On NSE, too, the counter saw a volume of 29.90 lakh shares, second only to ITC. In terms of number of trades, Pentafour counter saw more activity with 11285 trades. In terms of volume, the scrip even surpassed Zee Telefilms and Satyam Computers.

According to one Delhi-based NSE dealer, ``Pentafour Software is likely to announce a bonus in the ratio of 1:1 as the company has a healthy book-value of Rs 165.'' For the year ended March 31, 1998, the company's reserves stood at Rs 243.52 crore against a small equity base of Rs 17.04 crore.

For the first quarter ofthe current fiscal, the company has posted impressive results. During April-June 1998, the company's income registered a growth of 67.6 per cent to Rs 95.78 crore from Rs 57.14 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The company's net profit was up 47.2 per cent in the three months to Rs 21.11 crore, compared to Rs 14.34 crore in April-June 1997. Market men are expecting the company to announce further improved results for the six month period ending September 30, 1998.

According an analyst with a leading brokerage house, ``Pentafour Software has developed ERP and banking software and is relying on these two packages for its growth in the current year. With more sops to the infotech sector and the deadline for Y2K problem (which are being addressed by the company these days) nearing, PSEL can well sustain high growth, at least over the next two years. Thus the equity dilution will not be so much of burden on the bottomline.''

The company also plans to pre-pay its all its debt liabilitiesaggregating about Rs 150 crore. The management aims to make PSEL a zero-debt company within the next couple of years. PSEL has orders worth US$ 150 million in hand, to be implemented over the next 18-months. The company, therefore, will have enough cash flows to pre-pay the loans. This will also reduce pressure on the bottomline as the interest burden, which stood at Rs 6 crore for the first quarter of 1998, will be nil.

Of late, the scrip has become a hot favourite among both investors and speculators. This is evident from the huge difference between the scrip's 52-week high of Rs 1115 and low of Rs 131. The scrip witnessed a steep fall from Rs 970 to Rs 436 earlier in the month of June when it entered into no-delivery period, traping many speculators.