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| India Unilever shares up on property sale report |
| Tuesday, July 24, 2007 |
Shares in India's top consumer goods maker, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HLL.BO: Quote, Profile , Research), rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday on speculation it was selling some of its prime properties, but the company denied it was doing so.
The company has begun the process of selling some of its real estate assets, including its Mumbai headquarters and some residential assets, the Economic Times reported.
It said Hindustan Unilever was likely to earn big gains on sales of its properties in Mumbai and Bangalore, where real estate prices have surged.
A spokesman for the company said the report was wrong.
"The speculation that we've initiated a process to sell India properties across is wrong," he said.
"We do assess options for our idle assets, but that is on an ongoing basis, and there is no separate process that we have initiated for them," he said, referring to the report that said the company was assessing options with property developers.
Shares in the company, 52-percent owned by Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc (ULVR.L: Quote, Profile , Research) (UNc.AS: Quote, Profile , Research), rose as much as 2.2 percent in early deals and were up 1.3 percent at 202.30 rupees at 0605 GMT.
Hindustan Unilever has been divesting some smaller units to focus on its core portfolio, which includes Lux soap, Surf detergent, Lipton tea and Wall's ice-cream.
The company is forecast to report on Sunday a 14 percent increase in its April-June net profit to 4.36 billion rupees ($108 million). For the poll, please double-click on [ID:nBOM187887].
Its board will also consider its first-ever buyback of shares, which analysts expect will be up to 1.5 percent of its outstanding equity, or 33.15 million shares.
"There is a positive sentiment around the stock because of the buyback, and talk about the company selling some properties is boosting that sentiment," said a trader. ($1=40.3 rupees) |
posted by India Properties @ 11:40 PM  |
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