Everest Industries hits record high on fund buying

The stock rallied 9% to Rs 402 after mutual funds hiked their stake in the company more than one percentage points in April-June quarter.

Shares of Everest Industries have rallied 9% to Rs 402, also their record high on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the cement & cement products maker said domestic mutual funds hiked their stake in the company by more than one percentage points in the April-June quarter.

Mutual funds have bought an additional 236,006 equity shares, representing 1.49% stake in Everest Industries, during the recently concluded quarter.

The total stake of mutual funds and UTI in the company increased to 15.66% in the June quarter from 14.17% at the end of March 2015, the shareholding pattern data shows.

The holdings of individual shareholders, however, declined from 29% to 27.82% during the recently concluded quarter.

Meanwhile, the  company had reported an over three-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 10.07 crore for the quarter ended March 2015 (Q4), on the back of strong operational performance. It had posted a profit of Rs 3.04 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The EBITDA or operating profit margins improved by 348 bps at 7.89% in the March 2015 quarter against 4.41% in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

For the entire last financial year 2014-15, the company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 34.23 crore against Rs 9.02 crore in the previous financial year.

The stock opened at Rs 388 and hit a low of Rs 382 on the NSE. Till 1142 hours, a combined 110,837 shares changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE.