TRF

Established in 1962 as Tata Robins Fraser, TRF is a pioneer in solutions for material handling equipment and processing systems required in the infrastructure development and automotive applications. Promoters stake, typical of olden companies, is low at 34.30% held by Tata group of which 32.58% is held by Tata Steel. DIIs hold 7.66%, with no FII holding. The company posted a set of very disappointing numbers for Q1FY15. After turning around in Q4 with a net profit of Rs.24 crore, the company posted a loss of Rs.6 crore in current Q1, this is more than loss of Rs.7.5 crore in previous Q1. Sequentially, its net sales dropped 16% at Rs.296 crore and it was in the black till PBIT levels but once the huge interest outgo came in, the company slipped into the red.

Its interest outgo has always been around Rs.14 crore levels, which is almost 5% of the net revenue earned. For FY14, interest cost was at Rs.59 crore. The company is obviously sitting on some huge debt. Clearly, the only thing going for the company is the Tata parentage or else, it is dogged by losses, huge debt, loss making subsidiaries. There is hope that management might do something to rescue the company from throes of loss but the bottomline is that till it reduces debt, fundamentally, it holds no promise.