The share price of BLS International Services, a midcap multibagger stock spiked 11 per cent on Monday’s early trades after a renowned investor bought its shares. Based in New Delhi, the company offers visa consultancy services for individuals, students and other categories. It is one of the top three players in this industry on a global level and was named the “Best Under a Billion Company” by Forbes Asia. In fact, it was also included in the Fortune Next 500 list in 2021.
According to data available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), ace investor Shankar Sharma bought a stake in BLS International Services, in a bulk deal. He bought 11.5 lakh shares at an average price of ₹ 275.00 per share. His stake in the company is valued at ₹ 31.63 crores.
Shankar Sharma’s name was not there on the list of key shareholders of the company and the company is yet to announce the shareholdings for the quarter that ended September 2022.
Apart from the ace investor, Nomura Singapore has been investing in the company, off-late. It bought 12.5 lakh shares in the company at an average price of ₹ 214.00 and 11 lakh shares at an average price of ₹ 230.00 per share in July, this year, as per historical bulk deal data. Therefore, it has a significant stake in the company.
1.12 crore shares had changed hands on the NSE by 01:20 PM on Monday and they were trading at ₹ 322.80 apiece. BLS International Services shares gained 240.44 per cent year to date. Therefore if an investor would have invested ₹ 1 lakh in the company’s shares at the beginning of this year, the value of their holdings would have been ₹ 3.4 lakhs today!
The company reported a revenue of ₹ 270 crores during the June quarter, higher than the pre-covid levels. Further, its revenue grew in an excess of 50 per cent over the last three quarters. It has cash worth ₹ 350 crores in its books.
The visa service provider’s management said that visa processing volumes are currently at 60-70 per cent of 2019 levels as certain countries like China and Russia are only operating at 10-15 per cent levels.
The shareholding pattern shows that foreign investors are gradually increasing their stake in the company. They held a 4.32 per cent stake in the company in June 2022, in comparison to a 0.75 per cent stake held in June 2021. In fact, its promoters hold a high stake of 74.59 per cent in it. Their stake has remained constant over the past few quarters and there is no pledge against their holding.
BLS International Services has a market capitalization of ₹ 5,980 crores and is a small-cap company. It has an ideal return on equity of 21.61 per cent and negligible debt as it has a
debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. However, it is trading at a price-to-equity ratio (PE) of 81.50, which is significantly higher than the industry PE of 27.07. This indicates that the stock may be overvalued.
Written by Simran Bafna
Disclaimer
The content in this news article is not investment advice. Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution while investing or trading in stocks. Dailyraven Technologies or the author are not liable for any losses caused as a result of the decision based on this article. Please consult your investment advisor before investing.