Throwing a lifeline

Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot has bought close to 50 lakh shares in the company at ₹198 levels over the past one month through group company Nippon Investment & Finance, which has since increased its stake from 3.1% to 4.6%. Incidentally, the promoters, who hold 67.83% stake in the consumer durables-to-telecom company, have pledged more than half of their holdings. Though the stock has more than doubled from its low of ₹87 in March 2009 to current levels of ₹212, it has been floundering since hitting a high of ₹823 in early 2008. Today, the company has slipped into the red with a consolidated loss of ₹1,363 crore for the year ended December 2012 even as sales slipped 9% to ₹13,415 crore. What has proved to be a drag on the bottomline is the overall debt of over ₹27,000 crore. In fact, in the last quarter, Videocon incurred a finance cost of over ₹400 crore. It has invested over ₹4,000 crore in its telecom foray, but had to shut down services in 11 circles after the Supreme Court cancelled several telecom licences in wake of the 2G scam.