Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) closed soft on Friday on profit booking towards the end of the session, but it has of late been moving up on the stock exchanges with healthy traded volumes. According to analysts, the housing finance company from the Wadhawan group has been riding the real estate and housing boom. In the past five years it has not only reported improved EPS, but increased retained income also.

"Apart from fundamental reasons, this BSE Small Cap Index component has also attracted attention for improving sentiment about the group", said an analyst with an institutional brokerage. The company has 1.5 per cent stake (27 lakh shares) in Housing Development & Improvement India (HDIL), a group outfit, now going public. According to market analyst Mr Arun Kejriwal, investors have also been adding premium to the DHFL for its investment's valuation unlocking in HDIL.

Mr Kapil Wadhan, Vice-Chairman and MD of DHFL, said that after the IPO, DHFL's stake in HDIL would come down in terms of percentage, but the investment would not be divested.

Though DHFL current capital adequacy ratio is comfortable, it is juggling with options to raise capital. "A follow-on equity issue is one of the possibilities", Mr Wadhwan added.

DHFL has a paid-up capital of Rs 50.12 crore and its reserves stands at Rs 288.48 crore.

The promoters at present hold around 58.47%. Prominent among the non-promoters are Caledonia Investments PLC (2.24%) and ABN Amro' London branch (26%).

The stock after touching days high at Rs 89.30 finished at Rs 84, representing a gain of 17.5 per cent in the last one month and over 6 per cent in the last one week. On June 21 it hit the 52-week high of Rs 91.60. Today it recorded a traded quantity of 5.79 lakh shares on the BSE and 6.22 lakh on the NSE, reports The Hindu Business Line.