Two Adani Group firms are among the Gujarat-based business houses whose shares gave the maximum returns to investors in financial year 2017-18, while another group company is right at the bottom.
An analysis of share prices of top-25 Gujarat-based listed companies, both private and government owned, shows that FY 2018 was a mixed bag for these companies. Shares of 16 of these companies were priced higher on March 29, 2018, than they were a year ago, while shares of remaining nine closed lower.
The analysis shows that Adani Transmission, which has emerged as the largest power transmission company in the private sector, rose by 195% or nearly thrice during the last year. The company's market cap was just a little over Rs7,000 crore on March 31, 2017, and rose to Rs21,034 crore on Thursday.
Shares of Adani Enterprises, which is diversified into trading and other businesses, rose by 44% during the year, the sixth highest among the major Gujarat companies. The spurt in share prices of his companies is the reason why Gautam Adani's wealth more than double in a year.
Ahmedabad-based animal vaccine company Hester Biosciences saw its share price more than double from Rs. 763 to Rs1,604 during the financial year. Its M-cap was Rs1,364 crore on Thursday.
The shares of Gujarat government owned Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) rose by 72% during the year, the third highest among listed entities from the state. Shares of PVC pipe manufacturer Astral Poly and Chirayu Amin-led Alembic Limited rose by 64% and 45% respectively.
Among the laggards, Adani Power was the worst performer among the 25 companies. The Supreme Court had ruled during the year that the company was not eligible for compensatory tariff for power generated at its Mundra plant. The stock ended 40% lower since March 2017.
Three pharma companies saw a big dip in share price, putting them in the bottom five. Shares of Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Healthcare, and Alembic Pharma were lower by 20%, 15% and 12% respectively. Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC) was the only PSU whose shares closed lower than last year's price. Its performance was in contrast to that of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNFC), whose shares were up more than 26% during the financial year.
The shares of Gujarat State Petronet Limited, which acquired 28% stake in Gujarat Gas from its parent GSPC for a little over Rs3,200 crore, earlier this week, were also up by 17%.
