Heard on the street: Thinksoft Global Services

Strong earnings prospects lift Thinksoft Global stock 9%

Thinksoft Global Services, a smallcap financial software testing company, gained sharply to outperform its peers and the broader market despite generally choppy session on Wednesday. The stock rose nearly 9% to Rs 56.4 while the counter attracted significantly higher volumes of 3.2 lakh shares compared with the two-week average of 25,000 shares on the BSE. Brokers tracking the movement in the stock attributed the spurt in share price to hopes of better growth prospects of the company, after it announced growth plans for the current year.

Thinksoft Global said it would explore inorganic growth opportunities through acquisitions in the range ofRs 15-30 crore, which will be funded through internal cash accruals. Analysts, however, feel the sudden interest in the counter could have been speculative as the sharp rise in the price came despite the company’s disappointing earnings. Its consolidated net profit fell sharply by 77% toRs 1.9 crore on flat sales of Rs 83 crore in 2010-11. Out of the total quantity of Thinksoft Global shares traded on the BSE, only 19.3% actually changed hands compared with the average delivery ratio of 45.8% for all the stocks traded on the exchange on Wednesday.

Contributed by Vijay Gurav


UBS’ Murugaiyan Seen Moving to BNP Paribas as I-bank Head

After exiting foreign broking house UBS this week, Ganeshan Murugaiyan is set to join French bank BNP Paribas to lead its investment banking business in India, said two persons familiar with the development. Murugaiyan was with the Swiss bank for five years and had moved in from DSP Merill Lynch in 2006. UBS has named Ashok Mittal as its new chief of the investment banking division.

When contacted, Murugaiyan declined to comment on his new appointment. BNP Paribas is stepping up its investment banking business in India, a region where the foreign bank sees a tremendous potential for growth of its business.

Contributed by Reena Zachariah