Investors bet on Indian Hume Pipe's expansion plan

Indian Hume Pipe Company was locked at upper limit of 5% at Rs 605.90 at 11:59 IST on BSE after the firm said it will set up three plants in the state of Andhra Pradesh for manufacturing more pipes to meet the current requirements.

The company made this announcement on Saturday, 2 August 2008.

On BSE, 167 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1,927 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 605.90 and a low of Rs 605.90 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 1470.50 on 8 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 355 on 6 August 2007.

The small-cap company had outperformed the market over the past one month till 1 August 2008, gaining 26.46% compared to the Sensex's return of 11.93%. It had also outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 5.29% compared to Sensex's decline of 16.72%.

The company has an equity capital of Rs 4.85 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.

The current price of Rs 605.90 discounts its Q1 June 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 41.90, by a PE multiple of 14.46.

The total capital outlay for setting up three plants is about Rs 20 crore. The company's order book stand at Rs 1256 crore as against Rs 592 crore in last year.

Indian Hume Pipe Company's net profit rose 387.5% to Rs 5.07 on 95.2% increase in net sales to Rs 132.82 crore in Q1 June 2008 over Q1 June 2007.

The company's principle activity is to manufacture laying and joining of pipelines of various pipe materials. It also undertakes infrastructure development programmes on turnkey basis. The products include RCC pipes, steel pipes, prestressed concrete pipes, penstock pipes bar wrapped steel cylinder pipes, prestressed concrete cylinder pipes and others.