Although the company's managing direstor, Anil Mulchandani denied any such move, the market is agog with rumours that American Greetings is likely to pick up around 7-10 per cent stake at a hefty premium to the current prevailing price of Rs 210. Mulchandani said that he has so far not received any such offer. Considering the strong brand value, extensive dealer network and the growth prospects of the sector, the market expects that the foreign collaborator may even offer a price in the range of Rs 300-350 for every Archies share.

American Greetings is a Fortune 500 company and the world's largest publicly owned manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and personal expression merchandiser. The collaboration exists in respect of the cards produced under the brand name, PaperRose.

Archies' scrip zoomed to its new all-time of Rs 214.75 before closing the day at Rs 199. Trading volumes spurted from an average daily volume of 1,000-3,000 shares to over 19,000 shares on the Delhi Stock Exchange.

Listed only at the DSE, with a low equity base of Rs 3.24 crore and a high promoters holding of over 67 per cent stake has rendered the scrip illiquid. In order to imoprove its liquidity, the company is seeking listing at the National Stock Exchange also.

At least three mutual funds have already picked up around 10 per cent stake in Archies Greetings in the price range of Rs 100-170. A number of foreign financial institutions too have been vying for the stock and beleived to have have offered premium to the market price. But due to the low floating stock the FIIs have not been able to pick the desired quantity. Archies recently reported excellent performance for the year ended March 1998. While turnover for fiscal 1997-98 rose by 35 per cent to Rs 46 crore, net profit has jumped by 91per cent to Rs 4.75 crore. The prformance also exceeded the projections made at the time of its maiden public offer in 1996. The company has record a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30 per cent in sales and around 72 in net profit for the past three years.

The completion of the expansion project, an increase in the number of franchise outlets and a foray into music have seen Archies' turnover rising to Rs 46 crore. In order to further widen its reach, Archies has plans to tap more overseas markets, especially those regions which have a large Indian population. Archies already has a presence in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Philippines, the United Kingdoms and Bangladesh.