Maintain ADD on Multi Commodity Exchange - Strong recovery in volume - HDFC Securities

Mr. Amit Chandra, Institutional Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

MCX market share increased to 96.7% (+530bps YoY), which demonstrates the core strength of the franchise. Both revenue and margin performance was weak in 1Q but stood better than expectation. Trading volume was down 37% QoQ in 1Q due to the impact of COVID-19, change in exchange timing (April-20) and crude fiasco, which recovered strongly to pre-COVID levels in July-20 (Rs 346bn, ~5% below 4Q level). Bullion (57% of volume) continues to drive volume (+52% above 4Q level) supported by volatility in gold/silver prices. Crude (~25% of volume) is impacted by the high margin requirement (~100%) and extreme volatility. Tailwinds like institutional participation, indices launch (Aug-20), and increasing retail penetration should boost volumes. We increase the EPS estimate for FY21/22E by +27.4/+13.6% to factor in volume recovery and better margin. The stock has rallied ~48% in the last three months and now trades at a PE of 33/28x FY21/22E EPS. We assign 30x to June-22E core PAT and add net cash (ex-SGF) to arrive at a target price of Rs 1,600. Maintain ADD.

1QFY21 highlights: MCX revenue was down 30.7/8.1% QoQ/YoY to Rs 0.73bn (vs. expectation of Rs 0.64bn). Traded volume was down 41.6/18.5% QoQ/YoY to Rs 14.11tn. Total ADTV was down 36.9/15.8% QoQ/YoY to Rs 231bn. The bulk of the decline in 1Q was due to Energy (-65.9% QoQ) and Metals (-21.5% QoQ). Bullion was down only 6.6% QoQ in 1Q but is up 87% YoY in July-20. EBITDA margin stood at 38.7%, down 235bps QoQ, higher than our estimate of 26.5%.

ADTV recovery has been strong in the past three months; in July-20, it was at Rs 345.85 (+9.9% YoY), led by Bullion and Metals. The crude volume is still down due to high margin requirements (~100% vs. ~10% earlier). MCX is planning to launch spot exchanges for Bullion and Natural Gas.

Shares of MULTI COMMODITY EXCHANGE OF INDIA LTD. was last trading in BSE at Rs.1697.15 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 1641.65. The total number of shares traded during the day was 90378 in over 5144 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 1719 and intraday low of 1605. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 149362875.

Source : Equity Bulls

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