Jaiprakash Associates declines after brokerage downgrade

Jaiprakash Associates fell 3.56% to Rs 35.25 at 13:26 IST on BSE after a foreign brokerage downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy' and removed the stock from Asia Pacific buy list.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 4.03 points or 0.01% at 26,991.84 .

On BSE, so far 33.04 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 41.97 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 36.75 and a low of Rs 35.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 32.30 on 5 September 2014. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 89.85 on 11 June 2014.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 11 September 2014, declining 37.63% compared with Sensex's 5.79% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 56.12% as against Sensex's 5.97% rise.

The mid-cap company has 1equity capital of Rs 486.49 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The brokerage cited uncertainty after one of the company's promoters sold 1.45% stake. Uncertainty on Supreme Court ruling on coal allocations also cited as a key reason for downgrade.

Jaiprakash Associates on 4 September 2014 clarified that one of the promoters holding 72.36 crore shares, constituting 29.75% of the company's shares capital, has sold only 1.45% of share holding and continues to hold 68.83 crore shares, constituting 28.30% of the company's share capital. This small share holding has been disposed off by the promoter company to meet its requirement of funds including for social cause, Jaiprakash Associates said.

The promoters of Jaiprakash Associates continue to have full faith in the company and hope that the investor/stakeholders would continue to have confidence in the company and its management, the company said. The company issued the clarification after rumors in the market that the promoters are selling their share holding in the company.

Shares of Jaiprakash Associates also witnessed profit booking after rallying 8.13% in four trading sessions to settle at Rs 36.55 on Thursday, 11 September 2014, from a recent low of Rs 33.80 on 5 September 2014.

Jaiprakash Associates reported a net loss of Rs 80.61 crore in Q1 June 2014 compared with net profit Rs 334.51 crore in Q1 June 2013. Net sales fell 8.8% to Rs 2993.66 crore in Q1 June 2014 over Q1 June 2013.

Jaiprakash Associates is a diversified infrastructure conglomerate with business interests in engineering & construction, cement, power, real estate, expressways, fertilizer, hospitality, healthcare, sports, information technology and education (not-for-profit).

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