Astra Microwave jumps 7%; board to consider Rs 400-cr fund-raise on Friday

In the past three months, the stock of the aerospace & defence company has underperformed the market by falling 2 per cent, as compared to a 6 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex

Shares of Astra Microwave Products moved 7 per cent higher to Rs 326.70 on the BSE in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after the company announced that its board will meet on Friday, December 9, to consider a fund raise of up to Rs 400 crore.

“A meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled to be held on December 9, 2022 to inter alia consider and approve the matter related to raising funds by way of issuance of any instrument or securities, including equity shares, fully / partly convertible debentures, global depository receipts, American depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds, warrants, or any combination thereof, in one or more tranches, for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 400 crore,” it said in an exchange filing on Monday.

In past three months, the stock of the aerospace & defence company has underperformed the market by falling 2 per cent, as compared to a 6 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. However, in last six months, it has rallied 45 per cent versus a 12 per cent surge in the benchmark index. It had hit a record high of Rs 375.15 on August 26.

In first half (April to September) of the current financial year 2022-23 (H1FY23), Astra Microwave posted a 170 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its profit after tax at Rs 34 crore on strong operational performance.

The company’s revenue grew 12 per cent YoY to Rs 332 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) margins improved substantially to 19.7 per cent from 10.7 per cent in H1FY22.

The improvement in margins is largely due to larger domestic sales as compared to previous period and also change in the mix of products sold during the period, the management said. It expects larger share of domestic sales as compared to exports in the coming years.

As on September 30, 2022, the company had an order book of Rs 1,852 crore, which is executable in the next 12 to 38 months.

Over the next 5 to 6 years, the business outlook is strong and the management sees an opportunity of close to Rs 15,000-18,000 crore in the area of its domain expertise. The company’s product portfolio spans across defense, space, meteorology, homeland security and systems verticals.