L&T reports 50 pc growth in Q4 net
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has reported a 50 per cent growth in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007.

Net profit touched Rs700.8 crore in Q4, against Rs467 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Gross revenues, at Rs6,366 crore (Rs4,695 crore), were up 36 per cent.

L&T's company's net profit (including exceptional gains), for 2006-07 rose 39 per cent to Rs1,403 crore (Rs1,012 crore) while gross revenues rose 20 per cent to Rs17,901 crore.

L&T's consolidated profit after tax grew 70 per cent, rising to Rs2,240 crore (Rs1,317). Total income at Rs21,342 crore, was up 25 per cent.

The company's profitability was led by its largest business segment engineering & construction, which reported a revenue increase of 16 per cent at Rs1,3425 crore and an operating margin of 11.1 per cent (8.1 per cent). Revenues from international operations remained at 18 per cent of gross revenues, while margins from domestic and international operations were more or less on a par.

The company's operating profit for the year, at Rs2,209 crore, was 47 per cent higher.

The board announced a final dividend of Rs 2 per equity share, taking the total dividend to Rs13 per share, or 650 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

HPCL Q4 net drops 73 pc
Mumbai: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation has reported a 73 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2007 at Rs549.5 crore, down from Rs2,013 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The PSU refiner had received compensation of more than Rs5,500 crore in the year-ago quarter (for covering the subsidy at which it has to sell fuel) had helped raise its profits for that period. Gross sales for the quarter rose to Rs22,615 crore (Rs20,256 crore).

For fiscal 2006-2007, the company's net profit was more than five times higher, at Rs1,571 crore (Rs405.6 crore), as its capacity utilisation increased and gross refining margin rose by 42 per cent. Capacity utilisation stood at 128 per cent with the company recording a crude thruput of 16.66 million tonnes (13.82 mt). Volume sales grew by 7.6 per cent and exports by 68 per cent. The combined gross refining margin of its refineries was reported at $4.07 per barrel against $2. 86 per barrel a year ago. Turnover rose 23.5 per cent for the fiscal to Rs91,448 crore.

Interest charges rose to Rs423 crore (Rs176 crore) due to increased borrowings for working capital requirements and hardening of interest rates.

The financial results for the year were affected by high crude and product prices, which could not be fully passed on to the consumers, said a statement from the company.
Back to News Review index page  

Nagarjuna Construction Q4 net up 40 pc
Hyderabad: Nagarjuna Construction Company has reported a turnover of Rs894.84 crore (Rs641 crore) for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a jump of about 38 per cent. The net profit for Q4 stood at Rs49.93 crore (Rs34.95 crore), a growth of about 40 percent, said a company press release.

NCC achieved a turnover of Rs2,900.23 crore on a stand-alone basis for fiscal 2006-07 which is 57 per cent higher than the previous fiscal's turnover of Rs1,842.47 crore. The net profit was pegged at Rs151.51 crore (Rs103.90 crore), showing a growth of 46 per cent.

The company is now targeting touching the Rs4,000 crore turnover for the current fiscal, a growth of 38 per cent over the fiscal 2006-07. It aims to emerge as a $1-billion infrastructure company.

The order book of the company as on March 31, 2007 stood at Rs7,303 crore.

The board of directors of the company at its meeting has recommended final equity dividend of 20 per cent (post bonus issue), subject to approval of shareholders at the annual general meeting. The company has recorded a basic EPS (earning per share) of Rs7.35 for the year against Rs6.04 for the previous year. For the Q4, the EPS was Rs2.41 (Rs1.70).
Back to News Review index page  

BMW India to launch 5 Series in June
New Delhi: BMW India, the fully owned subsidiary of German luxury car maker BMW, plans to launch its mid-luxury sedan 5 Series in the country by June from its Chennai factory and its sport utility vehicles (SUV) X3 and X5 through the import route later this year.

The company has hiked its sales target to 1,200 units from the earlier 1,000 units for the current calendar year.

The company said its SUVs, which are currently undergoing homologation process at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune would be launched in next few months.

The new 5 Series sedan is expected to be priced in the Rs37 to 42 lakh range while the company is yet to determine the prices of its SUVs. BMW India had sold 107 units in April and is expected to sell 300 units by end of this month, which would surpass its last year's sales of 257 units.

