Sobha rises as board mulls buyback proposal

NEW DELHI: Stocks of real estate developer Sobha ended higher by 0.73 per cent on Tuesday after the firm said its board would consider a buyback proposal on Thursday.

In a regulatory filing to BSE, the company said, “a meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on May 19, 2016,” to consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company.

Following the development, the stock jumped 3.71 per cent to hit a high of Rs 314.50 on BSE. The stock closed at Rs 305.45, up 0.73 per cent.

The company said it will also announce its audited standalone and consolidated financial results for the financial year ended March 31, 2016 on the day and would recommend dividend, if any.

Kotak Institutional Equities is expecting the company to report sales of Rs 581.20 crore for the March quarter, compared with Rs 399 crore (up 14.8 per cent) in the December quarter and Rs 506.30 crore (up 45.7 per cent YOY) in the year ago quarter.

Reported PAT is expected to expand by 33.6 per cent to Rs 514 crore from Rs 321 crore in the March quarter. On YoY basis, profit is expected to degrow by 16.5 per cent.>