Stocks in the news

The stock of Kilitch Drugs gained 23 per cent last week to close at Rs 188.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, triggered by healthy results in the second quarter ended September 2007. The company's sales went up 410 per cent to Rs 27.47 crore, while net profit rose to Rs 310 lakh during the quarter under review, from Rs 13.65 lakh in the corresponding quarter lasy year.

The company management attributes the sales growth to the introduction of new product mix at the Himachal Pradesh plant. The plant, which operates at around 25 per cent of its installed capacity, will be scaled up by the financial-year end. The rise in profit is commensurate with backward area tax benefits and increase in operating margins.

According to insider sources, the company has completed 30 audits with multinational and local pharma companies and has started getting orders from most of them. The company expects its sales and profits to move up further on account of fresh orders and higher capacity utilization. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 100 lakh in the year ended March 2007, while the net profit has gone up to Rs 5 crore in the first half of the current financial year.

Modern India: Going strong

The stock of Modern India hit an all-time high of Rs 417 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 28 per cent over the price of Rs 326.80 a week ago. The stock was frozen at the upper circuit on the BSE throughout last week.

The company is engaged in real estate, business centres, trading and vocational training. It has decided to set up an information technology special economic zone (SEZ) at Khopoli. The project will be implemented through a wholly owned subsidiary, called Modern India Property Developers.

The board of directors has proposed to raise Rs 200 crore by offering equity shares through private placements and has therefore approved an increase in the authorized equity share capital from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore. The company has entered into a JV agreement with Gitanjali Gems to take a 50:50 stake in Modali Distributors.