Yesterday there was a change of CEO guard at Jet Airways…The Austrian,Wolfgang Prock Schauer makes way for Nikos Kardassis after a tenure of six years…Schauer was quite emotional at the press meet yesterday…how he loved India and had steered Jet from loss to profit and from 40 planes to 110 planes and the IPO in 2005…He spoke lovingly to the media,appreciating the job that they do in communicating to investors….but he should spare a thought about the Investors themselves !
The stark fact remains how an outlandish IPO Pricing can ruin the company and the shareholders…they issued the share in 2005 at Rs 1100….It got listed on March 14,2005 and touched a high of Rs 1339 that day and a few weeks later an all time high of Rs 1382……It never really took off and the share price has been landing ever since !….Promoter Naresh Goyal hold 80% of the Equity of Rs 86 crs,nearly all of it through Tail Winds Ltd…This itself had raised a stink as to who really owns Tail Winds…whose money really was being routed here !…Of course Promoters never bring in Monies at the IPO Pricing like we do !…if they do,it’s only a token shareholding…whether it be the Tantis of Suzlon or even Anil Ambani of Reliance Power or Goyal of Jet Airways….their shareholding is mostly at par and not at premium…so our risk is significantly more than theirs.
Jet Airway’s Share Price opened 2006 below Rs 1000 and 2007 below Rs 650 !…In the euphoric end 2007 and early 2008,it climbed back past Rs 1000 and then simply crashed to Rs 130 end October 2008 and even lower at Rs 115 in the first half of March this year ! It recovered to the Rs 250-Rs 300 range and has only just spurted past Rs 400
The Aviation Sector is reeling worldwide and India is no exception…Recession,Intense Competition,High Operating Costs,High Aviation Fuel Price and Mindless Expansion are some of the reasons for this state of affairs….Jet has declared a Q1 FY 10 loss of Rs 225 crs…the tough conditions are expected to continue
Rs 1100 at a 10% CAGR in a Bank’s Fixed Deposit would have fetched you close to Rs 1800 in Five years…Instead with the share price of Jet at Rs 430 today,IPO shareholders still holding out in hope would have seen an erosion of 60%…better than the 90% erosion when price had crashed to Rs 115 in March this year !
This should be a great lesson to genuine companies who have a sustainable business model….if you obscenely price your IPO,you will end up screwing both,your shareholders and yourself !….If you want to command long term loyalty be fair in your pricing…leave something on the table for the shareholders to swear by you and not at you !
Cheers !