This Ashish Kacholia-owned stock has more than doubled in a month

As of December 2020, ace investor Ashish Kacholia held 1.40 per cent stake in the company

Paushak shares, on Tuesday, were locked in 10 per cent upper circuit at a fresh record high of Rs 8,067 on the BSE. The stock has now zoomed 32 per cent in the past two trading days. In the last month, the company engaged in specialty chemicals business has seen its market value more-than-doubled, up 101 per cent. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.79 per cent during the period.

Ace investor Ashish Kacholia held 1.40 per cent stake in the Gujarat-based Alembic group company. Sanjay Katkar, another individual shareholder, held 1.28 per cent stake in the company, as of December 2020.

According to the latest shareholding pattern data, Paushak has low equity base of total 3.08 million outstanding equity shares. The promoter Alembic and others held 66.97 per cent stake in the company. The public shareholders held 33.03 per cent holding, of which, 27.17 per cent stake are with the individual shareholders, the data shows. Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) held 3.64 per cent stake, while corporate bodes have 1.13 per cent holding in the company, data shows.

On clarification on price movement, Paushak on February 19 had informed the BSE that there are no other events, information or announcement (including impending announcement) which may have a bearing on the price/ volume behaviour in the scrip.

For the quarter ended December 2020, Paushak had reported an 89 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 11.54 crore on a sequential basis. Revenue from operations grew 36 per cent at Rs 40.38 crore over the previous quarter.

Paushak is India’s largest phosgene-based specialty chemicals manufacturer while maintains domestic market leadership in the majority of its product portfolio. The company derives revenue from chloroformates, isocynates, specialty chemicals, carbonates and phosgene gas. These products have a wide range of applications across industries such as pharmaceuticals and agro-chemicals.

On February 17, rating agency CRISIL had reaffirmed its 'CRISIL A-/Stable' rating on the long-term bank facilities of Paushak. The rating continues to reflect the company's established market position in the phosgene-based specialty chemicals market, its strong operating efficiency, and healthy financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by the moderate scale of operations and exposure to implementation and demand risks, associated with the large capital expenditure (capex), CRISIL said in rating rationale.

Paushak's strong operating efficiency is aided by its backward integrated operations, which have led to strong operating margin (32 per cent in the first nine months of fiscal 2020, and 29 per cent in fiscal 2019), and return on capital employed (RoCE; expected at 20 per cent for fiscal 2020). The company is one of the few players licenced to manufacture phosgene gas, which involves government restrictions. RoCE is expected to sustain around 18 per cent through the capex cycle, the rating agency said.