Havells gains 3%; Bank of America sees better Q2 numbers

Moneycontrol Bureau

Investors are buying shares of Havells India with the stock rising 3 percent in afternoon trade Friday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch says that the electrical equipment manufacturer is likely to see better second quarter earnings.

The brokerage house sees increased visibility of expected 25 percent EPS growth in FY14 and 16 percent growth in FY15. It has a neutral view on the stock and raised target price by 3 percent to Rs 710.

Meanwhile, Anil Gupta, joint MD of Havells India believes the demand growth for the company has improved.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said despite macro challenges, the company's initiatives are helping it come back to the growth levels that they had expected in the beginning of the year. "We are expecting a good quarter in the Q2 and are expecting it to continue in Q3 as well because of the good monsoons," Gupta adds.

The company's standalone net profit increased to Rs 94.66 crore in the quarter ended June 2013 from Rs 80.08 crore in a year ago period. Revenues grew just Rs 1044.06 crore from Rs 1032.80 crore during the same period.

At 13:16 hours IST, the stock gained 2.5 percent to Rs 636 amid hefty volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

(Posted by Sunil Shankar Matkar)