"We would make a formal offer by March to buy back the shares currently in the hands of the public," Sutendra Kumar managing director, Modi GBC Limited told reporters here last night after launching a revolutionary IT-based office automation product - Mimio.

He said the company, an equal joint venture between Modicorp and GBC with 48.3 per cent share each, pumped in Rs 7.9 crore in the last 12 months to widen its equity from Rs 3 crore to Rs 17 crore after it suffered losses of Rs 3.8 crore in 1997 and Rs 3.3 crore last year.

"However, we are sure to register a revenue growth of 40 per cent this year which would allow us to break-even," Kumar said. "The equity with the public had not increased from the initial 60 lakh, when the company first began operations in 1988," headded.

Asked why he plans to buy back the public equity when the company is sure to register a revenue growth, Kumar said "the company is not forcing anyone to sell their shares." But as per listing guidelines, if the promoters gets 90 per cent of the holding he can delist the shares. Then other shareholders will find it difficult to sell/buy their holdings.

"We would only make a formal offer to the public and it is up to them to decide whether to sell their holdings in the company or not," he said. However, investors said the company's move is not in the right spirit and questioned the buy-back plan at this juncture.

About the company's future plans to move from being a distributor of GBC products in India, he divulged that GBC is in the process of deciding whether to start a manufacturing plant for the entire range of its products in either India or China.

Modi Corp has been distributing GBC products - a $ 972 million giant, in document solutions and visual communication market since the last 11years. The product Mimio is a portable one which consists of a bar with infra-red detectors and microprocessor serial interface.