By Arun Mukherjee and Soumya Malani(Kolkatas Arun Mukherjee, a college dropout by choice, and Soumya Malani, a London School of Economics passout, have come to be known as smallcap aficionados in Indias investor community.
They would show up at most AGMs, visit remotest factories of a company and go chasing end-users to understand their experiences with a product in their passionate hunt for good smallcaps.
Soumya and Arun would be sharing their experiences with companies and from ground in this space every now and then.
Keep watching..
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Manav Poddar (son of promoter Suresh K Poddar) is not involved in business anymore.
He holds about 16 per cent stake in company and according to management, he would continue to hold same.
The management said prices of finished products are driven more by demand and supply than changes in costing.2.
Currently, in footwear segment company doesnt see much potential to increase prices.
So, margins may come under pressure in near term.
Not much headway has been made in Mysore project; land acquisition is still not complete.
The management did not give any timeline for same.3.
Gwalior/PU project: Things are going as per plan.
The management hopes to start first line with 3.5 lakh metres capacity per month by March/April 2019.
This can take 6-8 months to stabilise and second line would be planned only after assessing demand scenario.4.
Also, company is planning to bring Gwalior facility into production of PU resin.
Capex required for that is Rs 10-15 crore.
The companys total capex guidance is for Rs 60 crore at company level for FY19.
It may look at foreign acquisitions selectively for technology knowhow/ forward integration/ market access.5.
New clients: The company management has been guiding for addition of new clients in auto OEM for past 2-3 years, but it accepted that same is taking longer than anticipated.
It has secured approval for their products with Ford - though hasnt received final order as yet.6.
The company has been following up with Mercedes for a few years now.
But, finally things seem to be going Mayurs way as currently almost 80 per cent of Mercs requirement is being supplied by a single vendor, which Merc is not comfortable with.
Hence, they are responding well now.
Mayur has spent almost Rs 20 crore to upgrade its facility according to Mercs specification.
The Merc team is expected to audit approve Mayurs plant in January 2019.7.
The company has recruited one senior HR person and is looking to hire a couple of personnel in operations for Gwalior plant.
The management refused to give any guidance on volume growth/margins.Our take: Ankit Sharda, one of our coolest smallcap predator attended AGM of one of his favourite bet and forwarded us AGM snippets.
From investors point of view, this company has always been among top picks of many ace investors and it has been a hidden gem throughout decade.
It is a wealth creator in true sense and has been consistent at that.
The stock has probably been one of top performers of 21st century, multiplying nearly 2000 times from Rs 0.20 in June, 2003 to Rs 400 recently.
Every thousand rupees invested back then would have now become Rs 20 lakh now.
The beauty is that this does not include handsome dividends that company has paid all these years.
The addressable market size for company is around Rs 5,000-7000 crore, which broadly has nearly a dozen players, excluding unorganized sector, which is of equal size.Over next five years, industry is likely to double on account of rising demand from footwear, automobile, furnishings and other sectors which require artificial leather.
Happy days seem to be ahead for shareholders.A house of cards4 Jan, 2019 From oil and copper to coffee and sugar, most commodities lay low in 2018.Will it be a Happy New Year for top raw materials as we get into 2019 Only time will tell, though a reasonably positive picture comes to fore.There are some high voltage events getting lined up as we look at prospects and pitfalls of these commodities.
Let's analyse issue in detail.Issues on boil4 Jan, 2019The US-China trade fight, for one, is very much on radar.
A US delegation is in Beijing for talks from Monday.
The World Bank is updating its Global Economic Prospects report on Tuesday.
Plus, a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is coming up on Thursday.
Before that, Powell speaks in Atlanta later Friday.Oil stands a chance4 Jan, 2019 Oil's slide from a four-year high into a bear market was talking point of 2018.
Higher US shale output, Iranian sanction waivers and a supply cut from OPEC+ seen by some as too little were main culprits.
Worries about global growth made bears dig in their heels.But point is supply risks are underestimated.
In Venezuela, supply may tumble below 1 million barrels a day.
US waivers on Iranian cargoes are only temporary, and not all may be renewed in May.
The Saudis can strike back with deeper cuts.
OPECs next meeting is due in April, and prices may have regained some ground by then.
The median Brent forecast tracked by Bloomberg is $68 as against about $56 at present.The golden run4 Jan, 2019 Gold bulls ruled towards end of 2018.
And chances are yellow metal may stand its ground.
The reasons are not far to seek.
Support for prices may come in at a six-month high as Federal Reserve goes slower on rate hikes, and investors avoid heat from equity market turmoil and a slowing global growth.More tailwinds could just be round corner.
A golden cross -- as 50-day moving average tops its 200-day counterpart -- is close, and a few more tonnes added to exchange-traded funds will lift holdings to highest since 2013.
A December 11-19 survey of 20 analysts and traders reflected a positive tone, with median estimate of $1,325 an ounce.
Futures just went beyond $1,300.
Wired for success4 Jan, 2019 2018 turned out to be worst run since 2015 for copper, which fell every quarter last year.
The biggest bugbear was concerns that global growth is slowing and lingering US-China trade stand-off.
But investors are latching on to some positive signs.
One of them is global stockpile tracked by exchanges, with holdings in London Metal Exchange sheds at a decade-low.To be sure, copper took a hit from trade war swings in 2018, but 2019 could see reverse happening.
If Washington and Beijing settle some issues, copper stands to gain.
The median of forecasts tracked by Bloomberg puts metal, which was last at $5,833, above $6,400.