Indian fund managers buy 3% stake in this multibagger smallcap stock

Source: Live Mint

The company operates in the food products segment, and it primarily manufactures, processes and supplies exotic and speciality fats and butters such as seed refined oil, stearin olein and cocoa butter equivalent.

The company under consideration is Manorama Industries. It started operations by procuring and supplying its products, but in the past few years, the company has changed the process entirely and currently, it’s in the initial stages of having its own manufacturing operations.

Shares of Manorama Industries are up an impressive 178% so far in 2024. This vastly eclipses the 27% gain from the BSE Smallcap index.

The bulk of the outperformance for Manorama Industries has come after April 2024, following strong results for FY24 and after the company split its shares.

So, why are fund managers loading up on the stock right now?

Let’s look at all the details…

Three big fund managers load up on Manorama Industries

According to exchange filings, LIC mutual fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life mutual fund, and Bank of India mutual fund have bought stakes in Manorama Industries through block deals.

Manorama’s promoters – Shrey Ashish Saraf, Vinita Ashish Saraf and Agastya Saraf and shareholder Ritu Saraf – were the identified sellers.

The offloaded stakes by promoters and shareholders and bought by mutual funds are worth around ₹2 billion (bn) and represent around 3% stake.

LIC MF bought 7.27 lakh shares in four tranches, representing around 1.22% stake. Its buy price was ₹1,100 per share.

Meanwhile, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF acquired around 8.2 lakh shares, representing around 1.37% stake, at the same price as LIC MF.

Bank of India Mutual Fund, meanwhile, bought around 2.7 lakh shares. The 0.45% stake was bought at ₹1,100 per share.

Retail investors track this kind of data as they take cues from the buying and selling activities of prominent fund managers, who have a lot of data at their disposal.

A close look at Manorama’s Financials…

Manorama Industries has so far given a stellar performance in the first two quarters of FY25.

In the September 2024 quarter, its profit shot up three-fold YoY to ₹27 core compared to ₹0.9 million posted in the year ago period.

This was on the back of higher sales. The company’s net sales came in at ₹200 crore as against ₹120 crore in the year ago period.

The steady growth could be attributed to Manorama commercializing from its new fractionation capacity.

So far in FY25, the company has incorporated six new subsidiaries (5 in Africa and 1 in UAE) for establishing a global footprint.

These new African subsidiaries are expected to strengthen the souring of shea seeds.

Additionally, Manorama Industries plans to enter the South American market in the coming quarters.

In the past five years, the company’s net sales and profit have grown at a CAGR of 35% and 16%, respectively.

Debt levels remain near a critical point, as it undertook a capex in FY24.

With the doubling of its fractionation plant’s production capacity, the entire capex is done, and the company has started to see it contributing to operating profitability. 

The management is targeting revenue to increase by ₹3 bn from this year onwards after the capex. 

What next?

Going by its latest analyst presentation, the company claims to be the number one Indian exporter of sal and mango-based speciality fats and butter.

It’s also the number one sal fat manufacturer in the world and enjoys a monopolistic position in terms of its chocolate-based equivalent, and other sal and mango-based products where the demand is higher than the supply available in the market.

The company’s Raipur plant is located near Visakhapatnam port facilitates, which ensures smooth procurement of Shea seeds sourced from Africa.

The company is gearing up for its next leg of growth by diversifying its operations and launching new products.

Things are surely looking bright from here on…

Nevertheless, investors should take note that the company is just getting accustomed to having its own set of manufacturing operations.

Additionally, it’s important to conduct thorough research on financials and corporate governance before making investment decisions, ensuring they align with your financial goals and risk tolerance.