Tyre manufacturer CEAT ascended 2.23% to Rs 169.75 on reports that it is ready to transfer its Mumbai plant to Patalganga near Thane to save on duty and costs.

The small-cap security touched an intraday high of Rs 178 and an intraday low of Rs 169.15 during the day. On BSE, there were 74,393 shares for trading on the counter.

The average daily volume of the stock in last one quarter stood at 3.07 lakh shares. The equity capital of the company is Rs 45.66 crore, with 4.56 crore outstanding shares of a face value of Rs 10 each.

At existing price of Rs 169.75 the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 6.38, which is derived from Q1 June 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 26.58.

According to the reports, the 49-year old plant based in Mumbai, will be broke up and propelled in phases and about 3,000 employees relocated.

The reports suggest that company has already determined to sell 6.5 acres of excess land in the plant and the total 31 acres may get Rs 500 crore at current market prices.

Mumbai imposes Octroi on all goods that come in city limits for utilization, consumption or sale within the city.

The company’s net income climbed up 13097.7% to Rs 30.35 crore on 7.8% increase in sales to Rs 536.44 in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006.

CEAT is the flagship of the RPG group. It makes steel-belted radials for passenger cars, and the variety of tyres fabricated is commercialized under the Ceat, Samraat and Secura trade name.