Pentamedia Up On Brass Stake-Hike Buzz

Shares of Pentamedia Graphics rose for the third consecutive session on rumours that the promoters were planning to raise their holding in the company.

The scrip was the second largest traded today with a huge volume of almost 3 crore shares on both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange.

The stock closed at Rs 77.90, up 18.93 per cent from its previous close on the BSE, slightly lower to its 20 per cent intraday high of Rs 78.60.

Dealers said there were also talks that the company may offer a part of the equity to a foreign partner after hiking their shareholding in the company.

Currently the promoters of the company hold 3.11 per cent in the company. The institutional holding in the company is like this: mutual funds / banks / financial institutions / insurance companies hold 4.63 per cent, foreign institutional investors hold 3.91 per cent, private corporate bodies hold 19.38 per cent, non-resident Indians and overseas corporate bodies hold 1.71 per cent. While 56.88 per cent is held by the public, 9.38 per cent accounts for global depository receipts.

In November, the department of company affairs (DCA) had ordered an inspection of Pentamedia's books following allegations of its involvement in the stock market scam.

The department had ordered the scrutiny under Section 209(A) of the Companies Act, which allows for a comprehensive scrutiny of a company's books of accounts.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, meanwhile, is also probing the movement of the Pentamedia scrip for its alleged manipulation by the Ketan Parekh group.

During the the second quarter ended September 2001, the company posted a 49.4 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 13.05 crore compared with Rs 25.8 crore in the corresponding period last year.

While the net sales of the company fell by 26 per cent to Rs 99.8 crore from Rs 135 crore. This was on the back of a 26 per cent fall in exports to Rs 97.53 crore and 44 per cent fall in domestic sales to Rs 2.27 crore. Overseas sales was 97.7 per cent of the total sales.

During the quarter, animation division contributed to 59 per cent of the revenues compared with 55 per cent during the quarter ended June 2001, while the multimedia division contributed 20 per cent, the same as during the quarter ended June 2001.