GE Shipping Shares Rise

Shares of The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, India's largest privately-owned shipping company, rose as much as 7.2 percent in a flat market on Friday buoyed by a new share buy-back plan. The stock was also boosted by news the company posted a 69 percent rise in the January-March quarter. The company announced late Thursday it plans to buy back stock from shareholders, at a maximum price of 42 rupees, a 32 percent premium to Thursday's closing price. It also reported net profit grew 69 percent to 545.9 million rupees in the three months ended March and 66 percent to 1.8 billion in the year to March. This is the second time a buy-back is being offered by the company in less than a year and follows the buy-back announced in October last year at the same price. Brokers said the 2.75 rupees per share dividend announced by the company was also attracting investors. "At the current price the yield works out to over eight percent and given the buy-back offer there is unlikely to be any capital loss for the investor," said the broker referring to the difference between the cum-dividend and ex-dividend price. - (Reuters)