FTIL in demand after Merrill Lynch buys additional shares

Financial Technologies (India) rose 3.24% to Rs 382 at 9:23 IST on BSE after global financial services firm Merrill Lynch bought an additional 0.57% stake in the company through bulk deal on NSE on Thursday, 6 March 2014.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 140.18 points, or 0.65%, to 21,654.05.

On BSE, so far 1.60 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 8.75 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 386.90 and a low of Rs 378.25 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 870.30 on 28 May 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 102.05 on 30 August 2013.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 6 March 2014, rising 26.97% compared with the Sensex's 5.92% rise. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 132.05% as against Sensex's 2.46% rise.

The small-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 9.22 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

On Thursday, 6 March 2014, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana bought an additional 2.64 lakh shares, or 0.57% equity, of Financial Technologies (India) (FTIL), as per bulk deal data available with the stock exchanges. The shares were purchased on NSE at an average price of Rs 370.07, valuing the transaction at Rs 9.77 crore. However, identity of seller of the shares could not be ascertained.

On Wednesday, 5 March 2014, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana bought 2.35 lakh shares, or 0.51% equity, in FTIL. The shares were purchased on NSE at an average price of Rs 347.76. Shares of FTIL hit an upper circuit limit of 5% on Wednesday, 5 March 2014 and on Thursday, 6 March 2014.

After the latest transaction, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana holds 4.99 lakh shares, or 1.08% equity, in FTIL.

On 27 February 2014, FTIL announced that its board has appointed a committee to propose and oversee a restructuring plan for the company in its efforts to charter new growth path for the company. The restructuring plan shall include exploring the possibility of identifying a strategic partner who will help drive growth of the company and contribute towards leveraging FTIL's core strength of technology creation to drive strategic growth beyond financial markets.

The restructuring plan shall also include FTIL divesting up to 24% in Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) in the long-term interest of both FTIL and MCX. The committee may also consider divestment of FTIL's investment in other exchanges as a part of the restructuring. The decision is without prejudice to the legal rights and remedies of the company.

The committee will appoint an investment bank of repute to conduct an open and transparent bidding process for the divestments as well as identifying strategic partner/investor in FTIL, the company said.

The committee has been given a time of not exceeding 120 days for the above, FTIL said.

Jignesh Shah is currently the chairman of FTIL, which owns and runs the National Spot Exchange (NSEL), where a Rs 5600 crore payment crisis is being probed by multiple agencies.

FMC in its order dated 17 December 2013 said that FTIL, the promoter and anchor share-holder holding 26% of the paid-up capital of the commodity exchange MCX, is not 'fit and proper person' to continue to be a shareholder of 2% or more of the paid-up equity capital of MCX as prescribed under the guidelines issued by the Government of India (GoI) for capital structure of commodity exchanges post 5-years of operation.

The FMC order of 17 December also stated that Mr. Jignesh Shah, Ex- Director, Mr. Joseph Massey, Ex-Director and Mr. Shreekant Javalgekar, Ex-Managing Director & CEO of MCX, are not 'fit and proper person' in terms of the directions issued under the Board Composition Guidelines issued by the Commission and as amended from time to time.

FTIL's net profit rose 27.6% to Rs 34.48 crore on 10.97% decline in net sales to Rs 79.97 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q2 September 2013.

FTIL is among the global leaders in offering technology IP (Intellectual Property) and domain expertise to create and trade on next generation financial markets.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News