Infosys Q1 net up 28 per cent
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies has reported a 27.70 per cent increase in net profit at Rs1,028 crore for the quarter ended June 2007, as against Rs805 crore for the same period last year. The total income of the company grew 27.03 per cent to Rs3,806 crore for the quarter from Rs2,996 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.

However, boosted by a tax gain, Infosys Technologies has posted a year-on-year 34.5 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,079 crore in the first quarter. This net profit includes a reversal of tax provisions amounting to Rs 51 crore. Q1 revenues grew by 25.1 per cent to Rs3,773 crore, while earnings per share increased to Rs18. 89 from Rs14.36 for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The group recorded a net profit, exceptional items and minority interest of Rs1,079 crore for the quarter, against Rs800 crore for the corresponding period last year. The total income of the group rose to Rs4,026 crore for the quarter ended June 2007, from Rs3,143 crore in the year ago period.

According to Infosys' CEO and managing director S Gopalakrishnan, "As clients recognise the strategic imperative of global sourcing in an increasingly flat business world, the demand for large end-to-end players like Infosys continues to be strong."

The hardening rupee against the dollar has hit software services exporters that receive more than 60 per cent of their revenue from the United States. Infosys shares fell 4 per cent in April-June, under-performing a 0.6 per cent drop in the sector index and a 12 per cent rise in the main index on concerns about margin pressure.

Shares of Infosys Technologies fell by 4.50 per cent on Wednesday after the software major cut its full-year forecast in rupee terms due to a weaker dollar. Infosys shares closed at Rs1,929.60.
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Infosys guidance lowered
Bangalore: Infosys has lowered its revenue guidance for the current fiscal. It has revised the rupee guidance downwards, reflecting appreciating rupee, while dollar guidance was revised upwards.

In April, when Infosys gave the guidance, it expected rupee at 43.10 on average a dollar, while the company now reset at Rs40.58 on an average for the year.

In its business outlook, the company now expects revenues to be in the range of Rs3,952 crore and Rs 3,993 crore, a year-on-year growth of 14.5-15.7 per cent for the quarter ending September 30, 2007; and in the range of Rs16,238 crore and Rs16,433 crore, a 16.9-18.3 per cent growth for 2007-08.
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NTPC to invest up to Rs1000 crore in JV
Mumbai: State-run National Thermal Power Corporation will invest up to Rs 1000 crore in its joint venture company, Aravali Power Company.

Aravali Power is a joint venture firm formed by NTPC, Indraprastha Power Generation Corporation Ltd and Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd.

The board of directors took a decision in this regard at its meeting held on July 3, the thermal power major today said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The investment has been approved to enable the JV company to implement 1500 MW Aravali Super Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar, it said.
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Ceat to invest Rs700 crore in tyre units
Mumbai: RPG group company Ceat Tyres plans to set up two new plants at an investment of Rs700 crore of which one will be for manufacturing all types of radial tyres. Both plants will come up in Maharashtra.

The investment in the radial plant will be around Rs500 crore and in the other around Rs200 crore, he said.

The radial tyres would include various types, including steel radials in the complete range from scooter to truck tyres. Once the plants start operating the group's tyre production capacity would be enhanced by 30 per cent.
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Oberoi to set up new hotels with Rs900-crore investment by 2011
New Delhi: The Oberoi Group will invest about Rs900 crore by 2011 to develop three properties in India besides entering into management contracts abroad.
The group said it is developing many properties in India, some on its own while others in partnership.

The group is developing one property each in Mumbai, Goa and Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh on its own. It also has partnership projects in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The investment will spent in adding 1,500 rooms in India.

Currently, the group has 2,950 rooms in India and the company's expansion programme will be completed between August next year to 2011 company officials said.

Overseas, the company is entering into management contracts for properties in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cambodia and Maldives, which together will add about 1,200 rooms. Currently, the Oberoi Group, which operates 32 hotels in five countries, has 1,690 rooms overseas.

The Oberoi group's hotel in Udaipur, the Oberoi Uday villas, has been named the best hotel in the world with an overall score of 94.36 by Travel + Leisure readers' survey. The Oberoi Amar Villas in Agra was ranked as the 10th best hotel in the world, while Oberoi Raj Villas in Jaipur was rated 11th best in the same survey.
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Rel Comm awards $400-million deal to Alcatel-Lucent
Mumbai: Alcatel-Lucent has received a $400 million (Rs1,600 crore) network expansion contract from Reliance Communications (Rel Comm). The contract will enable the Anil Ambani company to expand its wireless network to over 20,000 towns and 600,000 villages in the country.

