The New-Delhi based India’s largest C&F services provider Kaushalya Logistics Limited (KLL) made a strong debut on the bourses today. The shares of the company opened at Rs 100 on the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a premium of about 33% over the IPO price of Rs 75 apiece. The initial public offering of the Kaushalya Logistics was the last of 2023’s SME issues.
The IPO was open between January December 29, 2023 to January 03, 2024 and had a strong demand from the retail and non-institutional investors. The issue was subscribed overall 390 times with over 3.81 lakh applications. The company had received bids worth Rs 9,682 crore against the offer size of Rs 36.60 crore. The Non-institutional investors as well as retail investors were bullish on the issue as the said portions were subscribed 847 times and 375 times respectively. QIBs on the other hand had subscribed only 92.62 times.
Market observers note that a better listing was expected from the Kaushalya Logistics given the investors’ sentiment and market conditions. However, not all issues can and do replicate the likes of listing Kay Cee Energy & Infra Limited had last week which debuted at a bumper premium of 367%. All things considered, the year 2023 has been a record-setting year in terms of number of IPOs debuting on the market and the investors’ response to the same as the subscription numbers clearly indicate.
The company plans to utilise the funds raise from the IPO to repay its unsecured loans, funding working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. The company had recorded a profit after tax of Rs 7.07 crore on a revenue of Rs 624.62 crore in FY23 as compared to the PAT of Rs 3.77 crore on a revenue of Rs 60.29 crore in FY22.
