Sunil Singhania raises bet on this underperforming smallcap stock

Star money manager Sunil Singhania's PMS fund Abakkus has increased its stake in shares of Rupa and Company. The latest shareholding data pattern shows that Singhania's total holding in the Kolkata-based innerwear company has gone up from 3.2 per cent to 4.05 per cent.

June quarter shareholding shows that Abakkus Emerging Opportunities Fund-1 holds 2.23 per cent stake or 17.75 lakh shares in Rupa & Co. Abakkus Growth Fund-2 owns another 14.5 lakh shares or 1.82 per cent stake in the smallcap. The company's promoters own over 73 per cent stake.

Retail shareholders, as represented by those owning share capital up to Rs 2 lakh, own 16.12 of Rupa & Co.

The company's shares were trading 2.68 per cent higher at Rs 351.20 in the afternoon today. After hitting a 52-week high of Rs 585.85 on May 4, 2022, the stock has dipped over 40 per cent following a poor show in Q4 and the resignation of the company's CEO and CFO.

In the March quarter, Rupa had reported a 25 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 49.3 crore, as against a net profit of Rs 65.9 crore in the same period the previous year. Earlier in May, Rupa's CEO Dinesh Kumar Lodha and CFO Ramesh Agarwal had resigned.

The smallcap stock, with a market cap of about Rs 2,800 crore, is trading at a PE of 14.2 and has only one analyst coverage.