Stock of this shipping company has zoomed nearly 250% in last four months

Shares of Knowledge Marine & Engineering Works (KMEW) rallied 5 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 918 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday amid heavy volumes. In the past three trading days, the stock of the shipping company has rallied 16 per cent after its board approved a preferential issue to investor Ashish Kacholia and others.

At 11:15 am; KMEW was trading 2 per cent higher at Rs 890 on the back of a nearly three-fold jump in trading volumes. As many as 118,000 shares had changing hands on the counter so far as compared to an average 31,000 shares traded in the past two weeks on the BSE, the exchange data showed. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.19 per cent at 61,989.

In the past five months, the stock price of KMEW has zoomed nearly 250 per cent from the level of Rs 263. In the last one year, it appreciated 740 per cent as compared to a 2.8 per cent rise in the Sensex.

The board of KMEW on Monday approved the allotment of 565,000 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each of the company at an issue price of Rs 700 per equity share on preferential basis for Rs 39.55 crore.

The board approved allotment of 200,000 shares of Ashish R Kacholia and 30,000 shares to Vaibhav R Kacholia. The board also approved allotment of 252,500 shares to Mrs Vanaja Sundar Iyer and around 35,000 shares to Shiv Sehgal, the exchange filing showed.

KMEW is currently trading on BSE SME Platform under the M group. The SME platform of the exchange is intended for small and medium-sized companies with a high growth potential. The SME platform of the exchange is open for SMEs whose post-issue paid-up capital has less than or equal to Rs 25 crore.

KMEW made its market debut on March 22, 2021. The company allotted shares at an issue price of Rs 37 per cent share in the initial public offer (IPO).

KMEW is engaged in the business of owning, chartering/hiring along with manning, operation and technical maintenance of marine crafts, dredging and repairs/maintenance of marine crafts and marine infrastructure and allied works in India.

KMEW in its FY22 annual report said that the Indian dredging and marine time industry is likely to experience significant expansion in the coming years. The government’s plans to create new waterways and ports, as well as upgrade and expand the current ports, will account for the majority of this expansion.

The demand for dredging is estimated to reach about 170 million cubic metres in the coming years at existing major ports. In addition, at least eight dredging projects are being considered at existing non-major ports, with an estimated 18 million cubic metres of material to be dredged as part of these projects.

Furthermore, the six new ports planned under Sagarmala will create opportunities in the dredging market. The identification of 106 additional national waterways has created significant potential. Over 200 million cubic metres of dredging volume has been assessed for the next decade for the existing five waterways as well as the 32 new waterways that have been identified as viable for development. Given this increase in dredging requirements, the sector presents ample opportunities, the company said.