Safari Industries bumps up production capacity, stock packs a punch

The share price of Safari Industries (India) gained over 3 percent on January 10 after the company announced an increase in its production capacity to 3 lakh pieces a month at its Gujarat plant. Along with subsidiary Safari Manufacturing Limited, the group’s total capacity now stands at 5.25 lakh a month, the company has said.

At 12.30 pm, the stock was trading 3.5 percent higher at Rs 1,770 apiece on the National Stock Exchange. It has staged a stunning rally in the past six months, gaining 77 percent.

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“After the completion of various trial runs and increased productivity, we have successfully commenced additional commercial production/manufacturing of luggage from January 9,” the company said in an exchange filing.

On January 2, the company said it has almost doubled the capacity of Safari Manufacturing Limited from 1.25 lakh pieces a month to 2.25 lakh pieces.

Safari’s total capacity of 5.25 lakh pieces a month still lags market leader VIP Industries, which has a capacity of 10.25 lakh a month, by a distance.

Safari Industries’ net profit rose 144.26 percent to Rs 25.94 crore in the quarter ended September 2022 from Rs 10.62 crore in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 66.96 percent to Rs 314.88 crore in the same time period.

Domestic brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher has a “buy” call on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,457 apiece. “Rising share of own manufacturing is likely to structurally elevate gross margin profile of Safari by eliminating freight cost and reducing currency volatility,” it said.

Safari trades at 31x/24x our FY24E/FY25E earnings per share estimate and acts as a perfect proxy to play on the brand affinity aspirations of Indian middle class, as product positioning is right at the doorstep of organised market, analysts at Prabhudas Lilladher said.