Domestic money managers as well as overseas investors offloaded stakes in Bata India during the October-December quarter.
Shareholding data at the end of December quarter showed mutual funds held 14.88 per stake in the footwear major against 15.22 per cent at the end of September quarter. Likewiseforeign institutional/portfolio investors’ holding declined marginally to 11.39 per cent from 11.45 per cent.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the country’s biggest institutional investor, kept its stake constant at 4.55 per cent, or 58,48,928 shares, at the end of the quarter gone by.
Shares of Bata India have outpaced the benchmark BSE Sensex with a wider margin during the past three years. The scrip jumped over 275 per cent, while the 30-share index gained 53 per cent during January 2017 and January 2020.
Shares of Bata peer Relaxo Footwear have soared 216 per cent to Rs 647 during the same period.
In a December 9 note, Nirmal Bang Equities retained its “accumulate” rating on Bata India. “We believe the Indian footwear opportunity is a large one (we expect it to be Rs 0.7 lakh crore to Rs 0.8 lakh crore as of FY20E). This, we believe, will grow in mid-teens in the foreseeable future,” Nirmal Bang analysts said in the note.
The brokerage expects Bata India to clock revenue/EBITDA/PAT CAGR of around 11 per cent/16 per cent/20 per cent, respectively, over FY19-FY22 with pre-tax RoIC (return on invested capital) expanding from around 63 per cent in FY19 to around 73 per cent in FY22.
On the other hand, ICICIdirect in a report late last year said healthy store expansion plans (through franchise route) in non-metro cities are expected to provide some growth impetus to Bata India.
Source: Economic Times
