Mumbai: Solar engineering solutions provider Sterling &amp; Wilson Solar made a weak debut on the bourses with the stock ending at Rs 725.35, about 7 per cent below its issue price on Tuesday. The stock listed at Rs 700 on the <a pg="asTopicL1" target="_blank" href="/bse-ltd/stocks/companyid-2809.cms">BSE</a>, a discount of 10 per cent to the issue price of Rs 780.

The stock hit a low of Rs 691 and a high of 755.50 during the day. Analysts said the tepid response to the <a href="/topic/IPO" target="_blank">IPO</a> was largely due to the weak market conditions of late.

The issue, which was open for subscription between August 6 and 8, was subscribed 85 per cent excluding the anchor portion.

Including the portion allotted to anchor <a href="/topic/investors" target="_blank">investors</a>, the IPO saw 92 per cent subscription.

The issue comprised an offer-forsale by promoters Shapoorji Pallonji and Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala. HEM Securities and Motilal Oswal had advised subscribing to the issue from a long-term purpose.

&ldquo;The company is bringing the issue at P/E (price-to-earnings) multiple of approximately 20 times on post issue FY19 EPS basis at higher end of price band of Rs 775-780/share. The company being the largest global <a pg="asTopicL1" target="_blank" href="/shriram-epc-ltd/stocks/companyid-20750.cms">EPC</a> solutions provider will benefit from the brand reputation, industry relationships and project management expertise of the SP group and the Sterling and Wilson group,&rdquo; said HEM Securities.

However, Angel Broking had given a neutral rating to the IPO of Sterling &amp; Wilson, citing expensive valuation and high competition in the industry with no meaningful barriers to entry.

At Rs 780, the issue price discounts FY19 earnings by a PE multiple of 19.6 times, which is quite stretched for an EPC company operating on single-digit core margins, said SP Tulsian.com, which had recommended skipping the IPO.