Bhel advanced further on buying interest from FIIs, surging to a new 52-week high of Rs 265.50.

However, the scrip of the state-run electrical equipment maker eased a bit then on, but was still up by 2.73% at Rs 263 on BSE at 11:54 IST. Volumes of 76,331 Bhel shares changed hands till then. In the last six months, the scrip has risen a solid 83% from its 52-week low of Rs 144 on 1 November 2002.

Dealers say today's rise in the stock is on some decent buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Bhel has also been boosted by rumours that the company may receive a huge order soon, but no details about the order have been furnished by market sources.

Earlier, there were reports that the company expects a double-digit growth in the current financial year. To vindicate those expectations is the fact that the company has orders worth Rs 16,000 crore on its books. Of these, 70% was received in the previous financial year.

The company recently announced its decision to diversify into power distribution and generation. This forward integration move is aimed at ensuring steady cash inflows.

The diversification should eventually garner for Bhel revenues up to 30-35% of total revenues. The company has said that funds for the diversification were no constraint.

The recent Electricity Bill has paved the way for the company's foray into power generation and distribution, hitherto a daunting area of operations as electricity generated was needed to be sold to loss-making state electricity boards (SEBs) which did not have the resources to make timely payments for power purchased.

The bill aims at improving the health of SEBs and putting the power sector on a viable and sustainable growth track. This, in turn, will help Bhel improve its financials, especially as it receives 60% of its revenues from SEBs. Incidentally, the dues from electricity boards have already dropped from Rs 1,400 crore to Rs 850 crore during FY 2002-03.

For Q4 ended 31 March 2003, the company recorded a 2.6% rise in net profit to Rs 376.10 crore (Rs 366.54 crore) on a 3% increase in total income to Rs 3,260.84 crore (Rs 3,166.81 crore). For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company's net profit stood at Rs 517.06 crore (Rs 467.95 crore) on total income of Rs 7,206.56 crore (Rs 7,066.41 crore).

Bhel is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India, and a leading international company in the field of power equipment manufacture. The Centre has decided to sell 17% equity stake in Bhel to bring down its holding to 51% from 67.7%.