BMW India will also expand its sales network by appointing 12 dealers across the country. The company will also open its international purchasing office (IPO) in India to out-source its worldwide ancillaries requirement.
Back to News Review index page  

DS Constructions to acquire Globeleq unit
New Delhi: DS Constructions in an equal partnership with Israel Corporation has won the rights to acquire a unit of Globeleq International for $568 million. The unit, called Globeleq Americas, is located in Bermuda and holds eight operating power companies involved in the production and sale of electricity in South America and the Caribbean.

The companies have a total capacity of over 2,000 MW and produce and sell electricity.

The deal is subject to approval by the regulatory authorities in Bermuda and is expected to be completed by June 18, by which date the entire sum will be paid in cash.

The major projects include a 1,400-MW hydroelectric and natural gas project in Peru, a 234-MW fuel oil-based project in Guatemala and a 220-MW hydroelectric and natural gas project in Bolivia.

Globeleq, a UK power investment company, has been actively selling parts of its global assets ever since announcing earlier in the year that it would exit power businesses worldwide.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel enters into agreement with Vietnam company
Kolkata: Tata Steel has entered into an 10-yr agreement with Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC) to form a 65:35 joint venture and set up a 4.5 million tonne per annum greenfield steel complex in Vietnam.

Tata Steel, the sixth largest manufacturer in the world, would also pick up 30 per cent equity in the related Tach Khe iron ore mining company, Tata Steel said here in a release. The MoU was signed in Hanoi.

The company's spokesperson declined to give an indicative cost figure for the steel project but also did not deny an earlier report which quoted an official saying that the project would cost $3.5 billion (Rs14,000 crore).

Tata Steel already has a joint venture with VSC, largest Vietnamese steel maker. The earlier joint venture was for rolling mills through NatSteel, Asia, Tata Steel's Singapore subsidiary.
Back to News Review index page  

3i Infotech acquires stake in BPO, factoring services firms
Mumbai: The Mumbai-based 3i Infotech has acquired a 50.5 per cent stake in `aok in-house BPO Services' and `aok in-house Factoring Services'. However, the company did not reveal the financial details of the deal.

aok In-house Factoring Services, is a part of aok In-house BPO Services and carries out factoring services including debt collection, physical and tele-verification, credit analysis and tele-calling. Its clients include American Express Bank, Max New York Life Insurance Co, ABN AMRO Bank, ICICI Bank Ltd and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. The 3i Infotech scrip was up by 1.36 per cent to close at 310.4 on the BSE on Thursday.
Back to News Review index page  

Vodafone announces Rs8,000cr investment plan in India
London: British giant Vodafone plans to invest one billion pounds (over Rs8,000 crore) in India this year, which is about one-fifth of its global expenditure.

Vodafone said its capital expenditure in fixed assets this fiscal would be around 4.7-5.1 billion pounds. This includes more than one billion pounds in India, announced by the company's India-born CEO Arun Sarin during his visit to the country earlier this year.

The company invested 4.2 billion pounds in capital expenditure in the year-ended March 31, 2007.

Besides its robust expectations for India, Vodafone also said it expected market conditions in Europe to remain challenging in the year ahead.
Back to News Review index page  

Ranbaxy wins Lipitor patent case in Norway
New Delhi: Ranbaxy received a boost in its ongoing litigation over anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor against Pfizer, when a Norway court ruled that four of Pfizer's giant's patents were either invalid or not infringed by the Indian company.

Ranbaxy said the decision validated its position in relation to atorvastatin (generic Lipitor).

Pfizer said it would immediately appeal against the ruling.

The court also ruled that Pfizer's patent covering a process for converting crystalline atorvastatin calcium to an amorphous form is invalid. The patents expire between February 2009 and July 2016.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata SEZ likely to be approved
New Delhi: Tata's proposed multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) in Gopalpur is likely to be approved by the government. The proposal, which was deferred last year due to certain security concerns raised by the home ministry, was then delayed by the overall freeze on new projects imposed by the government in January this year.

Other projects to be considered by the BoA include Dubai-based construction company ETA's IT technopark SEZ in Chennai and Genpact's IT SEZ in Hyderabad.

The BoA meet on May 31, will consider a total of 40 proposals of which eight are new cases while 32 projects are deferred cases from earlier meetings. Interestingly, 29 of the proposals are already in possession of land and are, therefore, unlikely to face any opposition from locals at the implementation stage.

There are four new proposals of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation for development of sector specific SEZs in leather, textiles, engineering goods and carpets & handicrafts in Kanpur and Badoi.
Back to News Review index page