Market cap of ICE companies zooms 208 pc in one year

Market cap of ICE companies zooms 208 pc in one year
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, JULY 8: Investors who have put money in the stocks of ICE (infotech, communication and entertainment) companies in the early days of the boom last year are wealthier by several times. The aggregate market capitalisation (the total market value of all listed shares) of 95 selected ICE companies increased by 208.6 per cent to Rs 2,59,522 crore on June 30, 2000, from the level of Rs 84,100 crore on June 30, 1999.

Had it not been the strong correction in the March-April period of 2000 -- following the crash on Nasdaq -- the market cap would have gone up further. Most of the ICE companies had in June regained part of the market cap which they lost in the Nasdaq-led correction.

According to a study conducted by The Financial Express, the market cap of top 10 ICE companies increased from Rs 67,837 crore in June 1999 to Rs 2,12,276 crore in June 2000, recording a positive growth rate of 212.92 per cent. The top 10 in terms of market capitalisation in the descending order as on June 30, 2000 are Wipro (Rs 66,453 crore), Infosys Technologies (Rs 55,037 crore), Zee Telefilms (Rs 18,478 crore), Satyam Computer (Rs 16,772 crore), MTNL (Rs 13,328 crore), VSNL (Rs 11,493 crore), Himachal Futuristic (Rs 10,174 crore), NIIT (Rs 8,543 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 6,187 crore) and Global Tele-System (Rs 5,811 crore).

All but eight of these 10 ICE companies find a place among the top 10 on June 30, 1999. The eight IT companies are Wipro (Rs 18,868 crore), Infosys (11,992 crore), MTNL (Rs 11,718 crore), VSNL (Rs 8,683 crore), NIIT (Rs 7,858 crore), Satyam Computer (Rs 3,299 crore), Zee Telefilms (Rs 2,716 crore) and HDFC Bank (Rs 1,494 crore).

Significantly, NIIT lost its position by three places in one year, from the fifth on June 30, 1999 to eighth on June 30, 2000. Similarly, MTNL lost its position by two places during the same period from third on June 30, 1999 to fifth on June 30, 2000. However, four other companies improved their positions -- Zee Telefilms from seventh to third, Satyam Computer from sixth to fourth, Himachal Futuristic from 21st to seventh and Global Tele-System from 18th to 10th position.

Wipro retained the top position on June 30, 2000 also. This can be explained from its performance. Its total income for the year 1999-2000 registered a growth of 28 per cent over the previous year. And the PAT of the company rose by 121 per cent to Rs 248 crore during 1999-2000 from Rs 112 crore during 1998-99.

Of the top 10 IT companies, the highest rate of growth of market capitalisation was recorded by Himachal Futuristic (1,688.2 per cent), followed by Global Tele-System (809.4 per cent), Zee Telefilms (580.2 per cent) and Satyam Computer (408.4 per cent). Only two companies namely MTNL (13.7 per cent) and NIIT (8.7 per cent) showed less than 15 per cent rate of growth in the same period.

Of the selected 95 IT companies, the ranks of five companies namely Wipro (first), Infosys Technologies (second), Silverline Industries (16th), Sonata Software (27th) and VMC Software (77th) remained unchanged on June 30, 1999 and June 30, 2000.

As many as 38 ICE companies improved their rankings on June 30, 2000. Significant among these are Himachal Futuristic (21st in June 1999 to seventh in June 2000), Global Tele-System (18th to 10th), Aftek Infosys (47th to 22nd), Cyberspace Infosys (52nd to 25th), Shyam Telecom (63rd to 35th), Kale Consultants (95th to 43rd), Vakrangee Software (84th to 55th), Datasoft Application (94th to 72nd) and GV Films (93rd to 73rd).

Further, 52 ICE companies showed a drop in their rankings on June 30, 2000 from their position on June 30, 1999. Prominent among these are Digital Equipment (9th on June 1999 to 18th on June 2000), HCL Infosystems (11th to 21st), Tata Infotech (10th to 30th), BFL Software (14th to 31st), Maars Software (28th to 46th), Sierra Optima (37th to 50th), Computech International (50th to 61st) and winstar Software (56th to 76th). In terms of shares of the top 10 in aggregate market capitalisation, there was an improvement from 80.7 per cent on June 30, 1999 to 81.8 per cent on June 30, 2000.