Stock watch: Finolex Cables

The stock of Finolex Cables is witnessing increased investor interest. Even though the overall market declined on Thursday, the stock price shot up by 4 per cent to close at Rs 290.75.

The counter saw volumes of 42,251 shares. Over the past week, the stock has gone up by 6.3 per cent, while volumes have spurted by 376 per cent.

The company is the largest manufacturer and market leader in the domestic cable industry providing total cable solutions ranging from lighting, cable TV, telephone, computers to industrial applications.

On December 11, 2005, the company announced its plans to manufacture compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) with a capacity of 80 lakh pieces per annum at the company's existing facilities at Urse, Pune to be commissioned within 6-9 months at the cost of Rs 18 crore as a part of its expansion strategy.

The lamps are well known to save 80 per cent of the energy costs. The market size is Rs 350 crore and is growing at 25-30 per cent.

The company recently entered the electrical switches and circuits market. Thus with the introduction of CFLs, the company will be offering the entire electrical solution for electrification needs.

Boom in the housing sector, the government's thrust on infrastructure including the power transmission and distribution sector is expected to boost Finolex's CFLs business.

Increased industrial activities are expected to aid the growth in cables business.