Shrenuj & Co Ltd: Updates

Rs.2.27 (BSE) and Rs.2.25 (NSE)

The 100-year-old diamond house and one of the largest in the trade, Shrenuj & Co has survived across four generations. In 1989, Shrenuj & Co was one of the first gems and jewellery companies to be listed on the BSE and had introduced laser technology to diamond manufacturing in the '80s.  The company has cutting and polishing diamond facilities in Botswana and Johannesburg, in addition to existing ones in Mumbai and Patna. The company procures rough diamonds from overseas, cuts and polishes them and makes diamond jewellery. 

There was news that in the ET,. 29 June, 2016: 

Banks, with a combined exposure of around $450 million, has obtained court order to repossess the inventory - stock of diamond lying with the company - and restrict travel of the promoters.....Trade circles attribute the problems faced by the group to aggressive expansion overseas even as rough diamond prices kept soaring and polished diamond prices remained relatively muted after the financial meltdown of 2008-09..The slowdown in the diamond industry along with some of the company's business bets such as diversification in Africa backfired. 

But then this is half truth and is a case of Yellow Journalism. It is true that Shrenuj Far East Limited, based in Hong Kong, which has a credit line of US$15 million with ICICI Bank Limited, has been placed in Receivership, with the ICICI Bank's Hong Kong branch as Receiver. Shrenuj Far East Limited forfeited all its assets to the Receiver and shared all the information with the Receiver on best effort basis. ICICI Bank approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in India and sought an ex-parte order to attach all the company's inventories in India and place restrictions on the international travel of the company's top management.

While the Economic Times article ambiguously links the DRT decision to the lending consortium - Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Standard Chartered bank and Andhra Bank, and a number of others, Mr. Shreyas Doshi, company's Chairman Doshi says the action was undertaken unilaterally by ICICI Bank.

Mr.Doshi further clarifies that "...this action has reference to only one of the several banks lending to one of the smaller subsidiaries of the Company, and the operations of the Shrenuj Group or its listed flagship entity are not directly affected by this unilateral action by ICICI Bank Limited," adding that, "The Company is in the process of seeking legal opinion to challenge this ex-parte decision of DRT-III and take remedial measures."

According to my close sources, the matter should be over within a couple of months as the company is bringing Rs.300 Crore, to refinance its debt and at the same time is taking measures to boost its EBIDTA. Also, the problem started when the rough diamond prices, started coming down or remained stagnant and in the process its inventory got devalued.  According to the sources, it is also not true that, because the of the problems in its African diversification, the company accumulated debts. The company's debt problems started due to over-all slowdown in this space and the NDA government's step-motherly attitude towards gems and jewelry sector.

However, many of the top officials of the company are abroad, to solve this issue and the sources are hopeful that a favourable solution will be found very soon. The stock has hit the lower circuits, after the company's website, viz.ho.shrenuj.com, was taken off due to some technical issues. 

The company has undertaken an exercise to rationalize its manpower across all levels,” Shrenuj said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.  The management is of the opinion the realizable value of the firm’s inventory and other assets are sufficient to repay all outstanding liabilities, the report said. 

In such circumstances, I would suggest all to add the scrip slowly in declines so that your acquisition prices becomes further less. As of now there is no danger, as this issue relates to only one of the overseas subsidiaries of the company.