Bharat Heavy Electricals towers on Russian foray buzz

Bharat Heavy Electricals surged 4.10% to Rs 1955 at 11:17 IST on BSE on reports that the company is in discussions with a few Russian construction companies for tapping Russia's booming power market

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 451.71 points, or 2.73%, to 17,062.19 tracking firm global markets.

On BSE, 49020 shares of the scrip were traded. The stock had an average daily volume of 1.35 lakh shares on BSE in past one quarter.

The scrip had touched a high of Rs 1976.70 and a low of Rs 1900 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 2925 on 7 November 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 970 on 16 March 2007.

The scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 February 2008, declining 22.88% compared to the Sensex's decline of 19.88%. It also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 31.19% compared to Sensex's fall of 16.66%.

India's biggest power-equipment maker by sales has an equity capital of Rs 489.52 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Government of India holds 67.72% stake in the company (as at end December 2007).

At the current price of Rs 1955, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 30.99, based on Q3 December 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 63.07.

The Russian companies with whom Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) was in discussion were not disclosed. Bhel is to supply equipment and parts to Russian companies that would be assembled in Russia for power generation.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel)' net profit rose 15.6% to Rs 771.90 crore on 14.4% rise in sales to Rs 4964.14 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Bharat Heavy Electricals is engaged in manufacturing and distributing electrical, electronic, and mechanical and nuclear power equipment.