With Navneet Publications having bought three trademarks, the stock is likely to witness a rally. The company has recently acquired three registered trademarks -- Navneet, Vikas and Gala -- from three partnership firms, belonging to the promoters, for a consideration of Re 1 each. The scrip is currently traded at Rs 515.7 but is expected to touch the Rs 700-mark soon.

In mid-August, the stock had zoomed from Rs 379 to Rs 599 on news of it being included in the Group A of BSE. However, later on, the stock fell to Rs 476 as the scrip was removed from the list of new entrants. The scrip, however, is now on the recovery path.

For the year ended September 30, 1999, the company is expected to report a net profit of Rs 26 crore and an EPS of Rs 27.36. The stock is currently traded at a PE of 18.84 times.

The company has a 50 per cent market share of the school books and stationary. The company enjoys a strong distribution network and has an established brand namewhich has become synonymous with `guides and 21 sets'. The company deals not only in school books and storybooks for children, but also in stationary like exercise books, notepads etc, which account for 50 per cent of its business.

This zero-debt company is planning to leverage on its strong brand name and wide product range to increase its export business. Export markets currently account for only a marginal 10-15 per cent of its business. In spite of its stronghold of 2400 titles, published in four languages, the company faces competition from the unorganised sector. Thus, the company plans to foray into internet-based education.

The company has already launched its first educational CD called the `World if Talking Pictures' at a cost of Rs 50 lakh. Navneet already offers an `edutainment' site on the internet. With the internet connections to touch 3 lakh by the year 2001, it is also planning to launch a series of CD-ROM titles under the Navneet Look and Learn library series.

Rise in aluminiumprices perks up Indal

With the aluminium prices on the rise, Indal is poised for a rally on the bourses. Also, Indian Aluminium Ltd (Indal)'s decision to invest Rs 800 crore to raise alumina production capacity coupled with setting up of a new captive power plant may fuel a rally at this counter. The scrip is currently hovering around Rs 115.15. In the past one month, the scrip moved from Rs 78 to Rs 124. At current levels, the company is enjoying a low PE of 10.8 times.

The aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has increased from US$ 1,150 to over US$ 1,500 per tonne. While in the domestic market, prices were hiked by Rs 3,000 per tonne in June-July this year.

With the revival of the Asian economies, major consumers of aluminium, the demand for the metal is likely to pick-up further. Additional capacities, therefore, may come in handy to boost the bottomline.

For the first three-months of the current fiscal, Indal recorded a higher net profit of Rs 17.53 crore despite fall in salesto Rs 222.86 crore. In the corresponding quarter of the last year, the company reported a net profit of Rs 16.12 crore on sales of Rs 237 crore. The company would be increasing the alumina capacity from 3.18 lakh tonnes per annum to 5.1 lakh tonnes at a cost of Rs 400 crore at Karnataka) and setting up a new captive power plant at Hirakud (Orissa).

Indal, the 54 per cent subsidiary of Canadian aluminium multinational Alcan, has recently undertaken an expansion of Rs 12-13 crore at Muri by increasing the capacity of its alumina plant from 80,000 tonnes to one lakh tonnes per annum.

Sunita Nagpal