The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 12 March 2010.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 51.19 points, or 0.30%, to 17,115.43.

On BSE, 3.11 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 9.17 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 60.15 and a low of Rs 57.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 76.75 on 3 June 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 21 on 12 March 2009.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 March 2010, gaining 0.53% compared with the Sensex's 6.28% rise. It underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 0.86% as against 0.28% rise in the Sensex.

The mid-cap shipping company has an equity capital of Rs 23.60 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.

The current price of Rs 59.20 discounts the company's Q3 December 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 0.96, by a PE multiple of 61.66.

The company had also acquired another vessel in December, the firm said. The cost of acquisition of the two the vessels is about Rs 83 crore, it said. The acquisition was financed through a mix of debt and internal accruals.

The firm also said its Singapore unit, Mercator Lines (Singapore), has contracted to buy a dry bulk carrier for about Rs 175 crore. The dry bulker is expected to join the fleet in April/May 2010, with an attached charter for 3 years worth Rs 110 crore, the company said in a statement to the BSE.

Mercator Lines' net profit rose 70% to Rs 5.66 crore on a 55.1% decline in sales to Rs 133.14 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008.

Mercator Lines provides marine transportation services. The group's areas of operations are tankers and lighterage. The company is a provider of sea borne transportation services, primarily involved in the transportation of crude oil in India and overseas.