Clariant - 506390

manufactures dyes, colors and intermediate chemicals.

Clariant is a world leader in colors, surface effects and performance chemicals. Clariant has its HQ in Basel, Switzerland. It is the biggest listed dye maker in India.

Now at 52 week low. 5 year low was in Feb 2009. 

Zero debt.

The parent company is in red 4 of the last 5 years. Heavy dividends by this company are explained by some quoting this reason.

Electrical sector

Company Name	Last Price	52 wk	52 wk	Market Cap
		High	Low	(Rs. cr)
Bharat Elec	1354.8	1887.9	1293	10838.4
Genus Power	8.19	23.9	7.55	130.14
JCT Electronics	0.84	2	0.8	66.21
ECE Industries	74.15	135	64	65.08
Hind Rectifiers	38.45	78.95	36	57.9
Centum Electron	45.9	141.85	42.05	56.76
Zicom Security	26.3	56.25	25.75	33.4
Samtel Color	3.23	12.2	2.72	27.62
SV Electricals	10.13	209.5	7.22	21.04
Asian Electroni	5.56	21.75	5.35	19.71
Circuit Systems	11	15.85	7.2	17.27
Cosmo Ferrites	10.96	21	8.75	13.18
Shree Pacetroni	36.15	47.9	30.45	13.01
Delta Magnets	25.55	54.8	25.1	12.42
Ruttonsha Int	17	21	13	11.83
Deltron	39.1	45.55	39.1	11.14
Integrated Tech	10.39	49	10.39	4.97
Rama Vision	4.68	16.71	3.86	4.69
Incap	8.35	14.25	7.75	3.89
Fine-line Circ	7.7	15.27	5.71	3.7
Samtel (India)	4.96	8.5	4.96	3.52
Guj Poly AVX	3.24	7.91	2.93	2.77
BCC Fuba	3.8	9.94	3.56	2.3
Linaks Micro	1.95	4.27	1.95	0.85

The only company in this sector with a medium to large size is Bharath Electronics.

Company	CEPS *	EPS *	P/C	P/E
Rama Vision	0.4	0.08	11.7	58.5
Delta Magnets	2.81	0.5	9.09	51.1
Deltron	0.99	0.99	39.49	39.49
SV Electricals	0.45	0.45	22.51	22.51
ECE Industries	5.03	3.56	14.74	20.83
Centum Electron	8.54	2.55	5.37	18
Bharat Elec	123.59	108.33	10.96	12.51
Guj Poly AVX	1.5	0.38	2.16	8.53
Ruttonsha Int	4	2.31	4.25	7.36
Zicom Security	10.7	3.65	2.46	7.21
Hind Rectifiers	9.05	7.46	4.25	5.15
Cosmo Ferrites	5.72	3.29	1.92	3.33
Genus Power	3.64	3.3	2.25	2.48

Bharath cost 12-13 times. Companies that cost more than BEL seem to be very costly. More analysis may be needed. But These dont seem to be worth the price.

Company Name	Net Profit	Debt
Asian Electroni	-79.26	168.6
BCC Fuba	-0.37	5.77
Bharat Elec	861.47	0.41
Centum Electron	3.39	37.92
Circuit Systems	0.2	14.88
Cosmo Ferrites	4.18	16.51
Delta Magnets	0.84	15.19
Deltron	0.11
ECE Industries	2.09	1.63
Fine-line Circ	0.07
Genus Power	54.77	300.2
Guj Poly AVX	0.55	1.84
Hind Rectifiers	10.12	7.25
Incap	-0.44	6.17
Integrated Tech	-1.24	6.32
JCT Electronics	-19.86	353.27
Linaks Micro	-0.87	29
Rama Vision	0.35	0.57
Ruttonsha Int	1.49	7.85
Samtel (India)	0	2
Samtel Color	-83.93	298.49
Shree Pacetroni	0.16	3.29
SV Electricals	1.03
Zicom Security	14.58	63.75

From the debt, Asian electronics, JCT, Samtel Color and BCC may not even be able to run profits each year. that too with unsustainable debts. BEL is a PSU with very low debt. Genus and Zicom are companies which have good aspirations, but huge debt may bring its performance down during the bad years - so, need to watch the performance.

PVR - Business

P/E is 8 times. Dividend yield is 0.79%, MCap is 329 Cr. Price is 127 when blogged.

This is very visible and glittery business, but how profitable is it? Not so much. Sales increased from 200 Cr to 400 Cr in 5 years until FY11. net profit increased from 10 to 16 Cr in the same period. NPM is a paltry 4%. Debt has increased from 60 Cr to 160 Cr in the same period. The company pays 16 Cr in interest for the debt. 

