Date:09/06/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/06/09/stories/2005060901641300.htm

Back Tera Soft buzzing on de-merger

THE stock of Tera Software has been buzzing around the bourses lately.

Dealers say that the interest in this stock is on speculation that existing shareholders will be allotted shares in the de-merged real estate arm of the company. The company's board has approved in-principle to de-merge the company's real estate assets and spin this into a separate listed entity.

The company has 19.63 acres and building on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The de-merged entity plans to undertake business of real estate, construction & execution of medium infrastructure projects after regulatory clearances.

The stock touched an intra-day high of Rs 59.45, before closing trade at Rs 56.10. The stock has appreciated by over 32 per cent in the last month. Volumes on the stock have also been high.

Hikal banking on pharmaceuticals

Share price of Hikal Ltd touched a 52-week high on Wednesday. The stock quoted at Rs 563.90, before ending trade at Rs 543.95. The stock gained 12.36 per cent rise on Wednesday. The company has interests in the agri-chemical as well as the pharmaceutical industries. It is understood to be aggressively growing the pharmaceutical side of the business, which currently contributes 35 per cent of its revenues.

Dealers say the interest in the stock is fuelled by speculation about more acquisitions by the company on the pharmaceutical side and the expectation that the company is going to file some drug master files soon.

Hikal had acquired a Danish company last year and is seeking to be a big player in the European market.

Ginni on FII radar

The new textile story to perk up interest in the market is that of Ginni Filaments. The stock has come into the focus of some foreign institutional investors and dealers attribute the interest to this.

The stock touched an intra-day high of Rs 28.45 and ended at Rs 26.95.

The stock has gone up by over 18 per cent in the last month. It is inching towards its 52-week high of Rs 32.50, according to dealers.

At the end of March, foreign promoters held over 59 per cent in the company, while foreign institutional investors had less than one per cent.

Dealers say that speculation in the market is that the counter could see some bulk deals by institutional investors in the near future.

Veena Venugopal