NEW DELHI, April 27: Ahead of its rights issue, Exide Industries' scrip has zoomed by 42 per cent in the past 13 trading sessions. The scrip saw a steady rise from Rs 119.5 on March 31 to Rs 169.1 on April 21. The scrip went ex-rights on April 2 and, interestingly, since then it has been on the rise. Volumes, too, saw a sharp rise especially in the last few trading sessions. However, the scrip shed some of its early gains in the last couple of trading sessions and slipped to Rs 140 on April 24 and further to Rs 137 on April 27. Nevertheless, the fall was in tandem with the general market downfall.Exide Industries is offering around 72.08 lakh shares, aggregating Rs 72 crore, to its shareholders in the ratio of one for every four shares held.
The company has pegged the premium at Rs 90 per share. The scrip was trading at a premuim of 69 per cent to the offer price of Rs 100 on April 21.
Currently, the shares are quoting at a 40 per cent premium to the offer price. The rights issue opens on April 30.The company is injecting fresh equity in order to part-finance the cost of Rs 100 crore incurred on acquiring the assets of Standard Barteries from Williamson Magor and expanding the annual automotive battery capacity from 2.8 million to 3.8 million. The balance amount required for capacity expansion and technical upgradation in certain units would be financed through internal accruals and term-loans.
The company has a diversified range of products including industrial batteries and emergency lighting systems. The company's sales and net profits in 1996-97 stood at Rs 509.38 crore and Rs 30.93 crore respectively. The slow-down in the automobile sector may take a toll on the company's full year performance. During the first-six months, Exide recorded a sales growth of only 9 per cent at Rs 192.66 crore. Net profit showed a marginal rise of 1.2 per cent to Rs 13.35 crore.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
