Rakesh Jhunjhunwala cuts stake in Titan, Lupin, Escorts in March quarter

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala rejigged his stake in 11 companies in March quarter and kept it unchanged in 8, as per the latest shareholding pattern filed by the companies till May 8, 2020. Jhunjhunwala increased his stake in six companies during the period under review, including Rallis India, VIP Industries, Federal Bank, Jubilant Life Sciences, GMR Infrastructure, and Orient Cement.
Of these, Jubilant Life Sciences and Rallis India have outperformed the market by surging 47 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, since April. The remaining four, however, underperformed the S&P BSE Sensex that has gained 7.5 per cent since April.
Jhunjhunwala reduced his stake in five companies including Titan Company (stake sale of over one percentage point, or 10.3 million shares), Lupin, Firstsource Solutions, NCC and Escorts. Interestingly, except Titan Company that slipped 6 per cent, the remaining four stocks outpaced the market by gaining up to 40 per cent since April.
Delta Corp, Edelweiss Financial Services, Fortis Healthcare, Crisil, and Bilcare are among the eight companies where he did not alter holding. On the other hand, TV18 Broadcast, Karur Vysya Bank, Autoline Industries and Agro Tech Foods are some of the 10 companies where they hold a stake, but the companies have not announced their latest shareholding pattern for the March quarter yet.
Currently, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his family’s net worth in listed companies stands at Rs 8,517 crore, compared to Rs 8,388 crore as on March 31, 2020. The calculation based on the latest shareholding pattern of 31 companies available on the stock exchanges and stock price of the particular dates. As of December 31, 2019, the stakes across 30 companies were valued at Rs 12,556 crore.
Titan stake lowest since September 2006
According to the shareholding pattern of the company, as of March 2020, Rakesh and Rekha Jhunjhunwala trimmed their stake to 5.53 per cent from 6.69 per cent at the end of December 2019. Currently, their combined holding in Titan Company is at over one decade low in percentage terms. Earlier, Rakesh and Rekha Jhunjhunwala held 4.9 per cent stake in Tata Group Company at the end of September 2006 quarter, shareholding pattern data show.

Thus far in the calendar year 2020, Titan stock has underperformed the market by falling 28.5 per cent, as compared to 23.7 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 720 on March 24 this year and has almost halved from its all-time high level of Rs 1,390 touched on October 25, 2019. Despite the near-term headwinds, analysts remain bullish on Titan and suggest investors stay put for now.

Lupin gets inspection closure report from USFDA for Pithampur plant

The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has closed its inspection of Lupin's manufacturing facility in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, the company said on Thursday.

The inspection for the facility was conducted by the US health regulator between February 3 and February 11, 2020, and concluded with two observations, the Mumbai-based company said.

The company has received the establishment inspection report (EIR) from USFDA for its Pithampur Unit-1 facility, Lupin said.

The USFDA issues an EIR to a company when an inspection is satisfactorily closed.
Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta, said the company has received the EIR for the plant with Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI) status.

"Continuous improvement of our quality and compliance standards across all our manufacturing sites is a key focus area for the company and we are committed to working with the USFDA to manufacture and supply products of the highest quality from all our manufacturing sites," he added.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it received tentative approval for its Arformoterol Tartrate Inhalation Solution from the US drug regulator. The solution is indicated for the long-term maintenance treatment of bronchoconstriction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Following the development, Lupin shares gained 1.62% to Rs 868.10 before falling to Rs 823.