Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 35.48 points, or 0.21%, to 17,192.20.

On BSE, 30.41 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 24.42 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 22.70 and a low of Rs 21.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 29.50 on 5 June 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 11.33 on 12 March 2009.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 8 December 2009, rising 9.44% as compared to the Sensex's 6.62% rise. It underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 5.09% as against 6.85% increase in the Sensex.

The mid-cap textile company has an equity capital of Rs 605.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 22.55 discounts the company's Q2 September 2009, annualised EPS of Rs 3.77, by a PE multiple of 5.98.

According to reports, the company wants to bring back the investment made in realty to partly pay its existing debt, which is around Rs 7,000 crore.

Alok Infrastructure, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Alok Industries, had inked a Rs 1,075-crore deal with Peninsula Land for a project at Lower Parel in Mumbai in 2007. With 5% stamp duty and other charges, the deal size inched close to Rs 1,200 crore. In addition, the company also had entered into a 50:50 joint venture with the Ashford group for a residential project at Bhandup and has invested Rs 75 crore so far.

Alok Industries' chief financial officer, Sunil Khandelwal was quoted by the media as saying that the company's focus on real estate is not much. Alok has decided to keep selling projects as they get completed (floor by floor) and bring back the investment into the core business, which can be used to pay existing debt to Peninsula.

As on date, Alok has paid Rs 625 crore to Peninsula Land. At the Lower Parel project, the company has an area of 641,589 square feet, plus space for car parking. At the deal value without duties and taxes, the per square feet cost for Alok is Rs 17,000; upon adding other charges, it becomes Rs 19,000 per square feet.

The company estimates it will make a profit of around Rs 250 crore from selling the Peninsula property.

Of the Rs 7,000-crore debt the company has in its balance sheet, Rs 3,000 crore is under the Textiles Upgradation Fund Scheme, Rs 1,000 crore are external commercial borrowings, Rs 1,500 crore is regular loan and the balance Rs 1,500 crore is working capital.

Alok Industries' net profit rose 35.2% to Rs 57 crore on a 39.6% rise in sales to Rs 974.79 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

Alok Industries is engaged in manufacturing and selling home textiles, apparel fabric, garments and polyester yarns.

Promoters have pledged 20.99 crore shares, or 34.67% of the equity capital of the company. The total promoter shareholding in the company is 36.80% (As on September 2009).