Escorts pays 45% dividend

MUMBAI: Escorts Ltd has announced an increased dividend of 45 % for the year ended March 1997 on the enhanced capital, up from 40 % paid last year. This involves an outflow of Rs 27.77 crore.

Even though, it divested its piston and Rajdoot business during the year to form new joint venture companies, the income of the company has grown to Rs 1,657 crore up from Rs 1,444 crore last year. Profit has grown from Rs 139 crore to Rs 167 crore. EPS has risen to Rs 19.52, the book value to Rs 122 per share.

Adfactors

MUMBAI: Adfactors Adverstising, which mobilised the largest volume of funds through public issues in 1995-96, has once again achieved the same ranking for 1996-97, according to the latest report from Prime Database, the leading primary market monitoring service.

The agency mobilised a total of Rs 5,213.92 crore, including retained oversubscriptions, which accounted for 44.8 % of the total funds raised from the primary capital market this year. The agency's growth has come not from handling a large number of small issues, but by effectively marketing large issues.

Sobhagya stood second in the list by mobilising Rs 3,679.13 crore (31.6 %) and Clea third by mobilising Rs 3,237.77 crore (27.8 %).

WPI to be recast

MUMBAI: The government is contemplating a new inflation measuring mechanism as the existing system of computing the rate of price rise based on the wholesale price index (WPI) has been found unrealistic as it tends to exaggerate rise or fall in inflation. The new WPI will have two indices, one representing the price movement in commodities and another adjusted index to reflect the inflation, said planning commission member SR Hashim.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.