India's Sona BLW jumps on $190.3 mln railway equipment deal

Sona Blw Precision Forgings

24/10/2024 05:17

** Shares of India's Sona BLW Precision Forgings  SONB.NS 
rise ~9% to 701 rupees in early trade 
    ** Co to buy railway equipment division of Escorts Kubota
 ESCO.NS  at enterprise value of 16 bln rupees ($190.3 mln);
ESCO drops 5.3% on the day  
    ** "Good" deal provides opportune diversification for SONB
at attractive valuation, says Jefferies
    ** Separately, SONB's Q2 revenue grew 17% YoY; profit after
tax climbed 16% YoY
    ** On avg, SONB rated "buy" while ESCO rated "sell" - LSEG
data
    ** SONB has risen 9% and ESCO has climbed 15% YTD 

($1 = 84.0660 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com;))