Apex Frozen Foods, Shankara Building hit new high

Shares of Apex Frozen Foods and Shankara Building Products have rallied more than 300% against their issue price

Shares of Apex Frozen Foods and Shankara Building Products rallied more than 300% against their issue price to trade at their respective new highs on the BSE.

Shankara Building Products (SBPL), a fledgling retailer of building materials, was up 8% to Rs 1,917, extending its Tuesday’s 9% surge on the BSE. The company made its debut on the stock exchanges on April 4, 2017, soared 316% from its issue price of Rs 460 per share.

With SBPL’s focus on expanding its business in asset light retail store business, analysts ICICI Securities believe the company is in a sweet spot to capture the growing organised home improvement market.

“The company highlighted that there has been some pickup in demand post Diwali with November seeing an improved demand growth vs. September/first half of October. However, the demand uptick has been lower than expected and the company is hopeful of a full recovery by December/January,” IIFL Institutional Equities said in Q2 result update.

Consumers are expected to settle in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime gradually. This transition is likely to be aided by the government’s recent decision to reduce GST rate across building material categories (sanitary ware, tiles, plywood, fittings etc.,) from 28% to 18%, added report.

Apex Frozen Foods has locked in upper circuit of 5% at Rs 705, its highest level since listing on September 4, 2017. The stock of packaged foods has appreciated by 403% against its initial public offer price of Rs 175 per share. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 6% during the same period.

Since November 15, post September results, it rallied 53% against 2% rise in the benchmark index. The company had reported net profit of Rs 38.7 crore in first half (April to September) of current financial year 2017-18. It posted profit of Rs 24.3 crore during the entire previous fiscal 2016-17.

Apex Frozen Foods is an integrated producer and exporter of shelf stable and ready-to-cook products to a diversified customer base consisting of food companies, retail chains, restaurants, club stores and distributors across the US, UK and European countries. The company sells aquaculture products under three brands, namely, Bay Fresh, Bay Harvest and Bay Premium.