Selloff Buzz Powers Bhel Scrip Ahead

Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) was the star performer on the Bombay Stock Exchange today. The counter closed 9 per cent up at Rs 161.10, slightly off its intra-day high of Rs 162.55. Over 11 lakh shares changed hands.

As per market buzz, foreign institutional investors (FII) were heavy buyers at the counter on expectations that, after the Union Budget for 2002-03, Bhel's disinvestment would be undertaken, analysts said.

In the last 26 trading sessions, Bhel has risen 23.2 per cent from Rs 132 on December 27, 2001.

Meanwhile, the government has finalised a proposal to offload a minority stake in Bhel. The government, which holds 68 per cent stake in the company, will bring down its equity by 17 per cent to 51 per cent.

On January 29, 2002, Bhel came out with impressive third quarter results. For the quarter ended 31 December 2001, it posted a net profit of Rs 80.15 crore compared with a net loss of Rs 197.96 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales increased by 16.4 per cent to Rs 1,461.39 crore from Rs 1,255.43 crore in DQ 2000.

Bhel is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India and is one of the leading international companies in power equipment manufacturing. The first plant of Bhel was set up at Bhopal in 1956, which signalled the dawn of the heavy electrical industry in India. In the early sixties, three more major plants were set up at Haridwar, Hyderabad and Tiruchirappalli. These form the core facilities where the company manufactures its diversified product range, systems and services.