Thursday, December 11, 2008

Acquisition Buzz Strengthens Equity Andhra Cements - Dec 11, 2008

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 54.68 points, or 0.57%, to 9,600.22.On BSE, 41,045 shares were traded in the counter. The stock had an average daily volume of 27,550 shares in the past one quarter.The stock opened and remained locked at a high of Rs 22.46 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 59.90 on 4 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 11.50 on 27 October 2008. The stock rose 20% to Rs 18.72 on 10 December 2008.


The small-cap southern India-based cement producer had outperformed the market over the past one month till 10 December 2008, rising 17% as compared to the Sensex's decline of 8.36%. It had also outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 26.73% as compared to the Sensex's decline of 34.15%.The company's current equity is Rs 132.52 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.


The current price of Rs 22.46 discounts the company's Q2 September 2008 annualized EPS of Rs 6.51, by a PE multiple of 3.45.As per reports, a host of multinational cement makers, such as Lafarge, CRH and Italcementi, are in the race to buy out promoters of Andhra Cements (ACL) at Rs 75 a share, at a huge premium of 233% over the current market price.Promoters hold 73% in Andhra Cement which has plants in Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam and markets its products with the trade name, Durga.Andhra Cements net profit rose 9.1% to Rs 21.56 crore on 12% fall in sales to Rs 78.49 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

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