Buhardeen ups Sierra Cables stake to 20%

High net worth individual investor Imtiaz Buhardeen on Friday increased his collective stake in Sierra Cables PLC to 20%.

Imtiaz’s stakes are via Carlines Holdings Ltd., and Almas Organisation Ltd. As at September, the collective stake was 17.5% and since then he has been collecting select quantities to go up to 20% mark. He said the stake was increased on value given the upside he sees in the market segments served by Sierra Cables.

On Friday, Sierra Cables saw 1.73 million shares traded between a high of Rs. 14 and a low of Rs. 13.50 before closing at Rs. 13.80, down by 20 cents. During the week 14.4 million of Sierra  shares changed hands via 1,589 trades for Rs. 197 million. An intra-week high of Rs. 14.50 was achieved though it was below the 52-week record of Rs. 14.80.

Sierra Holdings Ltd., owns 58% stake in Sierra Cables, public float of which is 27.46% held by 21,388 shareholders as at 30 September.

In the first half of FY22, Sierra Group revenue doubled to Rs. 4 billion from a year ago whilst gross profit did the same to Rs. 634 million. Profit from operations grew from Rs. 145 million to Rs. 436 million. Pre-tax profit amounted to Rs. 230 million as against Rs. 82 million and after tax profit jumped from Rs. 70 million to Rs. 188 million.

The first half was boosted by a good second quarter. Turnover amounted to Rs. 2.65 billion up from Rs. 1.46 billion a year ago. Gross profit rose from Rs. 224 million to Rs. 457 million. Profit from operations amounted to Rs. 340 million, as against Rs. 139 million in the 2Q of FY21. After tax profit grew to Rs. 143 million from Rs. 102 million.