Shares of Thomas Cook India were locked at 5% lower circuit for the second consecutive session on Thursday after its promoter unveiled a plan to sell stake in the travel company through an offer for sale (OFS). The share price of Thomas Cook India has fallen 9.3% in two sessions after Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius), owned by Indian-origin Canadian Billionaire Prem Watsa, proposed to sell its 6.8% stake in the company.
“Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) proposes to sell up to 32,000,000 equity shares of face value of ₹1 each of the company (representing 6.80% of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company, on November 30, 2023,” Thomas Cook India said in a BSE filing on November 29.
The base size is 32 million equity shares with an option to sell up to 40 million equity shares or 8.5% of the company's equity capital in case of oversubscription.
The release notes that non-retail investors can participate in the OFS on November 30, while retail investors and non-retail investors who choose to carry forward their unallotted bids from T day can bid on December 1.
As per the exchange data, Fairbridge Capital held a 72.34% stake in the travel company as of September 30, 2023.
The floor price of the offer has been fixed at ₹125 per equity share, a discount of 21% to Wednesday’s closing price of ₹158.25 on the BSE.
Extending previous session losses, Thomas Cook India shares declined 5% to hit an intraday low of ₹150.35, while the market capitalisation slipped to ₹7,072 crore.
At the current price level, the smallcap stock trades 10% lower than its 52-week high of ₹167.75 touched on November 29, 2023. The travel stock has witnessed a strong rally in the last eight months, with the stock price surging 186% from its 52-week low of ₹52.45 touched on March 28, 2023.
In the last one year, Thomas Cook share price has given 96% returns to its shareholders, while it has more than doubled in the calendar year 2023. The counter zoomed 134% in six months, while it added over 11% in a month.
Earlier this month, Thomas Cook India released its September quarter results, which showed that its grew more than 16 times to ₹76.6 crore from ₹4.9 crore in same period last year, driven by sharp turnaround in travel businesses of Thomas Cook & SOTC, Foreign Exchange & Sterling Holidays. The group’s EBITDA grew significantly to ₹130.8 crore for Q2 FY24 against ₹54.8 crore compared to the same quarter last year. The total revenue from operations climbed 51.5% year-on-year to ₹1,871.3 crore in Q2 FY24.
“The strong delivery across the Group, spanning Foreign Exchange, Travel (leisure, business & MICE) as well as Sterling Holidays and DEI is also testament to the teams, robust, efficient processes and industry leading service quality,” said Madhavan Menon, Executive Chairman, Thomas Cook (India), on Q2 results.
“With a 36% growth YoY in our Leisure segment primarily driven by Thomas Cook & SOTC, and forward bookings for our Travel Services up by 32%, for the festive season and beyond, our expectation is to close the year on a strong note. Our sustained focus across the Group will remain on technology enhancements for improved speed & productivity with a special emphasis on elevating customer experience,” he added.
As of September 30, 2023, the group maintained a healthy liquidity with cash and bank balances of ₹1,340 crore.
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