Ashapura: Up on bonus buzz

STOCKS IN THE NEWS

Ashapura Minechem rose over 7 per cent last week after the company announced that it would consider bonus issue in a board meeting on June 27, 2007.

The stock has gained almost 50 per cent in last one month. The scrip touched a high of Rs 345 and closed at Rs 338.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), up 7 per cent with weekly trading volume of 19.44 lakh shares. Ashapura Minechem is the flagship company of the Ashapura group and is the country's largest mine owner and exporter of bentonite.

The stock is trading at price to earnings (PE) ratio of 10.5 to its trailing 12 months earning per share (EPS) of Rs 30.08. The company has a healthy surplus of Rs 355.74 crore and a book value of Rs 227. During the year ended March 2007, the company's net profit doubled to Rs 108.26 crore. The company proposed dividend of 150 per cent compared with 75 per cent in the previous year.

Last week, the company received approval from the development commissioner, Kandla Special Economic Zone, Gandhidham, Kutch, to set up two 100 per cent export oriented units for processed bauxite at Jamnagar.

Elecon Engg: Results boost

Elecon Engineering Company gained 11.81 per cent last week to close at Rs 509.10 on announcement of a 2:1 bonus issue. Besides the bonus issue, the board of the company recommended equity dividend of 75 per cent.

The weekly volume was high at 24.37 lakh shares compared with 9.85 lakh shares during the week ended June 8, 2007. The share prices rose from Rs 398.45 on May 25, 2007 to Rs 431 on May 31, 2007. It later fell to Rs 419.30 on June 4, 2007, before bouncing back again to Rs 494.70 by June 14, 2007.

Net profit of the company rose 69.34 per cent to Rs 18.56 crore in the quarter ended March 2007 as against Rs 10.96 crore during the previous year period. Sales rose 52.01 per cent to Rs 284.83 crore. For the full year, net profit rose 96.92 per cent to Rs 54.90 crore in the year ended March 2007, compared with Rs 27.88 crore during the year-ago period. Sales rose 63.42 per cent to Rs 723.11 crore.