1. At a Glance – The Goat That Outsold the Chicken 🐐🐔
Hester Biosciences is that rare Indian pharma-adjacent company where goats, sheep, cows, and chickens are the actual revenue drivers—not buzzwords. With a market cap of ~₹1,266 Cr, a current price of ₹1,485, and a stock that’s down ~27% YoY, Hester looks like a classic case of “great business, moody market.”
Despite being the world’s largest PPR vaccine supplier (~75% global share) and holding 70%+ share in Goat Pox vaccines in India, the stock trades at a P/E of ~30.9, ROCE of ~9.7%, and ROE of ~9.2%—numbers that scream “operationally strong but capital efficiency needs therapy.”
Latest quarterly numbers show sales up 22.5% YoY, but PAT down ~25% YoY, reminding us that biology obeys no investor presentations. With fill-finish capacity doubled, H9N2 avian flu vaccine licensed, and the CEO reappointed till 2029, Hester is clearly preparing for the long haul. Question is: is the market patient enough?
2. Introduction – 38 Years of Vaccines, Zero Hype
Founded in 1987 by Rajiv Gandhi (not that one), Hester has quietly built an animal healthcare empire while the market was busy chasing fintech apps and EV dreams. This is a company that talks more to veterinarians and governments than to Twitter finfluencers.
Hester operates across poultry vaccines, poultry health products, animal vaccines, animal health products, and petcare—a portfolio that looks boring until you realise it’s deeply embedded in national immunisation programs and global disease-eradication missions.
While poultry had a rough
patch post-FY22 due to high feed costs and low bird placements, the animal healthcare division stepped up, powered by outbreaks (Lumpy Skin Disease), government programs (PPR), and plain old demand for healthy livestock.
So yes, this is not a momentum stock. It’s a policy-driven, outbreak-benefiting, capacity-expanding animal health specialist. If that sounds unsexy, remember: goats don’t care about PE multiples.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Think of Hester as “Serum Institute, but for animals and without Bollywood weddings.”
Four verticals:
- Poultry Vaccines & Healthcare – ~48% of FY24 revenue
- Animal Healthcare (Cattle, Goat, Sheep) – ~43%
- Petcare & Others – ~9%
- Exports & Services – quietly humming in the background
They don’t just sell vaccines. They sell:
- Diagnostic services
- Seroprofiling kits
- Disease-management programs
- Government-approved bulk immunisation
This is sticky business. Once a government or large integrator trusts your vaccine, switching is painful, regulated, and slow. That’s why Hester dominates niche diseases like PPR and Goat Pox globally.
4. Financials Overview – Numbers Don’t Bark, They Bite
Quarterly
