Noble to offer research on Indian mid caps to international institutions - Investment Bank highlights huge growth potential of Indian mid-cap stocks
09/09 /2008
Investment bank highlights huge growth potential of Indian mid-cap stocks
Noble, the research led British investment bank specialising in small and mid cap companies, today announces the launch of a ground-breaking new research offering to institutional clients.
From today, Noble will be publishing research on the mid-tier of stocks in India, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies. The offering will fill a significant gap in the market for rigorous analysis of medium sized Indian companies, which account for nearly a third of the Indian stock market’s total market capitalisation. In doing so, Noble will seek to enable clients to replicate the huge returns that have been made by investors in UK mid caps across economic cycles.
Noble believes that the Indian equities market will build on its recent growth to become a key destination for international investors over the long-term. Says Angus Macpherson, Noble CEO:
“We will be offering a very high quality product for investors. Over the coming years we expect foreign investment to grow, as the economy there continues to advance and more Indian companies attain international corporate governance and accounting standards.
At Noble we expect investors to look increasingly to India for growth opportunities. At the same time, we believe that the strong historical and cultural ties that the UK enjoys with India, coupled with London’s pre-eminence as an international financial centre, will attract a growing number of Indian companies to London for their capital raising needs”.
Noble’s focus on the middle tier of Indian companies will address a gap in the market for quality analysis which, Noble’s own research has found, has contributed to mid caps trading at a significant discount to the large caps, despite their stronger fundamental performance.
This ‘Neglect Effect’ is shown by the fact that, despite achieving earnings growth of 30% in the year to March 2008, the 200 stocks below the top 50, have been de-rated by 23% over the past 12 months while the top 50 stocks have been re-rated by 17% despite failing to outperform the midcap stocks on fundamentals.
Saurabh Mukherjea, Head of Indian Equities at Noble, said:
“Foreign investor participation tails off as we go down the market cap spectrum. We intend to change this by raising standards in India, with research at the level that secured top 3 Thomson Extel rankings in the UK for Noble’s mid cap research”
Noble has a team of 17 analysts based in Mumbai who will be initiating coverage of five sectors – Technology, Consumer, Banks/Financial Services, Power and Infrastructure, with its target universe being stocks with market cap less than c.$5bn.
In addition to fundamental research reports, Noble’s offering will include pre-IPO research on Indian companies, access to industry experts from the broader business community and bespoke research.
Angus Macpherson added:
“At Noble, we are committed to putting fundamental research at the heart of our overall strategy. India is one of the most dynamic markets in the world and small and mid cap stocks are the highest growth segment. Despite this, coverage of small and mid cap stocks in India has historically been weak and under represented. We intend to utilise in India the same skills and fundamental approach that have proved so successful in the UK, one of the most developed and competitive of markets. Our objective is to identify value and opportunity for our clients, enabling them to maximise their returns from investing in India’s growth story.”
Ends
For more information contact:
UK:
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Nick Paulson-Ellis Head of Equities, Noble Ben Thompson GroupHead of Marketing, Noble |
+44 20 7763 2200 |
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Tom Baldock Citigate Dewe Rogerson |
+44 20 7282 2889 |
India:
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Saurabh Mukherjea Head of Indian Equities, Noble |
+91 22 4211 0901 |
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Sam Khumanthem Ravi Narain Citigate Dewe Rogerson |
+91 22 4007 5038 |
About Noble
Noble is a research led independent UK investment bank dedicated to helping small and mid-cap companies grow. It provides a full range of services to fast growth companies, institutions and investment vehicles, with offices in London and Edinburgh and international subsidiary offices in Houston and Mumbai.
Through its UK office, Noble offers high quality fundamental research, broking, investment banking and fund management services to customers in the UK and overseas.
Noble is the exclusive UK member of Global M&A www.globalma.com the leading global partnership of independent corporate finance houses which services the growing market for international mid market M&A activity.
Noble has five operating companies in the UK, all of which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
www.noblegp.com