Sun TV Network slips as promoter pledges shares

Sun TV Network slipped 0.90% to Rs 154.35 at 14:15 IST on BSE, after the company said a promoter has pledged 1.65 crore shares which is 4.19% of the equity capital of the company.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 9 March 2009.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 174.02 points, or 2.09%, to 8,151.80.

On BSE, 5,195 shares were traded in the counter. The stock had an average daily volume of 2.86 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 157.50 and a low of Rs 153.50 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 390 on 30 May 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 125.10 on 1 December 2009.

The mid-cap stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 6 March 2009, falling 6.32% as compared to the Sensex's 10.48% fall. It had also outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 5.98% as compared to the Sensex's 7.13% fall.

The company's current equity is Rs 197.04 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

The current price of Rs 154.35 discounts the company's Q3 December 2008 annualized EPS of Rs 11.39, by a PE multiple of 13.55.

Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Kalanithi Maran, also a promoter of Sun TV Network, has pledged more than 1.65 crore shares or 4.19% stake of the firm. The company did not mention with whom the shares were pledged. Kalanithi Maran's shareholding in the company stood at 77% as on 31 December 2008.

The issue of pledged shares has gained importance in the recent past after it was discovered that the entire promoter stake of the fraud-hit Satyam Computers was pledged with various financial institutions. Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has since made it mandatory for companies to disclose details related to pledge shares.

There are fears that the lenders may dump the pledged shares if the promoters fail to repay the loan.

The company had on 5 February 2009 launched its new Tamil comedy channel named 'Adithya'.

Sun TV Network's net profit rose 9.7% to Rs 112.24 crore on 24.4% rise in net sales to Rs 270.83 crore in Q3 December 2008 over Q3 December 2007.

Sun TV Network is a leading television broadcaster in all southern states of India. It offers four Tamil language channels including Sun TV, Sun News, Sun Music and KTV as also two Malayalam channels Surya TV and Kiran TV, apart from Telugu and Kannada channels.