Hirco bounces back in second half

LONDON (ShareCast) - Indian investment vehicle Hirco (LSE: HRCO.L - news) moved back into profit in the second half of its financial year as the Indian economy began to pick up.

After posting an after-tax loss of £30.9m at the interim stage, the township developer made a profit of £13.2m in the six months to 30 September. Loss after tax for the full year was £17.7m.

Net asset value per share increased to 689p from 672p at the halfway stage, but was down from 712p at the end of September 2008.

The value of Hirco's investments at the end of September was £414.6m, down £58,1m over the 12-month period but still higher than £350.8m the company paid for the assets.

'The rising confidence in the second half of the year that the worst was over for the Indian economy translated into strong increases in both sales and sales enquiries in the last quarter. We also continued to make steady progress in the construction of phase 1 of our developments, with the first residential buildings in the Chennai township expected to be ready for delivery in the next several months,' said chairman of Hirco, Niranjan Hiranandani.