Forbes Co

Earlier known as Forbes Gokak, it is the oldest registered company in India and one of the oldest in the world which is still in business. The company was established way back in 1767 by a Scot, and over a period of time, ownership moved from Forbes to Campbell to Tata’s and currently Shapoorji Pallonji. They now own 72.06% stake and Forbes Campbell holds 1.29%.  The company despite its consistently poor performance enjoys immense investors fancy and that is thanks to the brand image of Shapoorji.

The company posted a set of lackluster set of numbers for Q3Fy14, with the saga of losses continuing. It ended the quarter with a net loss of Rs.4 crore, lower than the loss of Rs.9 crore in Q3FY13 and loss of Rs.7 crore in Q2FY14. Falling topline, higher interest outgo and loss of Rs.3 crore on investments pushed the company into the red. It has four segments – Engineering, shipping and logistics which is the main bread winner, realty and energy solution. Shipping actually did well but the other segments pulled the overall performance down. On an equity of Rs.12.73 crore, reserves as at 31st Dec’13 stood at Rs.154 crore and debt is around Rs.200 crore.