Wednesday, January 31, 2007

RBI policy review bug bites market

The Sensex, which had opened firm, slipped into the red. The market turned cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s quarterly monetary policy review meeting today. The central bank may announce the outcome of its meeting at 12:00 IST.

Market men expect a hike of 25 basis points in short-term interest rates. A hike to that extent has already been factored into by the market.

At 10:17 IST the BSE Sensex was down 43.78 points, at 14168.18. It had opened higher, at 14,219.38, and surged to a high of 14,269.31. The benchmark index started slipping, to touch a low of 14,153.18.The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 692 crore.The market-breadth was positive, with 1,048 shares advancing compared to 832 that declined. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 21 declined while the rest advanced.

Tata Steel falls on exorbitant Corus deal
Tata Steel plunged 7.5% to Rs 480, as the final offer of $11.3 billion it made for Corus is said to be expensive.As many as 8.9 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The stock had rallied ahead of the auction held to determine Corus' fate on Tuesday (30 January 2007). It was early morning in India when the outcome of the auction was announced. The rally was mainly due to expectation of strong December 2006 results. From Rs 464.60 on 23 January 2007, the scrip had risen 11.7% in a short while to Rs 519.30 on 29 January 2007.

Autoline Industries volatile on debut
Autoline Industries was trading at Rs 266.55, a premium of 18.4% over the IPO price of Rs 225, in early trade on NSE.The stock debuted at Rs 230, which is also its low so far. The scrip also struck a high of Rs 287.70. As many as 14.4 lakh shares changed hands in early trade.

The company had priced its IPO at the upper-end of the Rs 200 - Rs 225 price-band.
The current price of Rs 266.55 discounts its April-November 2006 annualised EPS of Rs 10.60, by a PE multiple of 25.1. The post-issue equity capital of the company is Rs 10.36 crore.

Autoline Industries had issued shares on a preferential basis in the range of Rs 50 - Rs 130 per share before the IPO last year.

Autoline Industries supplies complex sheet metal assemblies and sub-assemblies to Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Kinetic Engineering, Mahindra & Mahindra, Walker Exhaust and Fiat India. The company is the single-source supplier of load bodies for Tata Ace mini-truck. It has entered into an arrangement with Stokota Engg, the Indian subsidiary of Stokota NV, Belgium, for supplying tippers, tipper-trailers, tankers, cement-bulkers and garbage-extractors.

The company is expanding the capabilities of its design-engineering unit to supply offshore development and manufacturing (ODM) services to foreign companies.

The proceeds of the IPO will fund expansion plans, which include upgrading the existing facilities at Chakan, Maharashtra, setting up a new unit at the same location, expanding facilities in the design engineering unit, establishing a corporate office, and making strategic acquisition.

The company registered a net profit of Rs 7.48 crore on sales of Rs 118.28 crore for April-November 2006.

GMDC spurts on benign Q3 numbers
Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation jumped 12% to Rs 436, after reporting a sharp rise in net profit for the December 2006 quarter.As many as 11,886 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC)'s stock rose ahead of the results. The scrip rose 2.5% on Monday (29 January 2007) to Rs 387.70. The stock had also rallied between late-December 2006 and early-January 2007. From Rs 350.25 on 26 December 2006, the scrip firmed up to Rs 401.75 by 11 January 2007. It then slipped to Rs 374.60 on 24 January 2007 before the pre-results' recovery.

The company's net profit surged to Rs 52.65 crore from Rs 1.35 crore in the December 2005 quarter. The surge in net profit was due to a change in deprecation policy. The company's score-sheet shows a credit of Rs 16.98 crore for depreciation in the December 2006 quarter. Net sales rose 17.6% to Rs 132.79 crore (Rs 112.92 crore).

GMDC is the country’s largest seller of lignite. It also has interests in bauxite, manganese and other such minerals.

GMDC will be supplying coal to KSK Energy Ventures (KEVPL) proposed 1,000-Mw power project in Chattisgarh. GMDC will provide 40 lakh tonnes of coal per year for the proposed power project in Chattisgarh, with a margin pf 10% per month.

GMDC also has an option of buying 26% stake in the power project in return for 26% of the power produced. GMDC can use 26% of the power it stands to gain for its own purpose, or for distributing it to consumers.

On commissioning, the company's 250 Mw lignite-based power plant at Akrimota, Gujarat, GMDC will add to its revenues. So far, the company's revenues have largely come from lignite.

Tata Steel won the battle for acquiring Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group by agreeing to pay 5.75 billion pounds ($11.3 billion). Tata Steel has agreed to offer Corus' investors 608 pence per share in cash, topping a final bid of 603 pence from Brazilian Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Both offers were at the top end of analysts’ expectations.

The 608 pence per share that Tata Steel will pay values Corus at around seven times its forecast of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2006, well above the multiple Mittal Steel paid for Arcelor. Mittal Steel had paid 4.6 times the latter's historic EBITDA.

Corus' acquisition will make Tata Steel the world's fifth-biggest steelmaker. Considering that Europe and the US are likely to be heavy users of steel, at least for the next five to seven years, Corus is likely to offer Tata Steel a gateway into the developed world.

If Tata Steel can offer access to low-grade slabs from its existing plants in India, or through its twin acquisitions of NatSteel and Millennium Steel, the company will have achieved its objective of making primary steel in low-cost facilities such as India, and establishing finishing facilities in the end-user markets. Corus has no mining interest, while Tata Steel has access to cheap iron ore.

Tata Steel on Tuesday (30 January 2007) reported 41.1% growth in net profit in the December 2006 quarter to Rs 1063.75 crore, on 21.4% growth in net sales to Rs 4469.98 crore. Both the bottomline and topline growth were as per market expectations.

Tata Steel's saleable steel production at 3.66 million tonnes during the first nine months of 2006-07 marked an increase of 11% over the production of saleable steel during the corresponding period of the last fiscal. During April-December 2006, the company produced 4.1 million tonnes of hot metal and 3.7 million tonnes of crude steel.

Tata Steel’ s total sale in the first nine months of the current fiscal was 3.532 million tonnes, an increase of 11.7% over the sales for the corresponding period of the last fiscal. Domestic sales of long products increased 30%.

Tata Steel is gearing up to play a major role in the automotive boom. The domestic automotive market is expected to see a growth of 17- 18% in the current financial year, and Tata Steel is set to take advantage. Tata Steel's market share in the domestic automotive segment is expected to be 43% in FY07.

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