SAIL net up 124 per cent in Q3
New Delhi: Higher production and robust domestic sales helped public sector steel major Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on Monday to report a 124.2 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 at Rs1,471.19 crore. The third quarter net profit in 2005-06 was Rs656.07 crore.

SAIL's net profit for the first nine months of the current fiscal stood at a record high of Rs4,300.41 crore representing a 47.79 per cent increase over the net profit of Rs2,909.7 crore recorded in the same period in the previous year.

The company has also declared an interim dividend of 16 per cent amounting to Rs660.86 crore.

SAIL's total income for the third quarter this year was up 30 per cent to Rs8,760.16 crore (Rs6,736.84 crore). The company achieved a record production of 3.3 million tonnes (MT) of saleable steel and highest ever sales of 3 MT during the quarter ended December 31, 2006. About the nine-month period ending December 31, 2006, the Chairman said total sales stood at Rs25,241.55 crore, up 25 per cent over Rs20,183.7 crore in the same period in the previous year.
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MTNL readying 3G mobile services
New Delhi: State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam may be the first to start offering third generation (3G) mobile services. MTNL was also the first telecom operator to launch Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services in India. The company has already placed an order with Motorola for supplying equipment for 3G services and is set to begin commercial services within a month of getting the spectrum.

The Department of Telecom has said that the 3G policy would be announced by March, after which the spectrum would be allocated by May.

MTNL reported a 90.5 per cent growth in its net profits for the third quarter ended December 2006 compared to the same period in the previous year. Over 5,000 employees of the company took voluntary retirement, which reduced the expenses for the company.
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L&T Q3 net rises 33 pc
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has declared a 33 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal at Rs343.90 crore against Rs259.27 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

During the quarter, the net revenue stood at Rs4,118.42 crore (Rs3,688.72 crore). The share of revenue from international operations constituted 19 per cent of its gross revenues.

The net revenue in the first nine months of the fiscal was Rs11,330 crore (Rs10,117 crore). Also, in the nine-month period, its order booking stood at Rs22,944 crore, higher by 41 per cent.

Increased activity in the infrastructure and hydrocarbon sector helped the company's engineering and construction segment notch up orders worth Rs8,172 crore during the quarter, with the share of international orders booked being 12 per cent. The company's electrical and electronics segment contributed revenue of Rs483 crore, against Rs383 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal, while the machinery and industrial products segment generated revenue of Rs407 crore.
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Accenture to have its largest centre in India
Bangalore: Consulting company Accenture plans to set up its largest centre in the world in India and plans to add 30 per cent more jobs in the country taking the total number of employees to 35,000 by the end of the current fiscal.

The company's US operations will have around 32,000 employees by the end of this fiscal and with this the global delivery network will have a total of 65,000 employees boosting the total strength to over 1.5 lakh. The outsourcing business of the company has globally grown to 40 per cent of the total business of the company from 17 per cent four years ago.
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Ranbaxy launches two urology drugs
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has launched two urology products based on the Novel Drug Delivery System in the Indian market.

The two differentiated, Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS) products — Niftran 100 mg capsules (Nitrofurantoin modified release) developed using the company's R&D capabilities and Eligard 22.5 mg and 45 mg (Leuprolide Depot) that has been in-licensed from QLT Inc, USA — have been launched in the domestic market, the company said in a release.

Niftran offers better patient compliance due to twice-a-day dosage compared to the conventional four times-a-day dosage with the currently available Nitrofurantoin in the market, the statement said. Eligard is used for advanced prostate cancer and is also an NDDS-based hormonal therapy product.
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Corus bidding to start tonight
Chennai: The auction for UK steel major Corus is to begin today evening at 4.30 pm GMT in front of the UK Takeover Panel. The auction procedure will consist of a maximum of nine rounds broken into two parts. Up to eight rounds, each bidder can lodge a fixed price bid in cash.

Then, if the auction procedure has not concluded by then, a final round will take place. In this phase, each bidder can lodge `either a fixed price bid in cash or a cash bid calculated by reference to a formula pursuant to which a bidder can lodge a bid at a specified amount in cash more than the other bidder subject to a specified maximum cash amount, the Panel explained in its announcement.

In the eight-round phase, `a subsequent round will only take place if the bidder, which has the lower cash bid as at the beginning of that round (or, if at that time the highest cash bids of both bidder are at the same price, either bidder) lodges an increased cash bid in that round. The increase has to be not less than 5 pence.

Exception to the minimum increment, however, is allowed when a bidder that has the higher cash bid as at the beginning of a round lodges an increased bid in that round.
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Numaligarh Refinery plans Rs300 crore expansion
Kolkata: BPCL subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) has finalised a Rs300-crore investment on upgradation of diesel hydro-cracker unit to replace its existing Euro-II diesel production capacity with Euro-III fuel. The commissioning of the project is expected to begin in 2007-08.

The project, which is part of Rs625-crore investment plan for next five years, may also help enhance the diesel production capacity by 30 per cent.

NRL currently produces 1,856 thousand tonnes of diesel. The investment plan will be financed from internal accruals.

NRL has also decided to join a joint venture with Assam Gas Company for laying the Rs350-crore gas pipeline from Dhuliajan facility of Oil India Ltd to Numaligarh. NRL will pick up 40 per cent stake in the pipeline. Assam Gas will hold the majority 60 per cent stake.
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Aurobindo drug gets FDA nod
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma (APL) has received another approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Cefadroxil capsules of 500 mg.

