From ₹66,000 to ₹1 lakh: This most expensive stock surges 52% in a year

MRF, the country’s largest tyre manufacturer, on Tuesday created a history on Dalal Street as it became become the first company in India to hit the share price of ₹1 lakh. The share price of Chennai-headquartered company surged as much as 1.4% in early trade to hit a new record high of ₹100,300 on BSE today. The stock made its debut on the domestic exchange on April 27, 1993, with a face value of ₹10 per share.

The stock market investors who remained invested in MRF shares since its listing on the domestic bourses have turned multi-millionaires. The country’s most expensive stock has delivered more than 9,00,000% returns to its investors in the last 30 years from ₹11 per share on its listing on April 27, 1993, to ₹100,300 intraday today. Investment of ₹1 lakh in this largecap stock 30 years ago would have turned out to be around ₹91 crore at present.

On Tuesday, MRF shares opened higher for the third straight session at ₹99,500 against the previous closing price of ₹98,939.70 on the BSE. In the early trade so far, the largecap stock gained as much as 1.4% to hit a new record high of ₹100,300 level, while the market capitalisation climbed to ₹42,307 crore. In the last one year, the blue chip share has risen over 52% from its 52-week low of ₹65,900 on June 17, 2022.

MRF is the most expensive stock in the Indian equity market among all the companies listed on BSE and NSE. This is because the company has never split its stock, which is very uncommon among listed companies. Generally, companies split their shares from time to time to maintain liquidity and increase investors’ base. Given the current MRF share price, the average investor may not be able to afford a single share of the company.

As per the latest shareholding pattern available on the BSE, promoter entities own 27.84% stake in the company, while public shareholders hold remaining 72.16% shares in the company. Among public shareholders, FII/FPI hold 18.05% stake; institutional investors own 29.70%; and mutual funds has 6.83% shares in the company at the end of March 2023 quarter.

MRF has declared 70 dividends since August 2000, while it paid an equity dividend amounting to ₹150 per share in the past 12 months, as per market analysis platform Trendlyne's data. At the current share price, the dividend yield stands at 0.15%.

The board of the company in its March quarter earnings release announced a final dividend of ₹169 (1,690% on the face value of ₹10 per share). This along with two interim dividends of ₹3 each per share already paid, works out to ₹175 (1,750%) per share of ₹10 each for FY23.

In Q4 FY23, MRF reported an 86% growth in consolidated net profit at ₹313.5 crore as against ₹168.5 crore in the year-ago period. The consolidated revenue from core operations rose 10% to ₹5,842 crore as compared to ₹5,305 crore a year ago. 

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