Gateway Distriparks spurts

Gateway Distriparks spurts

Gateway Distriparks jumped 7.57% to Rs 153.50 on reports the Indian promoter of the company is hiking stake and taking management control of the company.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 15.84 points, or 0.08%, to 20230.79.

On BSE, 4.12 lakh shares of the scrip were traded. The stock had an average daily volume of 3.23 lakh shares on BSE in past one quarter.

The scrip had touched a high of Rs 154.40 and a low of Rs 143.80 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 171.52 on 3 January 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 110.12 on 8 March 2007.

The scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 27 December 2007, declining 0.21% as compared to the Sensex's return of 6.75%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, rising 8.61% as compared to the Sensex's rise of 16.92%.

The shipping-logistics provider has an equity capital of Rs 115.58 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

At the current price of Rs 153.50, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 24.13, based on Q2 September 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 6.36.

As per reports, stake hike by Indian promoters may be a prelude to a stake sale later to a strategic player. The Indian promoter - Delhi-based Prem Kishan Gupta, currently Managing Director of of Gateway Distriparks (GDL) - has hiked his stake steadily to 18% from 12-13% earlier to make himself the single largest investor in GDL.

Foreign promoters hold 21.42% stake in Gateway Distriparks (as at end September 2007).

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Logistics and the Tata group are believed to be interested in a possible buyout from the promoters. China's Temasek owns 5.5% in the company through its investment arm Aranada investments.

Gateway Distriparks is mainly into container handling business.

Gateway Distriparks' net profit fell 11.90% to Rs 18.36 crore on 22.40% rise in sales to Rs 41.91 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006