Alstom Power surged on Monday on good buying support.

The stock of the MNC power equipment major was up by 4.9% to Rs 59.55 on the BSE in mid-morning trades. 10,600 shares changed hands on the counter in the first couple of hours of trading.

The stock, having witnessed a sustained rise from its late October 2002 low, has rallied in the last few months on sustained buying support and it currently trades at near 7-month high. But the stock has turned volatile of late. To cite an example, on 11 February 2003, the stock eased slightly to Rs 56.20 from its close of Rs 56.60 on 10 February despite bagging a major order. It surged by 7.7% to Rs 60.55 on 12 February, recording a near 7-month closing high. The market was closed on 13 February. On Friday, (14 February 2003), the stock shed 6.2% to Rs 56.75 only to surge once again today.

On 11 February 2003, the company announced bagging a major Euros 50 million (Rs 250 crore) turnkey contract from Jaiprakash Power Ventures India for the supply of major hydro-generating plant equipment for the 400 MW Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric project. The turnkey contract covers the supply and supervision of erection of turbines, governing systems, spherical valves, butterfly valves, generators, static excitation system, bus ducts, computerised power plant control and monitoring systems and 400 kv GIS and cables.

The project is being executed by JVPL on build-own-operate basis and is one of the few large Independent Power Projects being set up in India in the hydro sector. The civil works for the project are already in an advanced stage.

The project will be managed by Alstom's Hydro Power Division in France, with equipment and components being supplied by the company's plants in Grenoble and Belfort, and also from India. The project is scheduled for commissioning in December 2006.

Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric project is a run-off-the-river project with an estimated cost of Rs 1,900 crore (Euros 380 million). It has all the statutory approvals in place. The escrow as well as the financing agreements have already been signed by the promoter. The project, designed to produce over two billion units of power, is expected to mitigate the power shortage in North India, when commissioned.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, Alstom Power posted a massive rise of 410% in net profit to Rs 7.60 crore on a 29.6% fall in total income to Rs 92.75 crore.