Jubilant Food in celebratory mode

Jubilant Foodwork is the top gainer on the BSE currently, hitting a new 52-week high at Rs.1727.50 with volumes rising 7 times. The stock continues to remain strong, up 10% at Rs.1725 levels.

The stock is reacting to the positive set of numbers posted by the company for Q4FY15. For Q4FY15, the company posted a 26% (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs.31 crore on a 25% jump in net sales at Rs.434 crore. This has beaten most of the estimates and more importantly, FIIs have started upgrading the stock. Credit Suisse has already put out a report, upgrading it from Neutral to Outperform and raised the target price also from Rs.1601 to Rs.1820.

The company’s EBITDA during the quarter jumped 26% at Rs.70 crore with margins improving by a mere 10 bps to 12.9% from 12.8%. Overall costs for the company were all up – rent rose 28%, employee cost also rose 28%, raw material rose 24%. Total number of employees as on 31 March 2015 stood at 27,108 v/s 24,969 (YoY). It ended FY15 with a 6% drop in net profit at Rs.111 crore though revenue grew 21%.