Cefadroxil is a first generation Cephalosporin antibiotic used in a wide variety of bacterial infections, especially concerning respiratory, skin & soft tissue, and urinary tract. According to a press release from APL, the Cefadroxil 500 mg capsules commands a market of over $21 million in the US alone.

For APL, a leading manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, Cefadroxil is the third approval from the USFDA in the cephalosporin range. It is also the company's 37th overall approval from the regulator, a press release from the company said. The company has filed over 75 abbreviated new drug applications for the US alone and over 100 drug master files.
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Himatsingka Seide to acquire 70-per cent stake in Italian company
Bangalore: Himatsingka Seide plans to acquire a 70 per cent stake in Giuseppe Bellora, SpA, Italy, a leading brand with its own distribution outlets and presence in major European department stores such as Harrods, London, La Rinascente, Milan and Bonne Marche, Paris.

The company did not disclose the details of the consideration to be paid for the acquisition. After the acquisition, Giuseppe Bellora would be a subsidiary of Himatsingka.

Established in 1883, the Bellora is a pan-European luxury brand in the bed linen segment, which accounts for 90 per cent of its business while accessories such as linen perfumes and other products also arepart of the product line.

Himatsingka recorded a 26 per cent jump in its net profit for the third quarter of FY 2007 at Rs15.07 crore on a total revenue of Rs53.12 crore, which grew by 24 per cent at Rs42.86 crore during Q3 of FY 2006. Profit before tax rose by 34 per cent at Rs20.99 crore against Rs15.67 crore in the same period last year. For the nine month period (April-December 2006) the company's net profit was up 25.3 per cent at Rs45.71 during Q3 of current financial year ( Rs36.47 crore ) on a total revenue of Rs150.92 crore compared with Rs121.12 crore during the same period last year.
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Subex Azure Q3 net rises 65 pc
Bangalore: Subex Azure, a vendor of revenue maximisation solutions for telecom operators, today reported a 65 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs19.1 crore on a consolidated revenue of Rs106.2 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. The company's revenue saw a growth of 118 per cent over the figure of Rs48. 8 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal 2005-06.

Subex Azure pioneered the strategic concept of a Revenue Operations Centre (ROC) for telecom operators, a centralised and integrated platform from which operators can assess, address and correct all aspects of their revenue maximisation processes. Its Rocware is an integrated suite of software solutions that powers the ROC.
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L&T net profit up 33 pc
Mumbai: Construction and infrastructure major Larsen and Tubro has posted a 32.64 per cent growth in net profit at Rs343.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31 as against Rs259.27 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year on the back of increased volumes, higher price differentials and improved manufacturing efficiency.

Total income from operations grew by 13.25 per cent at Rs4,246.35 crore for the reporting quarter, against Rs3749.51 crore for the same period of the previous year.

The company's net profit grew by 45.20 per cent at Rs702.25 crore for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2006, against Rs483.63 crore for the corresponding period last year.

Total income grew to Rs11,534.85 crore during the nine-month period, registering a growth of 12.31 per cent compared with the previous year's Rs10,270.20 crore.

The group's consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2006 stood at Rs604 crore, up by 80 per cent compared with the previous year's profit of Rs335 crore.

For the nine-month period, the consolidated net profit grew by 82 per cent at Rs1,529 crore compared with Rs840 for the same period of the previous year.
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Suzlon net up 29 per cent: to invest Rs3,300 crore
Mumbai: Wind energy major Suzlon Energy has reported a net profit of Rs172.72 crore for the third quarter of FY07, a 29 per cent growth over the year-ago figure of Rs134.02 crore.

The company reported a turnover of Rs1913.8 crore for the quarter, up 117 per cent from Rs880.6 crore for the previous corresponding quarter.

The company reported earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) of Rs782 crore for the third quarter, while it stood at Rs255 crore for the previous corresponding quarter.

Analysts, however, said that EBITA growth year-on-year has fallen from 17 per cent last year for December quarter to 13.3 per cent this quarter.

Suzlon shares were down over 5 per cent at Rs1,204.75, after hitting an intra-day low of Rs1195 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Tulsi Tanti, chairman and managing director, said 1 per cent of the margin loss was due to a hike in raw material costs, orders in transit were to account for 2.2 per cent of the margin loss, while the rupee's appreciation against the dollar accounted for one per cent of the margin loss.

He said margins were also under pressure for the second consecutive quarter owing to increased staff costs, other costs (from Hansen's non-wind business). Suzlon's consolidated order book stood at Rs7,716.23 crore, with Rs1,544.31 crore in domestic orders, and Rs6,171.93 crore in international orders. Analysts said that given the order size raw material costs were comparatively under control.

Suzlon plans invest Rs3,300 crore to expand its turbine production capacity and set up its first gear box unit in the country over the next two years, Tanti said.

The company plans to expand its turbine capacity from the current 2,700 mw to 4,200 mw by 2010. During the same period, its gear box capacity will be cranked up to 2,000 boxes.

The company would invest Rs1,500 crore in its turbine plants at Mangalore and Udipi in Karnataka, while Rs1,800 crore has been earmarked for its gear box unit coming up at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

The construction of the greenfield project is expected to begin after April this year and production is scheduled to begin by October 2008.
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Satyam grants restricted stock options
Hyderabad: Satyam Computer Services Ltd has informed BSE that the Compensation Committee of Directors has granted restricted stock units covering 37.66 lakh equity shares of Rs2 each under its stock option plans. The RSUs are exercisable over four years with equal vesting.
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