India's Kaveri Seed extends losses on poor results, state licence suspension

Kaveri Seed

20/02/2019 07:56

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Kaveri Seed Co Ltd's  KVRI.NS  shares
extended falls into a fifth session on Wednesday, shedding as
much as 12.3 percent to a 27-month low.
    The stock had lost almost 18 percent of its value, as of
last close, after the seed company posted a near 33 percent drop
in third-quarter profit on Feb. 14, hurt by higher expenses, and
named a new chief financial officer.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2090KX
    Earlier, the Hindu Business Line newspaper had reported https://bit.ly/2ShmcVG
 that the southern state of Andhra Pradesh suspended the
company's licence over "illegal sowing of herbicide tolerant
(HT) cotton seeds".
    "There is a long-drawn litigation process about the revoking
of licence, it will affect their performance," said Umesh Mehta,
head of research at Mumbai-based Samco Securities Ltd.
    "There are fears that other states might follow suit and
cotton (seed) sales could be heavily impacted"
    Secunderabad, Telangana-based Kaveri Seed was not
immediately available for comments.
    Kaveri Seed's shares fell to a low of 368.80 rupees and were
down 4.5 percent at 401.5 rupees, as of 0752GMT, in high-volume
trade. Nearly 18.6 million shares had changed hands by 0752 GMT,
18.2 times their 30-day average.

 (Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((chandini.m@thomsonreuters.com; +91-82-6749-7919; Reuters
Messaging: chandini.m.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))