Orient Garments stitches perfect debut

Orient Garments yesterday stitched a perfect debut with 15 million of its shares or 27% stake traded before closing up 21.3%.

The reference price for its shares was Rs. 23 and it peaked to a high of Rs. 40 and a low of Rs. 26.50 before closing at Rs. 27.90, up by 21.30% or Rs. 4.90. It was also the fourth biggest gainer yesterday. A total of 15 million shares changed hands via 1,486 trades generating a turnover of Rs. 424.2 million, the second largest.

Of the 15 million traded, high networth investor Dr. T. Senthilverl had bought 9 million shares or 16.39% stake at Rs. 28 per share in a deal worth Rs. 252 million.

Orient is the first fully fledged apparel manufacturer to list (via an introduction) on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It listed 54.9 million of its shares.

Having established in 1982 as a specialised outerwear manufacturer for the export market, Orient Garments (OGL) is today a fully-fledged garment manufacturer with 1,500 direct machine capacity employing over 3,500 personnel.

OGL Group comprises the holding company and two subsidiaries, Stafford Orient (Pvt) Limited and Priority Garments (Pvt) Limited. The Group currently serves many leading international brands, including Next, Tesco, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren and Burberry.

OGL Group has posted Rs. 2.8 billion revenue and earned Rs. 125.7 million profit attributable to shareholders during the financial year 2009/2010. For the 11-month period ended 28 February 2011, revenue was Rs. 3.3 billion and profit attributable to shareholders was Rs. 98.2 million. Net asset value of the Group as at 31 March 2010 was Rs. 512.3 million, which had improved to Rs. 603.7 million by end of February 2011.