The shares of Afcons Infrastructure, the flagship of the Shapoorji Pallonji group, got off to a weak start listing at ₹426 on the NSE on Monday, an 8 per cent discount to its IPO price but then gained and went to an intra-day high ₹479.45 and settled at ₹474.20, up 2.41 per cent over the issue price.

The engineering and construction company currently has an outstanding order book of around ₹45,000 crore including projects where it has been declared the lowest bidder, Managing Director Paramasivan Srinivasan told a television channel after the listing.

The company, which has built the Chenab Railway Bridge and the Atal Tunnel in Rohtang, is the lowest bidder in projects worth ₹9,000 crore and has projects of ₹11,000 crore on hand, Srinivasan said, in reference to the new projects won this year.

Last week, the company was declared the lowest bidder for Bhopal Metro’s 13 km Blue Line, which will connect Bhadhada and Ratnagiri Tiraha. The company had bid ₹1,006.74 crore. It is a three-year contract.

Srinivasan said that revenue growth in the current fiscal year is likely to be flat due to a slowdown in projects, but the growth is expected to pick up in subsequent years and forecast a 15 per cent CAGR over the next three years. The company’s revenue had grown at 18.5 per cent CAGR over the last 10 years, he pointed out.

Its EBITDA margin is also expected to be sustained at over 11 per cent, he added.

Its overseas order book, where projects yield 200-300 bps higher margins than domestic projects, was seeing a temporary downtrend with its share falling below 30 per cent, but the aim was to have it at 30 per cent, which was the norm in earlier years.

“We are going for the right jobs, the more complex jobs where the competition is less,” Srinivasan said.

Meanwhile, NSE bulk deal data revealed Goldman Sachs bought 25.29 lakh shares, Jupiter India Fund (25.23 lakh shares), Nomura Ireland India Equity Fund (18.44 lakh shares) and Nomura India Investment Mother Fund (31 lakh shares).  Nomura funds acquired the shares at an average price of ₹453.40, while  GS bought at ₹443.65/share and Jupiter at ₹446.70/share.

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