52 Week Flop: Shree Ganesh Jewellery House

The stock of gold jewellery manufacturer and exporter Shree Ganesh Jewellery House has had a rollercoaster ride since it listed two years ago. It fell steeply immediately after listing and then recovered enough to hit its all-time high in June last year.

Reports surfaced in late July that the company had faced delays in payments by a few major customers. The stock plummeted 20 per cent in a single day in the wake of these reports. Clarifications issued by the company in this regard were largely ignored.

The rapidly appreciating rupee and gold prices made imports costlier. Worries over a global economic slowdown also dampened export demand. 80 per cent of Shree Ganesh's consolidated revenues come from foreign markets. Meanwhile, rampant inflation and gold prices restricted domestic demand as well.

A strong export order book, though, helped the company notch up a year-on-year consolidated revenue growth of 76 per cent for April-December 2011. Depreciation quadrupled on commission of manufacturing facilities. Interest costs went up 80 per cent. Net profit growth, therefore, was a mild 12 per cent.

Operating margins slipped a percentage point to 5 per cent on higher input costs. Net profit margins had a bigger fall to 3 per cent for the nine months ended December 2011 from 5 per cent the year ago.