Sterling and Wilson Solar hits record low on weak earnings concern

Shares of Sterling and Wilson Solar declined 4 per cent to hit an all-time low of Rs 144 on Wednesday on the BSE amid concerns that the Coronavirus outbreak may negatively impact the company's earnings going forward.

Sterling and Wilson Solar, a Shapoorji Pallonji group company, is a global pure-play, end-to-end solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) solutions provider.

In the past one month, the stock has tanked 51 per cent, as compared to 5 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex in the same period. It was trading at its lowest level since listing on August 20, 2019. The company's share price has plunged 82 per cent against its issue price of Rs 780 per share. Post listing, the stock hit a high of Rs 756 but failed to touch the issue price.

While announcing its October-December quarter (Q3FY20) results on February 12, the company's management had said they were constantly evaluating the current situation in China due to outbreak of Coronavirus which will impact the company’s business in the near term.

Currently, the production activities at some of the company’s critical suppliers’ end have stopped and are expected to commence by end of February 2020. As most material was expected to be shipped in February / March 2020 there is likely to be a significant impact. The management is continuously monitoring and evaluating the impact on revenue and profitability, the firm said.

At 01:04 pm, Sterling and Wilson Solar was trading 4 per cent lower at Rs 144 on the BSE against 0.8 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex during the same period. A combined 96,436 shares have changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE so far.