BEML chairman and managing director V.R.S. Natarajan (left) with the company’s directors in Bangalore on Monday. (AP)

Mumbai, June 25: Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), the state-owned mining and construction equipment maker, has fixed a price band of Rs 1,020 to Rs 1,090 for its follow-on public offer.

The price band has been fixed at a discount to the scrip’s market price of Rs 1,145 today on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

BEML chairman and managing director V.R.S. Natarajan said the price was “reasonably kept” to protect the interests of retail investors.

The issue for 49 lakh equity shares opens on Wednesday and closes on July 3. The bidding lot is five shares and in multiples of five thereafter.

At the upper limit, the company will raise Rs 534 crore — which is modest when compared with the recent mega issues by ICICI Bank and DLF.

The offer will constitute the company’s 11.77 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up equity capital.

The public sector undertaking has posted an 8.58 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 93.51 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 compared with Rs 86.12 crore for the same period last year.

Total income (net of excise) increased 14.57 per cent to Rs 958.48 crore from Rs 836.58 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.

For the year ended March 31, the company has recorded a net profit of Rs 204.93 crore compared with Rs 186.93 crore in the previous year.

The total income increased to Rs 2,479.28 crore from Rs 2,126.92 crore a year ago.

“The board approved a higher dividend of 120 per cent for 2006-07 compared with 100 per cent last year,” Natarajan said.

Having already announced an interim dividend of 40 per cent, shareholders will now get an additional 80 per cent.

“We are targeting a sales turnover of Rs 3,000 crore in 2007-08,” Natarajan said.

Natarajan said BEML planned to set up a global warehouse in Malaysia and an outsourcing office in China.

It has already opened an office in Brazil, where it plans to acquire an assembly plant within a year for about Rs 100 crore. The company has an order book of Rs 1,750 crore, he said.

BEML was confident of bagging orders worth Rs 2,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal, he added.