving the 95.3 per cent CoR, the brokerage firm believes Star Health is on the right track to achieve profitable growth, given its expanding hospital network, strong distribution network, and some normalization in medical inflation. Given that Star Health is within the 35 per cent Expense of Management (EoM) cap, the company is well positioned in the new EoM regulations era, it added.
