Indian investors are attracted to high-priced stocks like MRF Limited, Honeywell Automation Limited, and many others due to their association with strong, reputable brands, low volatility, and management’s confidence.
Berkshire Hathaway which is the most expensive publicly traded stock globally and MRF Limited which was India’s most expensive stock is looked after by many investors for the consistent performance and returns it has delivered to date.
But today a new player has emerged as the most expensive stock to trade in the Indian Exchanges named Elcid Investments Limited which has overtaken MRF Limited in terms of share price, check it out.
Price Action
With a market capitalization of Rs. 4,725 Crores, the shares of Elcid Investments Limited hit a 5 percent upper circuit in the day’s trade at Rs. 2,36,250 per equity share, from its previous day’s close price of Rs. 1,61,023 per equity share.
About the Company
Elcid Investments Limited is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the category of Investment Company. It is also part of the promoter group of Asian Paints Limited and it is promoted by the Vakil Family, Arvind Vakil, who was one of the 4 partners who started Asian Paints Limited.
It also has 2 wholly owned subsidiaries viz. Murahar Investments & Trading Co Ltd and Suptaswar Investments & Trading Co Limited hold 0.60 percent and 0.68 percent in Asian Paints respectively.
As per the latest data available i.e. annual report for the financial year 2023, Elcid Investments Limited in Total holds ~2.83 Crore shares as investments in Asian Paints Limited with an estimated value of ~Rs. 8,494.16 Crores.
It also has multiple investments in well-known companies like Brainbees Solutions Pvt Ltd consisting of ~1.34 Lakh Equity shares, Corona Limited, Farm Enterprises Limited, Indian Aluminium Company, Resins and Plastics Limited, and many others.
Delisting Attempts
After SEBI made it mandatory to have a minimum public shareholding of 25 percent in listed companies, but Not wanting to increase public shareholding, in Feb 2013 the company made a delisting offer for shares at Rs 11,455 per share.
The above delisting failed as most of the minority shareholders declined to sell their part of the shares in the company at the price they were offered to sell and only 16,500 shares out of 40,750 shares were offered by minority to promoters at this price.
Following this Elcid Investments Limited was forced to make an offer for sale (OFS) to the public by selling a 4.75 percent stake in the company consisting of 9500 shares.
Illiquidity of the shares
However, the shares of Elcid Investments Limited are illiquid and were not available for trading as the actual value of the shares was priced upto Rs. 4,00,000 per equity share, following which no one was ready to sell the shares in the exchange-traded market, and the value was stuck at nearly Rs. 3 per share in the Indian exchanges.
Following the above events on October 29th, 2024, the equity shares of Elcid Investments Limited were revalued on the Indian Stock Exchanges taking the share price to Rs. 2,36,250 per equity share, making the most expensive stock available on the Indian Stock Exchange right behind the shares of MRF Limited trading at Rs. 1,22,917 per share.
Decrypting Promoter Board
Coming to the promoter board of Elcid Investments Limited seven major names come out namely, Amrita Vakil, Varun Vakil, Dipika Vakil, Mahesh Vakil, Mahesh Dalal, Ketan Kapadia, Bharat Talati and Essaji Goolam Vahanvati.
Out of the seven people Amrita Vakil, Varun Vakil, and Dipika Vakil who are part of the promoter board of Elcid Investments Limited are also part of the board of directors/promoters board of Asian Paints Limited.
Q1FY25 Results
Its Revenue from operations grew by 38.58 percent YoY from Rs. 128.38 Crores in Q1FY24 to Rs. 177.91 Crores in Q1FY25 and it grew by 670 percent QoQ from Rs. 23.12 Crores in Q4FY24 to Rs. 177.91 Crores in Q1FY25.
Its Net Profit grew by 40 percent YoY from Rs. 97.4 Crores in Q1FY24 to Rs. 135.94 Crores in Q1FY25 and it grew by 755 percent QoQ from Rs. 15.91 Crores in Q4FY24 to Rs. 135.94 Crores in Q1FY25. Its Net Profit Margin increased from 75.87 percent in Q1FY24 to 76.41 percent in Q1FY25.
Written by: Bharath K.S
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