This Porinju Veliyath-owned smallcap stock has zoomed 55% in 5 weeks

Investor Porinju Veliyath held 145,000 shares or 1.01 per cent stake in Orient Bell at the end of December 2021 quarter

Shares of Orient Bell hit a record high of Rs 581.30, surging 19 per cent on the BSE in Friday's intra-day, on the back of heavy volumes. The stock of one of the leading manufacturer of ceramic and vitrified tiles has zoomed 55 per cent in five weeks from a level of Rs 376 on January 21, 2022. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 5.5 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

At 01:43 pm, Orient Bell was 17 per cent higher at Rs 569 on the BSE, as against a 2.4 per cent gain in the benchmark index. Trading volumes on the counter jumped over three-fold with a combined 387,000 shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report.

Investor Porinju Veliyath held 145,000 shares or 1.01 per cent stake in Orient Bell at the end of December 2021 (Q3FY22) quarter, the shareholding pattern data shows.

For Q3FY22, the company reported 60.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 12.1 crore from Rs 7.5 crore in the year-ago quarter (Q3FY21). Operating income grew 24 per cent YoY at Rs 184 crore while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (ebitda) margin improved to 10.8 per cent from 10.6 per cent in Q3FY21.

The management said, despite rising Energy and other costs, consistent improvement in consumption key performance indicator's and operating leverage led to improved profitability margins relative to last year.

"During Q3, we successfully completed expansion project at Sikandrabad, adding 0.7 million square meters (MSM) per annum capacity. Two other projects (1 each at existing facilities at Sikandrabad, Uttar Pradesh and Dora, Gujarat) are on track and expected to be completed in Q1FY23 – the combined incremental volume potential being around 1.9 MSM p.a.," the company said.

Meanwhile, another capex project in South is underway at the company's existing facility at Hoskote, Karnataka (incremental capacity of 1.8 MSM p.a) and is expected to be completed by Q3FY23.

"These projects are largely being financed via internal accruals as the company continues to focus on working capital to generate cash flows for future expansion. The uptick in real estate sector is a positive sign for the industry and Orient Bell is confident to stay on track to steadily improve all operational metrics," the management said.