BLS Int'l at new high on fixing record date for 1:1 bonus; up 12% in 2 days

Shares of BLS International hit a new high of Rs 389.20, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade. In the past two days, the stock of tour & travel related services company has soared 12 per cent, after the company fixed December 10, as record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders entitled for issuance of bonus equity shares of the company in the proportion of 1:1 i.e. one bonus equity share for every one existing share.

This is the second bonus issue announced by BLS International during the current calendar year 2022 (CY22). Earlier, the board of the company, on April, 13, 2022 and subsequently the shareholders in the extra-ordinary general meeting on May 09, 2022, had approved the issue of bonus equity shares in the ratio of 1:1.

BLS International is engaged in the business of providing outsourcing and administrative task of Visa, Passport and Consular services to various Diplomatic Missions across the world. The company also provides services related to attestation and apostille on behalf of Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

In the past six months, the stock price of BLS International has more-than-doubled, zooming 110 per cent, as compared to a 14 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Further, in the past one year, it has appreciated 313 per cent as against a 10 per cent rise in the benchmark index.

Meanwhile, during the July-September quarter, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) had increased their stake in BLS International by 235 bps to 6.67 per cent. FPIs held 4.32 per cent stake in the company at the end of June quarter, the shareholding pattern data shows.

For the first half (April-September) of the current financial year (H1FY23), BLS International had reported 71 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 81.69 crore on the back of strong revenue growth of 70.6 per cent YoY at Rs 630 crore. Ebitda margin expanded 144 bps to 14.0 per cent from 12.56 per cent in H1FY22.

There is a large market available to be captured as majority of the governments are yet to outsource visa services. Moving forward, BLS International still sees good growth potential in its core business of visa services, and expects strong growth in the passport services business.

Over the next few years, the company said it will continue growing these businesses, while simultaneously maintaining its emphasis on compliance, information security and data protection, customer service, developing innovative products and services and sustainable business practices.