Hcl Tech Sheds 4.35% On Profit Taking

Stocks of HCL Technologies shed 4.35 per cent to settle at Rs 201 on the back of profit taking at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today. Up to 11.08 lakh shares of the company changed hands on the BSE.

On the National Stock Exchange, the stock settled 3.51 per cent lower at Rs 201.85, off the intraday high of Rs 215.

"Select foreign funds were sellers on the counter. However, the exact identity of these sellers is not known," a dealer at a foreign brokerage house said.

Stocks of HCL Technologies surged 21.3 per cent recently from a low of Rs 173.15 on July 30, 2002, to Rs 210.15 on August 20.

 

Analysts said certain concerns like pressure on the company's billing rates and poor volume growth were the main reasons for selling on the counter.

For the quarter ended March 2002, the company posted a marginal 1.7 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 131.2 crore, on a 12.6 per cent growth in sales at Rs 409 crore. The company is yet to unveil its results for FY 2001-02 (year ended June 2002).

Analysts said HCL Technologies had substantial exposure to the telecom sector in the US, which has witnessed a downturn.

The company also entered into a host of alliances recently. It has identified strategic partnerships as its strategy for future growth.

It recently entered into a joint venture with m.a.partners - a management consulting firm - to address software services opportunities in global finance markets, especially in the areas of investment banking, asset management and private banking.

It had also announced a strategic alliance with Sento Corporation, a US-based customer contact solutions company to jointly address opportunities in the CRM solutions space.

In July this year, HCL Technologies acquired, through one of its subsidiaries, a 35.5 per cent equity stake in Aquila Technologies.

Aquila is a Bangalore-based software solutions provider in the areas of engineering software and services like CAD/CAE PDM/CPC, virtual engineering frameworks, visualisation, image processing and computer game development.

As on March 31, 2002, promoters held 77.42 per cent stake in HCL Technologies, while the public, foreign institutions and local institutions held 6.30 per cent, 6.97 per cent and 4.78 per cent, respectively.