G R Infraprojects hits all-time low; stock plunges 22% thus far in February

In Q3FY22, the company's consolidated profit after tax declined 65 per cent year-on-year to Rs 145 crore, due to lower operational income.

Shares of G R Infraprojects hit an all-time low of Rs 1,485.80, down 4 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade. The stock of construction & engineering company has fallen 22 per cent thus far in the month of February after the company reported subdued earnings for the December quarter (Q3FY22). In comparison the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.39 per cent during the same period.

G R Infraprojects made its stock market debut on July 19, 2021. The Rajasthan-based roads and highways construction major raised Rs 963 crore via initial public offer (IPO). The company had issued shares at Rs 837 per share. With the current month's fall, the stock has corrected 35 per cent from its record high level of Rs 2,277 hit on October 25, 2021.

In Q3FY22, the company’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) declined 65 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 145.40 crore, due to lower operational income. Revenue from operations was down 20 per cent YoY at Rs 1,980 crore. Earnings before interest tax and depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) contracted 10.2 percentage points at 19.33 per cent. The company said decrease in margin was primarily due to net decrease in the claim and bonus income recognized due to early completion of the projects, amounting to Rs 170 crore in current period as compared with the previous period.

 “G R Infraprojects saw subdued execution in Q3FY22 due to delays in receiving appointed dates in its projects. Margin was impacted due to certain one-time expenses incurred and rise in input costs. The order book stood at Rs 14,600 crore (excluding L1), with an order book/revenue ratio of ~1.8x”, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in its result update.

Order inflows and execution have been weak so far in FY22. However, the project pipeline remains robust, which should lead to order inflows in the near term. The recent receipt of appointed dates should provide support to execution in FY23 and FY24, the brokerage firm said. “We lower our FY23E/FY24E revenue estimate by 11 per cent/10 per cent, EBITDA estimate by 18 per cent/13 per cent and earnings estimate by 22 per cent/15 per cent to factor in a delay in the receipt of appointed dates in HAM projects and weak order flows. With an order book of Rs 14,600 crore, excluding L1, we expect GRIL to clock 12 per cent revenue growth over FY21-24E, with EBITDA margin in the 16-17 per cent range,” it said.