Speaking to The Financial Express, ALL executive director (finance) T Anantha Narayanan said that the board would decide whether it was worthwhile to buy back the shares and if so fix the quantum of equity to be bought back and the ceiling price. It will also decide on the route to be adopted for buying back the shares be it stock market or through tenders. Finally, the mode of funding the buyback will also be discussed, he added.

ALL's current paid-up equity stands at Rs 118.93 crore comprising of 11.89 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. Its reserves and surplus stands at Rs 1,021.22 crore of which share premium accounts for Rs 638.84 crore, general reserve Rs 183.33 crore and surplus in the profit and loss account Rs 64.28 crore.

The question of buyback comes at a time when all is not well in the commercial vehicle segment. The revival the industry witnessed last year proved to be shortlived and the demand continues to be sluggish in the last few months. The rationalisation in the sales tax structure by many northern states, general slowdown in the economy and consequent idle capacity among fleet operators are some of the factors attributed for the poor offtake. Experts opine that the latest increase in diesel prices will only further compound the problems for the industry.

ALL for the first half of the current fiscal sold 14,198 vehicles compared to 15,458 in the corresponding period of the previous year, a decline of 8 per cent. The current year figure, however, does not include army sales which are being done in the form of aggregates now. The saving grace for ALL has been the passenger segment. It sold 2,350 vehicles in the first six months of the current fiscal as against 960 in the previous period thereby increasing its market share to 37 per cent from 21 per cent. For the first quarter the company has posted a topline of Rs 444.73 crore (Rs 476.53 crore) lower by seven per cent and a net loss of Rs 19.69 crore (Rs 16.22 crore). Its shares are currently quoting at Rs 36 levels.