Biggest township project in Kerala enhances Sobha Developers' appeal

Biggest township project in Kerala enhances Sobha Developers' appeal

Sobha Developers had moved up 1.76% to Rs 792.60 at 10:33 IST after
announcing its intention to set up Kerala's largest township.

The BSE Sensex, meanwhile, was up 357 points, or 2.55%, to 14,501,
tracking firm global markets.

On BSE, 4,327 shares were traded on the counter today. The scrip had
an average daily volume of 62,418 shares in the past one quarter.

Shares of the mid-cap real-estate development and construction company
focusing on residential and commercial projects had hit a high of Rs
812 and a low of Rs 791.20 so far during the day. They had touched a
52-week high of Rs 1179 on 20 December 2006 and a 52-week low of Rs
620 on 8 March 2007.

Sobha Developers had underperformed the market over the last one month
to 17 August 2007, declining 14.85% compared to the Sensex's fall of
9.06%. It had also underperformed the market over the past quarter,
falling 17.24% compared to the Sensex's fall of 1.13%.

>From a recent high of Rs 850.60 on 8 August 2007, the scrip had
slipped 12.63% to Rs 743.15 on 16 August 2007. It rose to 778.90 on 17
August 2007.

The company's current equity is Rs 72.90 crore, with 7.29 crore
outstanding shares of face value of Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 792.60 discounts its Q1 June 2007 annualised
EPS of Rs 22.39 by a PE multiple of 35.39.

Sobha Developers announced before market hours today, 20 August 2007,
the company will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
the government of Kerala today, 20 August 2007, for setting up the
largest township development in Kerala, Sobha Hitech City. The draft
of the MoU has already been approved by the state government.

Coming up near Maradu in Kochi, Sobha Hitech City project will create
an integrated city with a focus on research & development, knowledge
dissemination, electronics, information technology and pure and
applied sciences. The investment of Rs 5000 crore is the highest in
such poject in the state. The development is expected to create 75,000
direct jobs. Around 320 acres of the 400a cres required have already
been acquired.

Infrastructure work will commence after the signing of the MoU. The
project is expected to take 8 to 10 years for completion after receipt
of necessary approvals.

Sobha Developers' net profit surged 141.42 % to Rs 40.8 crore on a
30.87% rise in total income to Rs 269.2 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1
June 2006.

The company was incorporated in Bangalore in 1995.