Indus tightly held as ever

Mr Kalsi’s position is by no means anomalous, given that the free-float capitalisations of Indian companies are among the lowest in global equity markets. However, minority holders have been stung by resource groups in the past, most notably ENRC, a Kazakh mining group that listed with an 18 per cent free float a decade ago, and delisted six years later following a series of scandals.

However, Mr Kalsi and the gas company’s minority holders can be satisfied with operational and financial performance. Indus increased revenue generated by technical assistance services by a third to $20.8m (£15.9m), while reducing its cost of sales dramatically, with led to a 22 per cent hike in gross profit to $53m.

Indus is investing heavily to increase its footprint in India’s rapidly expanding natural gas sector. But the related leverage constitutes a drain on cash resources, with $33m debt liabilities repayable through FY2019. Reassuringly, net operating cash flow was in line with statutory profits.

Bloomberg consensus expects pre-tax profit of $43.7m for the year ending March 2019, giving adjusted EPS of 24¢, against $47.8m and 18¢ in FY2018.