Shares of KEC International soared 8% to hit a new all-time high of ₹674.90 apiece in early trade on Monday after the company secured multiple orders worth ₹1,007 crore across its various businesses.
In an exchange filing on Friday, the company announced that its civil business has secured an order for the design, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of a multispeciality hospital in India. Under its transmission & distribution (T&D) division, the company has secured a substantial order for a 380 kV overhead transmission line project in the Middle East.
Also, the company won orders for various types of cables in both India and overseas under its cables segment.
Commenting on the order wins, Vimal Kejriwal, MD & CEO of KEC International Ltd., said, "We are pleased with the continuous inflow of orders, especially in our T&D and civil businesses. In line with our strategy, the civil business has expanded its presence by securing a breakthrough order for building a multispeciality hospital in eastern India."
"The T&D order in the Middle East region has significantly enhanced our order book in the international T&D market. With the above orders, our YTD order intake stands at a record level of over Rs. 5,500 crores, a strong growth of ~15% vis-à-vis last year."
KEC International is a global infrastructure engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) major. It has a presence in the verticals of power transmission and distribution, railways, civil and urban infrastructure, solar, smart infrastructure, oil and gas pipelines, and cables.
The company's shares have been on a winning streak for the last three months, producing a return of 36.2%, led by strong order wins and a healthy performance in the June quarter.
In Q1FY24, the company recorded a net profit of ₹42 crore, a 35.48% improvement compared to a net profit of ₹31 crore in the same period last year. Its revenue from operations for the quarter reached ₹4,244 crore, a growth of 28% YoY, driven by stronger execution in the T&D segment by 71% YoY, and the civil segment by 60% YoY.
EBITDA margin improved by 68 basis points YoY to 5.8% during the quarter due to benign commodity prices and a moderation in employee costs as a percentage of revenue.
In Q1FY24, the company’s order inflow grew by 30% YoY to Rs. 4,500 crore, supported by strong traction in the T&D segment (47% YoY), railway business (74% YoY), SAE (48% YoY), and cable business (20% YoY), said domestic brokerage firm Geojit Financial Services.
The total order book, along with the current L1, stands at Rs. 35,000 crore (2x TTM revenue), providing better revenue visibility in the coming quarters, it noted.
Given the improved execution in the T&D sector and a robust order book, the brokerage maintained a positive stance on KEC on a long-term basis. Therefore, the brokerage reaffirms its 'accumulate' rating on the company's stock, setting a target price of Rs. 703 apiece.
21 analysts polled by MintGenie on average have a 'hold' call on the stock.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of MintGenie.
