Snowman Logistics drops after weak Q1 earnings

Snowman Logistics has lost over 6% to Rs 74 on the BSE after net profit dropped 67.2% to Rs 1.79 crore on 17.6% fall in total income to Rs 49.90 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

On BSE, so far 9.42 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 6.14 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 77 and low of Rs 72.50 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 115.70 on 5 August 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 46.20 on 29 February 2016.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 4 August 2016, falling 1.8% compared with 1.60% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, surging 41.87% as against Sensex's 10.41% rise.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 167.09 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Snowman Logistics said that net profit has declined in Q1 June 2016 due to a higher incidence of depreciation which increased by Rs 3.18 crore and interest which increased by Rs 1.79 crore on account of the expansion undertaken by the company. The trend is expected to improve further in the coming quarters, Snowman Logistics said.

Snowman Logistics' earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 20.4% to Rs 14.75 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

Snowman Logistics said that the drop in Q1 June 2016 revenue is a result of the company's decision to focus on its core business – temperature controlled warehousing. During Q1 June 2016, the company exited the loss making food services business and reduced the exposure to long distance road transportation unrelated to main business, Snowman Logistics said.

This has led to a reduction in the fleet size of the company, it added. However, it has also led to an improvement in the company's EBITDA margins to 29.7% in Q1 June 2016 from 20.7% in Q1 June 2015.

Commenting on the results, Prem Kishan Gupta, Chairman, Snowman Logistics said that the near term focus of the company would be to consolidate its position by improving occupancy with higher yield products. The company will continue to explore opportunities to set up new warehouses especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which currently have a very low penetration of high quality warehouses, Prem Kishan Gupta said.

Snowman Logistics is an integrated temperature controlled logistics services provider with an ability to service customers on a pan India basis.