Gujarat Pipavav Port slips after brokerage downgrade

Gujarat Pipavav Port fell 2.76% to Rs 169.05 at 14:27 IST on BSE after a foreign brokerage reportedly downgraded the stock to underperform, citing lacklustre container trade data in Q2 and increased business risks.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 442.92 points, or 1.61%, to 27,972.89.

On BSE, so far 40,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 2.14 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 170.80 and a low of Rs 168 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 197.35 on 9 September 2016. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 136.60 on 30 December 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 17 October 2016, falling 3.98% compared with 3.74% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 0.09% as against Sensex's 0.93% decline.

The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 483.44 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

According to reports, the brokerage has reduced Gujarat Pipavav Port's earnings per share (EPS) estimates for the financial year ending March 2017 (FY17), the financial year ending March 2018 (FY18) and the financial year ending March 2019 (FY19) by 8%, 14% and 16, respectively.

Container traffic at major ports in Q2 September 2016 remained weak with a flat number on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. Same is the case with rail container data also which is weaker sequentially (from Q1) in YoY growth terms. This data set suggests continued weakness in trade, the brokerage reportedly said.

Gujarat Pipavav Port (GPPL)'s net profit rose 60.45% to Rs 59.75 crore on 10.24% fall in net sales to Rs 154.67 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

GPPL is managed and operated by APM Terminals, the ports and terminals company of the maritime giant, the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. APM Terminals is one of the largest container terminal operators in the world and offers the global shipping community an integrated Global Terminal Network of 56 ports and 154 inland facilities in 63 countries.

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