Arrow Webtex shoots up on African foray

Arrow Webtex shoots up on African foray

Arrow Webtex was locked at upper limit of 5% at Rs 62.45 at 11:51 IST on BSE after the company entered into a joint venture to develop real estate projects in East Africa.

The company made the announcement on Saturday, 2 February 2008.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 525.25 points, or 2.88%, to 18754.20, as Asian stocks surged with sentiment boosted by Microsoft Corp's bid for Yahoo Inc and following China's buy of a large stake in takeover target Rio Tinto.

On BSE, 44,461 shares of the scrip were traded. The stock had an average daily volume of 73,334 shares on BSE in past one quarter.

The scrip had touched a high of Rs 62.45 and a low of Rs 60.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 98.40 on 18 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 19.24 on 28 May 2007.

The scrip had underperformed the market in the one month to 1 February 2008, falling 33.84% as against the Sensex's 10.33% decline. It had also outperformed the market in the past three months, skidding 52.72% against the Sensex's 8.68% slide.

The small-cap textile accessory maker has an equity capital of Rs 10.50 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.

At the current price of Rs 62.45, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 3.90, based on Q3 December 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 15.98.

Arrow Webtex has set aside around Rs 300 crore for investment in the joint venture (JV). The company will hold 40% in the joint venture company. The JV firm has already acquired certain projects, which are in the process of commencing development in the region, the company said in a statement to the BSE.

Arrow Webtex reported a net profit of Rs 4.20 crore on sales of Rs 15.56 crore in Q3 December 2007.

Arrow Webtex manufactures narrow woven fabrics, woven labels, printed labels and printed elastic tapes. The company also operates in the real estate development and consultancy space. The firm also leases out the properties acquired.