Greenply Inds fascinates Uncle Sam

STREET SIGNS

There was a lot of buying interest at the Greenply Industries counter. Uncle Sam was the most prominent buyer among them, along with Ram Sundar fund.

While the former bought four lakh shares at the counter, the latter is said to have bought two lakh shares.

Both the deals took place at price levels of Rs 76. The interest at the counter is not without reason.

Greenply Industries happens to be the largest manufacturer of plywood and laminates in the country and accounts for 23 per cent of the organised plywood and 13 per cent of the organised laminate market.

The company is setting up its fourth manufacturing greenfield facility with an investment of Rs 80 crore in Uttaranchal, which is expected to be operational by the middle of next year.

This would mainly cater to the needs of the domestic market. With the industry estimated to be growing at Rs 20-25 levels, Greenply is expected to be among the major beneficiaries.

The company clocked net sales of Rs 168.74 crore and a net profit of Rs 5.22 crore for FY05.

Off the shopping list

Reliable Capital has had enough of Shoppers' Stop stock. The firm has decided to dump some three lakh shares at a price of Rs 389.

Considering the fact that the stock has hardly moved in the past four months or so, that is hardly surprising. Back in July, The Prized One Brokerage had put a price target of Rs 380 on the stock.

Considering that the stock has seen a high of Rs 385 and a low of Rs 344 during the ensuing period, it has to be said that they have got this one more-or-less spot on. However, this has not deterred the company from announcing new plans.

Shoppers' Stop would be opening its first home store 'Home Stop' in Bangalore next month while its hypermarket 'Hypercity' is slated to be ready by the end of this fiscal year.

At present, the company which clocked revenues of Rs 511 crore in FY05, has a network of 20 stores across 10 cities in India.

Not so reliable

Even a slight upwards revision in its FYO6 earnings guidance could not rescue Hexaware Technologies from the wrath of Reliable fund.

The fund sold a big chunk of shares at the counter at price levels of Rs 110.

This despite the fact the company had reported a 45 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 24.06 crore in the September quarter (Q3).

Net sales had risen 20 per cent to Rs 175.56 crore. Also, the company raised its full-year net profit guidance to $19.50 million from the $18-19 million forecast previously.

However, the company had recently won two contracts, one from North America and the other from Germany worth $5 million for its independent testing services.

The stock performance of late has been sluggish, with the price tumbling from Rs 143 levels in late June to below Rs 100. It has since then recovered slightly.