Bigger demand in financing younger vehicles – Shriram Transport Finance

Update on Indian Equity Market:

The Budget 2021 induced rally which started on Monday continued as Nifty50 closed the day 142 points higher at 14,790. The rally was led by PHARMA (2.8%) along with PSU BANK (2.6%) and PVT BANK (1.7%) continued its upward journey while REALTY (-0.4%) and FMCG (-0.1%) were the only sectors that closed in the red. Within the index, INDUSINDBK (7.3%), POWERGRID (6.0%) and DIVISLAB (4.7%) were the biggest gainers whereas SHREECEM (-1.6%), UPL (-1.5%), and ULTRACEMCO (-1.0%) were the biggest losers.

Excerpts of an interview with Mr. Umesh Revankar, Managing Director- Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd (SRTRANSFIN) with CNBC TV18 dated 2nd February 2021:

• Mr. Revankar believes that the announcement of a voluntary vehicle scrappage policy is a positive development for the auto and allied industry. The development will increase the demand especially for financing of 3 to 10-year-old vehicles.
• The existing loan book of the company is not impacted by the introduction of the policy. The company normally lends for a maximum of 12-13 years. However, he expects people to buy younger vehicles between 3-10 years and there will be a big demand in that space.
• He mentioned that the company is able to raise money at low costs for a longer tenure. This is expected to reduce the overall cost of funds and eventually improve NIMs (Net Interest Margins). He is confident of breaching 7 percent in NIMs.
• The company may do much lower than what had been planned for restructuring. As a result, the restructuring portfolio will be much smaller.
• The credit cost as of December-2020 was at 2.59 percent which is expected to be sustainable in the next few quarters. The company is aiming to go back to 2 percent by the end of FY22E.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener website)
•The closing price of SRTRANSFIN was ₹ 1,464/- as of 3-February-2021. It traded at 1.7x/ 1.5x/ 1.3x the consensus book value estimate of ₹ 854/ 970/ 1,093 for FY21E/FY22E/23E respectively.
• The Consensus price target of SRTRANSFIN  of  ₹ 1,393/- implies a 1.3x PB multiple on FY23E book value estimate of ₹1,093/-.

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