On February 19, the stock of Gateway Distriparks, a port-based logistics facilitator firm, touched its 52-week-low of Rs.192. This comes at a time when logistics stocks have witnessed renewed interest, post the implementation of GST. According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, the logistics industry is expected to touch $215 billion over the next two years from the current $160 billion, on the back of GST. The weak sentiment around the stock is on the back of a dismal Q3FY18 as profit declined 37% and revenue by 5%, owing to weak performance in its rail and the container freight businesses. The firm’s third segment, Snowman Logistics, a cold chain and integrated temperature-controlled logistics service provider, is a separately listed entity. Snowman returned to the black, posting a marginal PAT of Rs.0.3 crore in the third quarter against Rs.2 crore losses in the year-ago quarter. HSBC has a buy rating on the stock as the research house expects earnings to grow at a CAGR of 23% over FY18-FY20.
Not surprising that the promoter’s confidence about the company’s future is unflappable. On February 20, managing director Prem Kishan Dass Gupta bought a whopping 10 lakh shares at an average price per share was Rs.199. The stock has corrected 17.1%, since the beginning of the year and a steep 21.2%, over the past one year. The acquisition of Rs.20 crore worth shares has more than doubled his personal stake in the firm from 0.76% to 1.68%. This is the third instance of acquisition by Gupta in FY18. He had previously acquired Rs.9.5 crore worth of shares during August and September 2017 at an average price of Rs. 220.5. Besides, Gupta also acquired additional shares worth Rs.13.2 crore in September 2017, through his family members. Thus, the total promoter purchase during the current fiscal adds to around Rs.43 crore. In fact, the overall promoter holding has increased from 25.17% to 26.01% over the past one year even as other public stakeholders pared their stake. Mutual funds marginally reduced their stake from 20.7% to 19.8%. Foreign portfolio investors reduced their stake in the firm from 41.06% in the quarter ending December 2016 to 38.15%, for the quarter ending December 2017.
Kuwait investment authority reduced its stake from 3.16% to 2.22%, while Schroder International Selection Fund reduced its stake from 1.58% to 1.39%, during the same period. GMO Emerging Domestic Opportunities Fund, which held 2.4% as of December 2016, has been consistently reducing its stake. It’s not clear if the fund has completely exited the counter or its stake has fallen below 1%, as the latest December quarterly holding does not mention the fund. Similarly, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, too, has either reduced its stake from 2.96% in December 2016 to below 1% or completely exited as it finds no mention in the latest quarterly disclosures. The Akash Prakash-owned Amansa Holdings, however, has increased its stake in the firm from 6.44% to 8.68%. Morgan Stanley acquired 1.89% for the quarter-ended September 2017 and has remained unchanged since then.
