Vishnu Prakash rallies 14% on healthy order book; zoomed 116% since April

The average trading volumes at the counter jumped four-fold with a combined 8.6 million equity shares representing 6.9% of total equity of VPRPL changing hands on the NSE and BSE till 12:50 PM.

Shares of Vishnu Prakash R Punglia (VPRPL) rallied 14 per cent to Rs 325, hitting a new high on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade backed by heavy volumes. The aggressive buying at the counter can be attirbuted to a healthy order book position of nearly Rs 5,000 crore, which leads to clear visibility in future.

In the past one month, the stock price of this smallcap civil construction company has surged 40 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent decline in the BSE Sensex. Since April, thus far in the financial year 2024-25, the stock has zoomed 116 per cent from a level of Rs 149.90. The stock is trading 228 per cent higher as against its issue price of Rs 99 per share. The company made its stock market debut on September 5, 2023.

 

At 12:50 pm; VPRPL was trading 10 per cent higher at Rs 312.50, as compared to 0.3 per cent rise in the BSE Sensex. The average trading volumes at the counter jumped nearly four-fold. A combined 8.6 million equity shares representing 6.9 per cent of total equity of VPRPL changing hands on the NSE and BSE.

VPRPL is engaged in the business of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of infrastructure projects. The company is engaged in the construction, development and maintenance of state and national highways, bridges, culverts, flyovers and rail over-bridges.

On October 10, 2024, VPRPL announced that the company was awarded a contract from Office of the DYCE-C-II-JP-ENGINEERING, NWR, Jaipur Rajasthan, of road project having a total value of Rs 160.86 crore.

VPRPL had an outstanding order book of Rs 4,915 crore as on June 30, 2024, translating into healthy revenue visibility of 3.33x of FY24 total operating income (TOI).

With a high volume of work in water infrastructure, water supply projects (WSPs) continue to dominate VPRPL’s order book, constituting 78 per cent of total order book. However, VPRPL is focusing on diversification into the railway and road segment, which constitute 16 per cent and 3 per cent of its order book respectively. Of the Rs 943 crore of orders awarded in H1FY25, Rs 510 crore are in the railway sector, while the remainder related to WSPs.

VPRPL raised equity totaling Rs 373.11 crore (comprising Rs 308.61 crore through the issuance of 31.2 million equity shares at Rs 99 each through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in September 2023, and Rs 64.50 crore in December 2022 through a pre-IPO placement). Of this, Rs 217 crore was earmarked for working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. As on June 30, 2024, entire IPO proceeds earmarked for working capital and general corporate purposes had been utilized.

Earlier, this month, CARE Ratings reaffirmed rating assigned to long term and short term bank facilities of VPRPL’s with outlook revised to stable from positive. The rating agency in its rationale said the company’s growth is expected to be sustained in the medium term, supported by strong and geographically diversified order book, and the central/ state government’s focus on water resource development projects. Ratings also factor strengthening of VPRPL’s financial risk profile following raising of growth capital through its IPO, it added.

Meanwhile, India’s infrastructure sector is poised for remarkable growth, with the government’s ambitious National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) program driving massive investments amounting to $1.4 trillion by 2025. This unprecedented push targets various sub-sectors, including energy, roads, railways, and urban development, with a specific focus on expanding public digital infrastructure, clean and renewable energy projects, and establishing resilient urban infrastructure, VPRPL said in its FY24 annual report.