A Porinju favourite smallcap finds favour with Radhakishan S Damani

Smallcaps, which had been hyped to be one of the big winners of 2020, have since lost favour among investors as analysts turned cautious on them amid the ongoing uncertainty in domestic equities.

Yet, one of Dalal Street’s much-followed investor, Radhakishan S Damani, picked over 1 per cent stake in such a smallcap firm, Kaya, which is into skin and hair care services.

The market veteran and owner of hypermarket chain D-Mart held 1.44 lakh shares, or 1.11 stake, in the Harsh Mariwala-owned company on March 31, data available on BSE showed. Damani’s name was not among the key shareholders of the company in the previous quarters.

This has brought some momentum in the stock, which has seen a 90 per cent fall in last five years. Shares of Kaya have jumped nearly 9 per cent since May 15, the day the company posted its shareholding data on the exchanges. On May 27, the scrip hit the upper circuit limit of 5 per cent at Rs 147.15.

With a net worth of $13.80 billion, Damani is the second richest individual in India. Always attired in trademark white shirt and a pair of white trousers (the famous Mr W&W), he is one of India’s most reputed stock investors.

Kochi-based investor Porinju Veliyath’s PMS Equity Intelligence India also increased stake in Kaya to 1.14 per cent in March quarter from 1.06 per cent in the preceding quarter ended December 31.

On the other hand, his PMS strategy EQ India Fund continues to hold 1.51 per cent stake in the company.

Kaya has been reporting losses for last five quarters; Rs 17.02 crore loss for December quarter against Rs 1.64 crore loss in the same quarter last year. The company is yet to announce its March quarter earnings.

Besides Avenue Supermarts, Prozone Intu Properties, India Cements, VST Industries, Foods & Inns, Simplex Infrastructure, Spencer’s Retail and Delta Corp are among Damani’s other major holdings.

As of March 31, Porinju or his asset management firm held over 1 per cent stake in other companies like Archies, Shalimar Paints, Praxis Home Retail, Ansal Buildwell, Eastern Treads, Raunaq EPC International, Duroply Industries, Palash Securities, BCL Industries and Kerala Ayurveda, among others.