Hindustan Zinc sinks after product price cut

Hindustan Zinc declined 4.65% to Rs 624.80 at 12:32 IST on BSE even as the company said on Saturday, 1 March 2008, it had raised zinc prices by Rs 3,200 a tonne or 2.8% to Rs 1.18 lakh per tonne with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 641.42 points or 3.65% to 16,937.30, as Asian stocks fell sharply amid growing concerns about the global impact of a US slowdown.

On BSE, 8,619 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 53,554 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 649 and a low of Rs 621.50 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 969 on 18 October 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 510 on 22 January 2008.

The large-cap scrip had outperformed the market over the past one month till 29 February 2008, gaining 8.47% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 0.40%. It had underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 19.08% compared to Sensex’s decline of 9.22%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 422.53 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 624.80 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 74.23, by a PE multiple of 8.42.

The company has also raised lead prices by Rs 900 a tonne or 0.6% to Rs 1.48 lakh per tonne.

Hindustan Zinc’s net profit declined 41.2% to Rs 785 crore on 33.2% fall in net sales to Rs 1658 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Hindustan Zinc’s activities comprise mining and smelting of zinc and lead. The products include zinc ingots, lead ingots, silver, sulphuric acid, cadmium ingots, copper cathode and others.