BOMBAY BRUMAH TRADING CORP
A part of the Wadia group, this company goes way back into 1863 and then it was set up by Wallace Brothers to engage in the Burmese tea business by taking over the assets in Burma of William Wallace. It is India's second oldest publicly quoted company. The stock on Friday was locked on the 20% upper circuit at Rs.401.40, a new 52-week high.
The company ended Q2FY15 with a 2% (YoY) drop in net sales at Rs.60 crore and net loss for the quarter at Rs.82 lakh compared to net profit of Rs.1.53 crore in previous Q2. Higher operating costs and then an interest outgo of Rs.6 crore did the company in. The H1Fy15 loss stands at Rs.2 crore compared to net profit of Rs.5 crore in H1FY14. It operates in four segments – tea/coffee plantation, which is its main fray contributing 52% to net sales and it is this segment which reported a loss. The company has a tea garden that is spread over 2,822 hectares producing nearly 8 million kilos of tea annually. Auto electrical components did just about ok, with topline and EBIT falling. Investment in its group companies, its third segment was the star performer with a 67% jump in EBIT and healthcare also did much marginally better.
Its biggest attraction is its shareholding – 14.35% as at 30th Sept 2014 in Bombay Dyeing, which is around 2.96 crore shares and this itself is worth at current price at around Rs.215 crore. Through its 5 subsidiaries and 4 associate firms and through tem holds a 50.75% stake in Britannia Industries, making it a mulch cow holding company. That apart, its land bank is huge with some 2.1 acres in Kanjur Marg in Mumbai, 18 acres in Pune and more land in Coimbatore. The company is considering developing properties at Kanjur Marg and is also developing a small part of its coffee plantation at Coorg.