Bharat Seats: Bonus push

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The stock gained 41 per cent last week following an announcement that the board will meet on April 13, to consider a bonus and stock split. The stock hit the upper circuit filter for three consecutive trading sessions to close at Rs 128.44 on Thursday against its last Friday's close of Rs 91.20. Weekly trading volumes were higher at 85,319 shares compared with 20,091 shares.

Apart from the bonus issue and stock split, the company will also consider a final dividend for 2006-07. Bharat Seats currently trade at price-to-earning ratio of 13.1 times based on its trailing 12-month earnings per share of Rs 9.80 each. The company has equity base of Rs 3.14 crore with book value of Rs 69.52 per share as on March 31, 2006.

For the first nine months ended December 2006, the company posted a net profit of Rs 2.25 crore compared with Rs 2.60 crore earned during 2005-06.

Bharat Seats manufactures complete seating systems for various models of Maruti Udyog and Suzuki Motor Cycle India. It also manufactures moulded carpets for various models of Maruti. In FY 2006, Maruti started supplying moulded carpets for Alto model to MUL.