Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, wife Rekha cut equity stake in their favourite stock; sell 1 crore Titan shares

Jhunjhunwalas, at the end of December 2019 held 5.93 crore shares in Titan Company Limited, at the end of March 2020 the number has dropped to 4.90 crore.

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala have reduced equity holdings in their favorite stock, Titan, by selling over 1 crore shares in the January-March quarter. According to the shareholding pattern of the company, as of March 2020, the Jhunjhunwalas cut their stake to 5.53% from 6.69% at the end of December 2019. Titan, which is often referred to as Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s favourite stock, after reporting a healthy 12% rise in profits in the third quarter is gearing up for weak numbers in the March quarter as sales slumped owing to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Jhunjhunwalas, at the end of December 2019 held 5.93 crore shares in Titan Company Limited, at the end of March 2020 the number has dropped to 4.90 crore. The Tata Group company that has helped the Jhunjhunwalas pocket gains for over 19 years, recently said that sales have been hit owing to the novel coronavirus pandemic which has forced the government to announce a nation-wide lockdown. Titan expects a 5% drop in revenue from the jewellery segment, 20% slip in the eyewear segment and muted growth in other verticals as footfall dropped to zero across stores. Titan share price has seen a fall of 20% since the beginning of the year.

In other changes to the shareholding pattern of Titan, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased its stake in the company to 2.27% from 1.64% in December 2019. LIC bought more than 55 lakh shares of Titan in the January to March quarter. The withdrawal of foreign portfolio investors (FPI) that was witnessed by Dalal Street in March did not leave Titan unscathed. FPIs reduced their stake in the company to 17.74% from 18.31%. The number of FPIs invested in Titan at the end of December 2019 was 722, the number came down to 701 in March 2020 with the number of shares held by them going down by over 50 lakh.

The central and state governments too increased their stake in the company to 0.23% from  0.18%. Mutual funds also increased their stake in the company to 5.66% from 5.15%. Last week, Titan informed the stock exchanges that its revenue will see a significant decrease owing to the coronavirus pandemic. However, brokerage and research firms like Motilal Oswal and Emkay estimate a recovery in sales and revenue for the company. Both the brokerage firms last week said that Titan has the ability to stay afloat during the time of crisis. Titan Company Limited is trading 2% down on the S&P BSE Sensex on Thursday at Rs 935 per share.