Chaman Lal Setia Exports soars 11%, hits 52-week high on heavy volumes

Shares of Chaman Lal Setia Exports (CLSEL) soared 11 per cent to hit a 52-week high of Rs 138.80 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade on heavy volumes. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 135.40 touched on April 25, 2022.

At 12:25 PM, CLSEL was trading 9 per cent higher at Rs 136.50 as compared to a 0.04 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 637,707 equity shares, representing 1.23 per cent of total equity of the company, had changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

CLSEL is the world’s largest private labelled rice trader and manufacturer. The company is situated amid the richest paddy fields at Karnal in Haryana with a manufacturing plant, a processing and packaging facility in Gandhidham and a domestic sales unit in Delhi.

It holds a strong nation-wide presence along with a substantial presence in more than 83 countries. It packages private label brands in numerous markets around the world.

Last month, CRISIL Ratings upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities of CLSEL to ‘CRISIL A’ from ‘CRISIL A-‘and revised the outlook to ‘Stable’ from ‘Positive’.

The upgrade reflects sustained improvement in the business risk profile of the company, as indicated by 8 per cent revenue growth in FY22, which is supported by healthy demand from exports leading to growth in volumes sold, better price realisation and geographically diversified operations with customer presence in more than 90 countries.

Furthermore, the revenue has grown 67 per cent to Rs 676 crore in the first half of FY23, against Rs 404 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, supported by its strong position in the export market. Consequently, revenue is projected to be over Rs 1,000 crore in FY23, said CRISIL in a report.

Despite the increase in freight cost and paddy prices, the operating margin of the company continues to remain healthy at 10.22 per cent in FY22 and is expected to be 10.50 per cent in the current fiscal, supported by stabilization of freight cost and improving realisation prices of rice, it said.

The rating also reflects continuous improvement in the financial and liquidity risk profiles of the company. The financial risk profile continues to remain healthy with strong networth and comfortable capital structure in the absence of long-term debt in the books. Liquidity is supported by robust cash accrual and healthy unencumbered cash and bank balance of Rs 258 crore as on September 30, 2022, it added.