NIIT Technologies drops after German acquisition

NIIT Technologies declined 1.15% to Rs 133.45 at 14:26 IST on BSE after the company said it has signed an agreement to buy out Germany's Softec GmbH for an undisclosed amount.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 28 February 2008.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 79.35 points or 0.45% to 17,746.64, as a sharp drop in US durable goods orders and US home sales fueled recession concerns in the world's biggest economy.

On BSE, 1.73 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1.74 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 134.75 and a low of Rs 132.18 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 425.34 on 28 May 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 90 on 22 January 2008.

The small-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 27 February 2008, declining 10.09% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 1.47%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 37.67% compared to Sensex’s decline of 6.20%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 58.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 133.45 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 18.03, by a PE multiple of 7.40.

Softec GmbH focuses on providing information technology (IT) solutions and services worldwide in the airline revenue accounting and operations space.

NIIT Technologies’ net profit declined 8.32% to Rs 28.54 crore on 0.76% growth in net sales to Rs 118.37 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

The Delhi-based IT company services customers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and focuses on specific industry verticals, including banking, financial services and insurance, travel & transportation and retail & manufacturing.