Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 07, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 07, 2003 |
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Markets
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Stock Markets Shipping Corpn gains on divestment hopes Our Bureau
KOLKATA, March 6 THE Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) stock buoyed up a bit today as a glint of hope emerged on its disinvestment front. According to some market players, tomorrow's meeting of the core group of Secretaries of different Union Ministries on disinvestment is expected to finalise the transaction documents for privatisation of SCI. "This should set SCI's stalled disinvestment process back in motion," a NSE broker said. Market sources also mentioned that SCI board is to meet and propose an interim dividend for 2002-03 on Monday (March 10). The dithering on the part of the Centre in disinvesting 51 per cent of the stake in the country's largest shipping company has seen six interested bidders shy away. Essar Shipping, Videocon and Sterlite appear to be still maintaining their intention to bid for SCI. GE Shipping, while opting out of the race recently had, however, indicated that once SCI's sell-off plan is renewed, it might give a fresh look. The Government currently holds 80 per cent in the company. The SCI stock today crept up to Rs 59.75 (Rs 58.50), after touching a day's high at Rs 61.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The volumes in the counter also improved to 1.95 lakh shares on the BSE from Wednesday's traded quantity of 1.43 lakh scrips. On the NSE, the stock's volume went up to 8.24 lakh shares from previous sessions volume of 3.82 lakh shares. . At current market price, the stock is currently quoting at 9.5 times its trailing four-quarter earnings of Rs 6.30. "Given its assets (book value per share Rs 75.6 as on March 31, 2002), SCI should fetch good value for its stake sale. In the process of factoring in the delays by the market in the past few months, the stock has fallen by around 46 per cent from its 52-week high of Rs 112," Ms Priya Madani of Anagram Stockbroking pointed out. If the disinvestment course is clearly chalked out, the stock is likely to see a return of buying interest and rise in its price, analysts observed.
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