Hatchery stocks in focus: SKM Egg, Venky's, Simran Farms rally up to 10%

Shares of SKM Egg Products Export India, Venky's India, Simran Farms and Ovlbel Foods were up in the range of 5 per cent to 10 per cent in Thursday's intra-day trading session

Shares of hatchery companies were in focus in Thursday's intra-day trading session as they rallied up to 10 per cent after SKM Egg’s reported fabulous results for the quarter ended December 2022 (Q3FY23).

Shares of SKM Egg Products Export India, Venky’s India, Simran Farms and Ovlbel Foods were up in the range of 5 per cent to 10 per cent, as against 0.1 per cent drop in the S&P BSE Sensex to 60,561 at 12:42 pm.

Among the individual stocks, SKM Egg surged 10 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 194.55 per share. In the past three trading days, the stock zoomed 23 per cent. The company is export oriented and is engaged in the production and sale of eggs, and egg products. The company's revenue is mainly on account of export of egg products.

For Q3FY23, the company’s profit before tax (PBT) jumped 10 times to Rs 36.07 crore, as compared to Rs 9.05 crore in Q3FY22. In Q2FY23, the company had posted PBT of Rs 16.69 crore. SKM Egg’s sales revenue, too, grew 2.4 times to Rs 177 crore, and operating profit by 6 times to Rs 40.61 crore, during the quarter.

Shares of Venky’s India, on the other hand, jumped 7.5 per cent to Rs 1,949 on Thursday. The board is scheduled to meet on Friday, February 10, 2023, to consider, approve and take on record the financial results of the company for Q3FY23.

Venky’s is engaged in integrated poultry business and mainly deals in the broiler bird segment, solvent extraction, and vegetable oil refinery segments, with activities primarily concentrated in the North and North-Eastern parts of India.

In the first half of FY23 (H1FY23), the company's income from operations grew around 4 per cent to Rs 2,171 crore from Rs 2,089 crore in H1FY22.

The input prices, however, remained on the higher side during H1FY23, resulting a drop in the profitability margins with a PBILDT margin of 3.03 per cent and a PAT margin of 1.32 per cent for the said period.

However, analysts at CARE Ratings believe that the prices of raw materials are expected to stabilise or decline in the near future with the start of the harvesting season, thereby translating into improved profitability margins.

Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report, Middle Eastern countries, including Oman and Qatar, are the main buyers of eggs from India, but over the past few months, Indian hatcheries have received large orders from surprising quarters as output fell in some of the world's top suppliers. The biggest such unexpected order came from Malaysia, which used to export eggs to Singapore and other Asian countries.

"The outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has curtailed supplies of eggs and chicken in many countries around the globe, pressuring already high food prices and triggering trade restrictions from countries that import poultry," the news agency had reported. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT