Garden Reach Shipbuilders Bags Rs 491-Crore Order For Acoustic Research Ship

Garden Reach Shipbuilders Ltd. has received letter of intent for a Rs 491-crore order for an acoustic research ship from the Ministry of Defence, an exchange filing showed on Friday.

The project involves design, construction, certification, commissioning and supply of the acoustic research ship. It is to be executed within 36 months from the signing of contract, the filing added.

The LoI has been awarded by the Naval Physical & Oceanographic Contracts, which is a wing under the Defence Research And Development Organisation of the defence ministry.

Garden Reach had signed a similar contract worth around Rs 840 crore with the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research on July 16 for the construction and dispatch of an ocean research vessel.

The vessel is to be built to carry out surface and deep-sea mooring and data-buoy operations, along with seabed sampling. It will undertake ongoing atmospheric observations, surface meteorological and current measurements, and collect upper air data.

The ship is also expected to be use for a variety of scientific operations, including swath multibeam surveys, geophysical seismic surveys, and temperature and depth profiling.

Shares of Garden Reach Shipbuilders closed 0.59% higher at Rs 1,764.65 apiece on the NSE, compared to a 0.42% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50.

The company's stock has risen by 102.08% on a year-to-date basis and by 122.21% over the past 12 months.

Out of the four analysts tracking the company, two have a 'buy' rating on the stock, none suggest a 'hold' and two recommend a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analysts' consensus price targets implies a potential downside of 9.9%.