Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), a public sector undertaking, was trading at Rs. 61 per share on Friday morning even as the one-day stake sale for retail investors by the Indian government was underway. The government is offloading up to 7 percent of its 89.95 percent stake in the 49-year-old company. The offer ends at 3.30 pm.
The HCL stock has been trading between Rs 50 and Rs 64 in the past three months on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The stake sale for non-retail investors was on Thursday.
The company is offering a discount to retail investors in the one-day offer-for-sale programme.
"Retail investors will be allocated offer shares at the discounted price i.e. at a discount of 5% to the Cut-off price in accordance with the SEBI OFS circular. The discounted price, which shall be the final allocation price to the Retail investors, may be below the floor price," a statement by the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) said.
HCL earned a net profit of Rs 43.56 crore in 2015-16, 35 percent lower than Rs 67.60 in the preceding fiscal, on turnover of Rs 1,068.95 crore, lower than Rs 1,127.49 crore in 2014-15. The company attributed the fall in net profit to bearish market conditions for the commodity.
"The decrease in Profit is due to fall in LME average price by 20.43 percent during the fiscal year 2015-16 as compared to last fiscal year. Average LME Price during FY 2015-16 was $5215/tonne as against $6554/tonne during FY 2014-15," the company said in its annual report for FY2016.
The net worth of the company was Rs 1,913.39 crore as of March 31 2016.
HCL skipped dividend for 2015-16 citing "capex and business expansion needs and substantial reduction in cash and bank balances."
The company formed a joint venture with state government-owned Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. for exploration, mining and beneficiation of copper and its associated minerals in Chhattisgarh on August 30 2016.
HCL has exploration, mining and related facilities in five states comprising Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
