BLS International hits new high; soars 9% on proposed IPO of BLS E-Services

Shares of BLS International Services hit a new high of Rs 214.25, as they soared 9 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade amid heavy volumes on the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary BLS E-Services. In the past two trading days, the stock has rallied 11 per cent.

"The board of directors of BLS E-Services, subsidiary of the company at their meeting held on Monday, June 26, 2023 approved fund raising, by way of an IPO of its equity shares," BLS International said in an exchange filing.

The proposed IPO is subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations. The size of the offer, price and other details of the proposed IPO will be determined in due course, it added. The company further said, post the proposed IPO, BLS E-Services would continue to be a subsidiary of the company.

At 12:06 PM; the stock was trading 7 per cent higher at Rs 210.55, as compared to 0.82 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes at the counter jumped 1.5 times, with a combined 9.6 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.

BLS International Services is a global tech-enabled services partner for governments and citizens, having an impeccable reputation for setting benchmarks in the domain of visa, passport, consular, citizen, e-governance, attestation, biometric, e-visa, and retail services since 2005.

BLS International recently consolidated its banking correspondence and e-Governance businesses into a Digital Services segment, which is operated through BLS E-Services. The digital services business has been growing well, as the company continues to expand its network of touchpoints across India, the management said.

Amongst several others, the Company processes visa contracts for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Thailand, Morocco, Lebanon, Vietnam, Malaysia etc. BLS has bid for several contracts for visa services across the world, and expects continuous growth through new contracts.

For the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), the company had reported a robust 83.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 204.22 crore, against Rs 111.2 crore in FY22. Operational revenue grew 78.4 per cent YoY to Rs 1,516 crore from Rs 849.89 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (ebitda) margin improved 200 bps to 14.58 per cent in FY23.