South Indians are movie buffs - this can be observed from the over 70% occupancy in this region. 

How it earns:

Movie exhibition in 142 screens across 18 cities. (Ticket sales) - 70%

Movie distribution(Revenue sharing)/Co-production  - 20%

Food and beverage sales - 10%

Advertisement - marginal

How it spends:

Distribution

Employees

Rent

NHPC - Business

Operates 12 Power stations. Consultancy for hydro power projects. Devloping power projects around India, even in neighboring countries like Bhutan. Electricity is sold to State EBs based on PPA (power purchase agreements). 

The power generation depends on how the power stations are managed, you cannot expect too much from a PSU. More than that, the power generated on local problems, weather problems, how much it rains, etc.

EBs are not in a very good financial position. They may defer on payments. 

Micro Technologies - 532494

Forbes had a article in  Sep 2010 about Micro technologies.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0913/best-under-billion-10-micro-technologies-inventively-pleasant.html?boxes=Homepagelighttop

Promoter - Sekhar Padmanabhan, pHd from University of Mumbai. Aditya Sekhar is his son and taking over his reins - now, he is the Chief Strategic Officer.

Established in 1992

223 Cr market cap at current price of Rs. 156.20. FY11 NP was at 44Cr. Expected NPM is 10 to 13 %. Regular dividend payer with a yield of 0.5 to 0.75%. 

Mumbai based company. Production and assembly in Baddi, HP (tax benefits). 

Security products like software that calls or SMSs when someone accesses your computer or black boxes placed in power stations which monitor temperature, fuel levels, sabotage etc and calls/SMSes employees.

Clients:

Reliance Industries, Reliance Energy, ICICI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Sicom, 

HPCL, BPCL,  IL & FS, IOC, TVS Group, Rolta, Eureka, Glenmark, Pantaloon, 

Shapoorji Group, Mumbai Railway, RCF, Atlas Copco, MTNL & L & T etc.

http://www.microtechnologies.net/ 

IVRCL group workings

3 group companies which have been used by promoters to play around:

IVRCL (earlier IVRCL infra)

IVRCL holdings (promoted by IVRCL)
Hindustan Dorr-Oliver (promoted by IVRCL)

Promoter is Sudhir Reddy. He holds very low shares (11% in IVRCL infra, IVRCL holds 75% in IVRCL holdings and 55% in Hind Dorr-Oliver) - no pledged shares. So, essentailly Sudhir Reddy is holding very less in these companies. Government pension fund, HSBC and ICICI hold double Sudhir Reddy's shares. Again, this is not a L&T to run without promoters.

Stock split in Mar 2006

Bonus Shares 1:1 in Mar 2010

Sell a part of the company (IVRCL holdings) listing it as an IPO

Sell BOT assets of IVRCL to IVRCL holdings and move IPO money to IVRCL

Announce IVRCL and IVRCL holding to merge and move real estate to a new company

BUY UK based bankrupt firm Davy Markham through Hind Dorr Oliver.

Seek a Buyer for HDO.

Finally, move HDO's manufacturing unit into a new company and seek a Buyer for either HDO or the manufacturing company.

Great Offshore - business

This stock is in its 52 week low. Is it a good time to buy?

Approximately 2900 Cr debt as of March 2011. This is the reason, I think GOL is finding new bottoms. Profits have declined, but this company is not making any losses as such. 

Bharati Shipyard is the promoter

In 2009, Vijay Kantilal Sheth, the promoter of Great Offshore Ltd (GOL), was in trouble when lenders made margin calls under a share-pledge deal. The promoters of Bharati Shipyard stepped in to help Sheth with the required cash.

Although Bharati Shipyard’s PC Kapoor maintained that it was only a strategic investor, it subsequently wrested around 14.89 per cent stake in GOL, making itself the largest shareholder, and launched an open offer for another 20 per cent. This was the first instance in the history of corporate India, where pledged shares were invoked.

The battle to acquire GOL intensified after ABG Shipyard made a counter offer to acquire 33.8 per cent. Both continued mopping up shares from the market and revising the offer price in a takeover battle that lasted over six months. It finally came to an end when ABG Shipyard exited the race and Bharati Shipyard took control of GOL.

Source: Business Standard

A2Z Maintenance and Engineering Services - 533292

BSE: 533292 

NSE: A2ZMES

Sector: EPC, Engineering, Power


Jhunjhunwala stock, very volatile. Has been falling since listing in Dec 2010. Now at 12 times PE. This company was established in 2002. Serves state Ebs, State distribution companies and transmission companies. EPC company focussing on power.


http://www.a2zgroup.co.in/

The group lists the following companies as group companies:

A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services Limited

A2Z Infraservices Limited

A2Z Infrastructure Limited

A2Z Powercom Limited

A2Z Powertech Limited

A2Z Water Solutions Ltd

A2Z E Waste Management Ltd

As this has listed only for a year, it is better to wait to understand the regular dividend payout. 

