Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. (NSE : BBTC) is one of the few oldest companies of pre-independence era, still flourishing with its core values, ethics and above all, competency in trade. It is the second oldest publicly quoted company. The BBTCL Group has an annual consolidated turnover of 1.2 billion dollars. The Company has diversified its interests into tea, coffee, other plantation products, biscuit and dairy products, auto electric and white goods parts, weighing products, horticulture and landscaping services, healthcare products (viz.) dental, orthopaedic and opthalmic products.
Shares of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd (BBTC) rose sharply in Friday’s trade to scale their one-year high levels. The stock jumped 14.98 per cent to hit a new 52-week high of Rs 2167.70. It was close on Friday at Rs. 2025.50. At this price, the scrip has surged 47 per cent in the past one month and 104.89% in a year.
The stock saw high trading volume today as around 1.13 lakh shares changed hands at the time of writing this story. The figure was higher than the two-week average volume of 36,000 shares. Turnover on the counter came at Rs 23.66 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 14,547.44 crore. There were 1,45,632 buy orders against sell orders of 12,438 shares.
Stock exchanges have recently sought clarification from the company over the sudden spike in share price. BBTC, in response, said, “We wish to inform you that all information required to be disclosed under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 has been duly disclosed by the Corporation from time to time. Further, there is no price-sensitive information concerning the Corporation which requires disclosure. As such, we do not know the reasons for increase in volume.”
Recently, holding company stocks — including Bombay Burmah — have witnessed a sharp uptick after market regulator Sebi announced a framework for special call auctions with no price bands for price discovery of such firms.
Holding companies, or holdcos, do not have operations of their own but hold stakes in other assets including shares of other listed companies. These firms mostly hold investments in their own group companies. There are nearly 70 listed holdcos in the Indian market. These typically trade at a higher discount than the intrinsic value of their holdings. Bombay Burmah is part of Wadia Group conglomerate, established in 1863. The company deals in various businesses such as – tea and coffee plantations, foods, textiles, chemicals, electronics, health care and real estate. The company’s annualised turnover now stands at $1.2 billion.