Why Campus Activewear shares are trading higher today

Snapping two sessions losing streak, the shares of Campus Activewear climbed nearly 5% in intraday trade on Thursday after the sports and athleisure footwear firm informed the exchanges that it has acquired a parcel of land and a building from Marico in Himachal Pradesh's Paonta Sahib. The footwear retailer acquired the land in an all cash deal for ₹16.70 crore, which will be used to expand its existing capacity for the manufacturing of semi-finished goods and assembly of footwear.

“The company has acquired land and building from Marico Industries in Ponta Sahib to expand its existing capacity for the manufacturing of semi-finished goods (sole and /or upper) and assembly of footwear,” Campus said in a BSE filing post market hours on Wednesday.

As per the exchange filing, the footwear company has purchased a total of 30 bigha 9 biswas of land located in Tokion village, Dhaula-Kaun, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh. The sale deed was executed on April 12, 2023.

The country’s largest fashion and athleisure footwear company further stated that no regulatory approvals are required except Permission under Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972.

“This transaction will enable the company to expand its existing capacity for the manufacturing of semifinished goods (sole and /or upper) and assembly of footwear,” it added.

Following the announcement, the shares of Campus Activewear opened 1.5% higher at ₹335.85 against the previous closing price of ₹330.80 on the BSE. During the trade so trade, the midcap stock rallied 4.6% to hit an intraday high of ₹346.05, while the market capitalisation rose to ₹10,425 crore.

At the current price levels, the counter trades 46% lower than its 52-week high and over 16% lower than its 52-week low. The stock hit a 52-week high of ₹640 on October 19, 2022, while it touched a 52-week low of June ₹20, 2022. Campus Activewear, which made its market debut in May 2022, trades 18.5% higher than its IPO price of ₹292 per share..

The stock has given a negative return of 10% to its shareholders in the last one year, while it lost 41% in the past six months. In the calendar year, the counter has shed nearly 17%, while it declined more than 12% in a month.

Earlier this week, CRISIL reaffirmed ‘A+’ rating with stable outlook on the bank facilities of Campus Activewear, citing company’s strong business risk profile, driven by expected net worth of over ₹700 crore in FY23 backed by continuous accretion to reserve.

“The ratings continue to reflect the healthy market position of the Campus group in the footwear industry backed by strong brand, geographically diversified presence and wide product portfolio, along with a comfortable financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by stretched working capital cycle and exposure to intense competition,” CRISIL said in a report.

Last month, the U.S.-based alternative asset management firm TPG Global, through its affiliate TPG Growth III SF Pte, sold its entire 7.6% stake in the company at an average price of ₹347.24 apiece, taking the transaction value to ₹805.86 crore. In August 2017, TPG Growth III SF Pte, the growth equity platform of American investment firm, acquired a 17.19% stake in Campus. Post the listing in May 2022, the shareholding was reduced to 7.63%, while it sold its remaining stake of 7.63% through the open market on March 24, 2023.

Campus Activewear made its debut on domestic stock exchanges on May 9, 2022, after raising ₹1,400 crore via initial public offering (IPO), which received robust demand from investors, especially from qualified institutional buyers. For the December quarter of 2022 (Q3 FY23), the company reported 11.7% decline in consolidated net profit to ₹48.31 crore from ₹54.72 crore in Q3 FY22. However, revenue from operations rose 7.4% to ₹465.62 crore in Q3 FY23 as against ₹433.55 crore in the same period last year.