Pledged shares - Promoters have 42% shareholding. 17% is pledged. So essentially promoters hold 25%.

Amit Mittal the major shareholder himself has pledged 40% of his shareholding.

This share is case of major fall in prices and great loss to public who just invested because of Jhunjhunwala, engineering and power. It is not right to pay 30-40 times earnings for new companies listing in BSE comparing them to Areva and Alstom which are MNC companies. Now Areva and Alstom trade at 15-20 PE. Now A2Z is trading at 12 times. I feel there is even more downside. can buy at 10 times.

If you had bought this is IPO at Rs. 400. you have 25% of your money remaining. This is why I stay out of unknown companies in IPOs.

ICICI Direct Muhurat picks 2011

1. Bharti 

2. Biocon

3. HDFC Bank

4. HPCL

5. ITC

Voltas

As soon as I think of this company, I think of air conditioners. Is this company worth current market capital of 3500 Cr just for selling ACs?

A - Electro-Mechanical products and services

B - Engineering products and services

C - Unitary Cooling products (ACs)

This company does more than that. 

More than 50% of the business is from EMP or MEP services - Voltas is still seen as a HVAC player in India. HVAC contracts would be offered by airports, metro train stations, malls, IT parks, hospitals, industry floors, games stadias, etc. Voltas would essentially have to design and implement heating, ventilation and air conditioning contracts. Voltas may get other parts of the project as well such as plumbing, electrical work, fire and safety, environmental control system, etc. Full fledged MEP contracts are still not common in India, but are common in developed countries. The company has been winning and executing waste water and air quality projects in environmental engineering. Middle east is a major market for Voltas' MEP projects.

Around 10% of the revenues come from the engineering services. Voltas manufactures textile machinery - spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing. The company also manufactures mining and construction equipment - crushing, screening, mining loaders, crawler cranes and large excavators. Materials handling equipment are also manufactured by Voltas.

The remaining 35% of the revenues for Voltas are from ACs. They have all types of models in the market and a very good distribution network. This is a very competitive market, esp from foreign brands.

Gold - Who sells gold?

In India, everyone I know only buys gold. No one sells them. Glitter of gold is always invigorating to the average Indian female. From my pea brain, I also know that women from Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malasia, Philipines and African countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe are also gold crazy. 

Governments, banks and even some huge organizations hoard gold assuming gold is a safe haven. What do they even do with that? they just spend on a huge security system and an strong vault which would keep the value locked in it. What happens if gold price falls a bit - they still hold it.

More than women and governments, there are these ETFs which buy gold on behalf of many investors (investors are both people and organizations). This is the category which really manipulates the price of gold. The ease which with you can buy or sell ETFs make this crazy market even crazier. 

So, when I sit back and read that Marc Faber expects prices to go down to $1500 or even lower to $1100, I am angered at the ETF investor who has both been pumping in money when gold was lower and sell when gold was higher.

Spicejet - is it a good time to buy?

Maran buys more stake in Spicejet putting in 130 Cr and making his stake 43%. Does that mean it is profitable to buy Spicejet at this time?

I dont think so. I always am not a fan of airline companies. Or any companies which do not make profits.

the company just shows 85 Cr of debt and 90 Cr of negative reserves. For a 1000 Cr market cap and FY11 earnings of 100 Cr seems like around 10 times and hence attractive. Until 2 years back this company made heavy losses. these have still not been recovered.

But the negatives are that, this is a very competitive industry with Air India, Jet and Kingfisher taking most of the costly tickets. So called no-frills airlines are also very competitive with JetLite, KF(delta), Paramount, GoAir, etc.

With crude prices at more than $100, airlines cannot be profitable as they need to competitive, i.e. low revenue.

As it is seductive to own an airline, a lot of people try to own an airline. Richard Branson (Virgin) and VIjay Mallya are of that breed. They own an airline and that is a style statement.

Worldover, airline stocks have been the most speculative, they have never made continuous profits.

Some people say Maran has put in 2G money into Spicejet. To me, what matters is, can Spice pull off?

I appreciate Maran for the way he built Sun (though with political connections) - it was a well run company. But can he make this a sucess story? Can putting money into a loss making enterprise, buying more airplanes, improving customer service, introducing more routes really help a faltering company? I dont know.

let us watch and see. To me, I dont know, but I feel it is too difficult a task.