Merrill Lynch maintains ‘underperform’ on BHEL

As per a press release by BHEL’s corporate communication, India Ratings & Research has downgraded BHEL’s long-term rating for Bank Loan Facilities from ‘IND AAA’/ Stable to IND AA+/ Negative. We believe that the rating downgrade is in response to likely operating losses and persisting execution challenges in the near-to-medium term, deteriorating quality of BHEL’s receivables and likely acceleration of recognition of bad debt expense under Ind-AS. As per a media release, progress at `56 billion 1,600MW Uppur Thermal Power Plant (TPP) has come to a standstill led by land acquisition issues. Over the past few months, BHEL has rallied along with the market as it appears to be one the cheapest Industrial stocks. more at: http://www.financialexpress.com/markets/indian-markets/merrill-lynch-maintains-underperform-on-bhel/364760/