Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DCH), whose trading has been suspended by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), has seen its share price fall more than 33% in just eight days.
The stock has been touching its lower circuit on each of the trading sessions since the NSE announced its decision to suspend DCH for non-compliance with the listing agreement.
On Friday, shares of DCH, which are available for trading on the BSE, closed at a new low of R4.79, down 5%. The shares have lost 33.20% since January 15, when the NSE issued a circular to suspend DCH from January 23.
Analysts say while the stock was looked upon as a weak bet on account of the debt woes, the sentiment took a further beating when the NSE decided to suspend the shares of the Hyderabad-based company. The exchange suspended DCH for failing to make important statutory disclosures.
According to the NSE, the company has not submitted the latest shareholding pattern, corporate governance report, financial results and reconciliation of share capital audit report for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.
Early this week, the company announced its financial numbers for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, reporting a loss of R100.05 crore. The company attributed the loss to a decline in revenue and increased costs.
More importantly, for the first time, the company formally revealed that it has a total debt of nearly R4,000 crore and the promoter holding has also halved. For the financial year ended March 31, 2012, the company reported a loss of R774 crore against a net profit of R163 crore for the previous fiscal.
The weak numbers come at a time when the troubled company has already been restrained from disposing of any assets ? movable and immovable ? by the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Hyderabad. It is believed that the company has mortgaged assets with multiple banks, leading to a vicious circle in a multiple lending process.
Several bankers have already initiated proceedings against the company for recovery, including winding-up petitions in the High Court. DCH has taken loans from many public sector banks of R1,090 crore.
Various banks and financial institutions, such as IFCI, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Yes Bank, Tata Capital, PVP Capital, National Pension System Trust, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance, Kolkata-based Concast Group and Chennai-based print trader Photon Infotech, have filed suits in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
