NIPPO BATTERIES
The company which changed its name from Indo-National Ltd, manufactures dry cell batteries. The stock has immense fancy till last fiscal as the Japanese company, Panasonic Corporation which held 30.59% stake in the company, made an exit by selling off its stake to promoter, P. Dwaraknath Reddy for a total consideration of about Rs 56 crore. Post this, Mr.Reddy’s stake stands increased from 11.92% to 42.46%. Little wonder then that the stock which in June 2012 had hit a new 52-week high at Rs.515 is now languishing at around Rs.260 levels. From being a Indo-Japanese company, it is now a merely South India based small cap company. The total promoters holding as at 31st March 2013 stood at 74.85% of which 69.43% stands pledged.
It presented its numbers for Q4FY13, and YoY, the performance was flat. Net sales dropped 1.5% at Rs.69 crore but though it managed to keep a lid on its operating costs, interest cost burgeoned from Rs.15 lakh to 1.60 crore. It also had to mark Rs.59 lakh towards VRS compensation. Though tax outgo was halved, it did not help - net profit came in at Rs.1.27 crore, down 33%. The company ended the year on a dismal note, with net profit down 54% atRs.4 crore. Its equity base is very small at Rs.3.75 crore and reserves stands at a hefty Rs.138 crore. That probably explains why the stock remains at even Rs.260 levels despite the dismal performance.