Godfrey Phillips India Ltd shares tumbled nearly 10% in early morning trade on Monday after the cigarette and tobacco company announced that it has suspended operations at all its plants and factories across the country as a safety measure amid the Coronavirus outbreak.
Godfrey Phillips shares hit an intra-day low of Rs 830 apiece in the morning session compared with the previous close of Rs 918.10. However, the stock later recouped some losses to trade at Rs 879.25, down 4.2%, at 11:12 am.
“We would like to inform that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is taking various measures to ensure the safety and well-being of all employees and is ensuring compliance with the directives issued by the central government, state governments and local administration in this regard… the company has suspended operations at all its factories and plant locations,” Godfrey Phillips said in a filing to the exchanges.
It added that it is closely monitoring the situation and will take all necessary measures as directed by the authorities from time to time.
However, it refrained from quantifying the impact of the lockdown on its financials. “The impact on the operations of the company cannot be assessed at this point,” the company added.
Godfrey Phillips India CEO Bhisham Wadhera told PTI that the company was prepared to take a hit for four weeks on its business.
“As an organisation what is of utmost importance to us is our employees’ health and safety. In fact about 10 days ago, we announced work from home just to ensure that nobody gets exposed, much before the lockdown,” Wadhera said.
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