While individual investors own 25% of Britannia Industries Limited (NSE:BRITANNIA), public companies are its largest shareholders with 51% ownership

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by public companies in Britannia Industries indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Limited owns 51% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Britannia Industries is 24%

If you want to know who really controls Britannia Industries Limited (NSE:BRITANNIA), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 25% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Britannia Industries, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Britannia Industries

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Britannia Industries?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Britannia Industries does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Britannia Industries' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Britannia Industries. Our data shows that The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Limited is the largest shareholder with 51% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. With 5.7% and 2.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Asset Management Arm and SBI Funds Management Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Britannia Industries

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Britannia Industries Limited. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own ₹101m worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Britannia Industries. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 51% of the Britannia Industries shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Britannia Industries better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Britannia Industries is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.