Morgan Stanley has substantially diluted Vikas WSP holding, which had figured in the fund's top twenty five holding for two consecutive years. According to market sources, beginning April, the largest private mutual fund started selling its 5.49 lakh shares. Morgan Stanley's stake as on March 1998 stood around 5.5 per cent of Vikas WSP's total equity of Rs 9.97 crore.

Selling in the counter initially pushed down the company's stock from a high of Rs 155 in early April this year to a low of Rs 78 in late September.

However, according to market sources, investment buying by institutions like UTI, SBI Mutual Fund, GMO Trust Fund and 20th Century Mutual Fundhas once again pushed up the company's stock close to the Rs 150-level. Increased activity by institutions in the counter has seen the average daily trading volumes improve substantially in the past few months. The trading volume has gone up from 4000-6000 shares a day to over 45,000-50,000 shares a day on BSE. Vikas WSP is engaged in the manufacture of GGPs and their derivatives. It also sells guar splits, an intermediate in the manufacture of GGPs. GGPs find extensive application in the food, oil drilling, textile, mining, paper, tanning, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Vikas WSP exports the natural hydrocolloids GWSP to the US and Europe markets and account for more than 80 per cent of the company's total exports.

For the first half ended September 1998, the company reported a 51 per cent jump in turnover to Rs 75.78 crore, up from Rs 49 crore in the corresponding half of last year. Although a 100 per cent jump in interest cost to Rs 4.62 crore pulled down the net profit, the company managed toreport a 30 per cent higher net profit of Rs 18.47 crore, up from Rs 14.1 crore in the corresponding half of last year.