Praj Industries Limited is a leading Biofuels Technology Company with a number of processes and systems for ethanol and biodiesel production to its credit. With over 350 references in 40 countries across 5 continents, Praj provides end-to end solutions backed up by years of R&D and one of the largest resources to support the biofuels industry.
The company has done very well for the year ended 31st March 2008 and this, to a large extent, can directly be attributed to the four fold increase in ‘other income’ and the attempts of the company to bring down the costs. The increase in net sales was at Rs.701.63 crore, up by 15% but other income rose from Rs.8.93 crore to Rs.38.98 crore. The company achieved a sterling growth in margins with PBT at Rs.174.38crore (Rs. 110.36 crore) and PAT at Rs. 153.54 crore (Rs. 86.52 crore). OPM margin was at 25.65% as against 18.73% and NPM margin was at 21.88% as against 14.24%. Basic EPS stood at Rs.8.55 per Rs. 2/- share. The company has issued a 1:1 bonus and that led to the equity capital doubling in FY08.
The company has stated that its ability to drive down cost as a result of value engineering exercises undertaken as well as the product mix has helped boost the performance. It has also benefited due to its manufacturing activities in the Special Economic Zone at Kandla. The company has begun exports from this facility since its inauguration in August, 2007.
Based on business concluded till date, orders on hand stand at Rs.950 crore, with orders from all geographies including a recent US$ 25 million order for two Greenfield plants for Pantaleon in Guatemala, which is one of the largest sugar groups in Central America.
The company is getting big on R&D. It recently inaugurated its Advanced R & D facility near Pune where it is conducting research on second generation biofuels. The company has already filed patents for specific processes and has intensified its R & D activities for sustainable biofuels.
The prominent shareholders of the company are Tata Sons holding 7.34% stake who have acquired this stake from the promoters in September 07. Vinod Khosla, a PE investor holds 6.75%, while Rakesh Jhunjhunwala holds about 7.90%. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala though resigned from the Board of the company replacing him with his nominee, the company has Mr. Kishor Chaukar on the Board as nominee of Tata Sons.
I am holding this scrip from last four months, got at 160/- also got dividend once.
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