Bharat Forge revvs up on fund raising plan

Bharat Forge gained 1.72% to Rs 290.50 at 15:01 IST on BSE after the company said on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 it has approved a proposal to raise debt of upto Rs 400 crore by way of external commercial borrowings or a bank loan.

The company made this announcement after trading hours on Wednesday, 27 February 2008.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 43.70 points or 0.25% to 17,782.29, as a sharp drop in US durable goods orders and US home sales fueled recession concerns in the world's biggest economy.

On BSE, 31,166 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1.10 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 294.95 and a low of Rs 280 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 389.75 on 4 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 254 on 24 August 2007.

The mid-cap scrip had outperformed the market over the past one month till 27 February 2008, declining 0.82% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 1.47%. It had underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 9.73% compared to Sensex’s decline of 6.20%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 44.53 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The current price of Rs 290.50 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 10.45, by a PE multiple of 27.80.

The company also approved an issue of convertible warrants to the founders totaling Rs 300 crore to help fund its expansion in to the non-auto goods sector, it said in a statement.

Bharat Forge’s net profit declined 7.6% to Rs 58.18 crore on 16.7% growth in net sales to Rs 556.73 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

Bharat Forge the flagship of Kalyani group is a today among the largest and technologically most advanced manufacturers of forged & machined components. The company has manufacturing operations across nine locations and six countries 2 in India, 3 in Germany and one each in Sweden, Scotland UK, USA and China.