In early morning trading today, March 18, shares of IRCON International, a well-known turnkey construction business under the Ministry of Railways and a Navratna public sector enterprise, increased 9% to ₹150.40 per share. The company’s acquisition of a sizable Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) order preceded this increase. The company told investors in an exchange filing on Monday that it had been awarded an EPC contract in a joint venture (JV) worth ₹1,096 crore by the Meghalayan government for the construction of a new secretariat complex in new Shillong city, Meghalaya, which includes campus infrastructure, on an EPC basis.
“IRCON has been awarded an EPC contract floated by the Directorate of Urban Affairs, Government of Meghalaya, Raitong Building, Secretariat Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, in a JV with Badri Rai and Company (BRC) (74%) – IRCON (26%) JV, through a Letter of Award (LoA) by the Directorate of Urban Affairs, Government of Meghalaya,” the business stated in its filing on Monday. After a one-way boom between July 2022 and July 2024, when the stock gained 875%, the company’s shares have seen considerable selling pressure over the past eight months, shedding 47% of their value. The stock is under a lot of stress because of the slowdown in railway capital expenditures, poor financial results, and profit booking. The company reported ₹2,612.9 crore in revenue from operations for the December-ending quarter (Q3FY25), up from ₹2,929.5 crore for Q3FY24. With an EBITDA margin of 8.1%, EBITDA was ₹218.3 crore, lower than ₹378.1 crore during the same time last year.
According to the company’s earnings filing, as of December 31, 2024, the total order book of the company was ₹21,939 crore, of which ₹17,075 crore came from railways, ₹4,775 crore from highways, and ₹89 crore from other projects. With a track record of successfully completing projects in these fields, the company’s primary area of competence is railway and highway building. In addition to expanding its operations abroad to Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, South Africa, Algeria, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, it maintains a strong presence in several Indian states.