With this deal and others on the anvil, Rel Comm will be able to double its network capacity (GSM and CDMA) from 35 million lines currently.

Under the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will upgrade Rel Comm's CDMA and GSM network with additional mobile switching centres and base stations. The global major will also provide a comprehensive suite of network integration services, including network optimisation, system support and general project management among others.

Anil Ambani, chairman, Rel Comm, said in a release: "The expansion of our wireless CDMA and GSM network would further enhance our competitive edge in effectively participating in the achievement of our national tele-density targets of 500 million by 2010."
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IOC, Reliance move up in Fortune Global 500 list
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Reliance Industries have climbed higher in the Fortune Global 500 rankings this year, to the 135th and 269th places respectively.

IOC moved by 18 places to 135, while Reliance climbed 75 notches to 269 to become the top ranked private Indian entity in the list published annually by the CNN-Time Warner group magazine.

Apart from these two, four other Indian public sector companies in the global list have improved their rankings this year — BPCL (325), HPCL (336), ONGC (369) and State Bank of India (495). SBI made its debut in the list last year.

Reliance was said to be among the 25 fastest climbers this year with a ranking of 23.

RIL is at the 299th position in the list in terms of assets and IOC at 380.
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eBay launches fixed price format in India
New Delhi: Online retailer eBay India has launched its fixed price shopping format, and has also launched enhanced features that it claims will make online buying easier.
The company said it had noticed that a large number of its sellers and buyers who trade in new items in categories of electronics, mobiles and computers prefer the fixed price format.

The company said enhancing the user experience is an important area of focus for eBay. It says it is confident that the fixed price buying format will consolidate its market leadership in Indian online shopping.

The online shopping major has also launched a significant enhancement to the check-out process and new shopping cart features.

With the new features, users can buy a number of fixed price items from eBays wide universe of sellers in an easier and faster manner, a company statement said.

The website already has 2 million registered users in over 670 Indian cities.
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Dabur Foods merges with Dabur India
Mumbai: The board of directors of Dabur India has approved the amalgamation of Dabur Foods (a wholly-owned subsidiary) with the company. The appointed date for the merger is April 1, 2007.

According to the company, the integration will help Dabur sharpen focus on the high growth business of foods and beverages, and enter newer product categories in this space.

The company said Dabur Foods is an intrinsic part of Dabur India's growth strategy, and has been one of the fastest growing businesses reporting a 35 per cent CAGR for the past five years. The company said the merger is a unique opportunity to combine the strengths of a foods company with those of a growing and profitable FMCG business to create an extraordinarily strong and rapidly growing global competitor in the Health and Wellness space.

After the proposed merger, Dabur Foods will become one of the business divisions of Dabur India along with the consumer care division and the consumer health division.

Dabur Foods was floated as a subsidiary over 10 years ago and has since gained unquestioned leadership and market dominance in the fruit beverage space.
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Sony India grows by 26 per cent in Q1
New Delhi: Sony India has reported an increase of 26 per cent in its sales for the first quarter ending June 30, 2007 to Rs596 crore from Rs472 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The company said it would continue to consolidate its operations and invest significantly in developing new products and extending its core technologies. Sony India is the electronics arm of the larger Japan based Sony Corporation, which also includes Sony BMG, Sony Entertainment and Sony Ericsson.

Company officials said according to its mid-term vision, the entire Sony Group was envisaged to grow into a $2-billion business in India, where Sony India will be around $1 billion, by 2009.The company said growth in the consumer electronics segment will be mainly driven by the company's LCD television Bravia, digital camera Cyber-shot, Handycam digital products and Vaio notebooks. It plans to sell around one lakh LCD sets in the 32 inches category, to corner about 25 per cent market share, by the end of this fiscal. The company would also invest Rs 150 crore for brand and channel enhancement, besides consolidating operations and focus on penetrating more in the rural market.
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Natco Pharma acquires US drug retailer
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma (NPL) has acquired SaveMart Pharmacy, a multi-utility drug retailer based in Pennsylvania in the US for an undisclosed amount.

Natco Pharma Inc, a Delaware-registered corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of NPL did the acquisition. The revenues and profits of SaveMart Pharmacy will accrue to NPL. The acquisition was funded partly through internal accruals and debt. SaveMart, voted as a top store in Lancaster Country in Pennsylvania, clocked $18 million sales last year.
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Megasoft to acquire Boston Communications Group for Rs260-cr
Hyderabad: Chennai-based Megasoft is acquiring the Nasdaq-listed US-based Boston Communications Group (BCGI) for around $65 million (around Rs260 crore) — $3.60 a share — that works out to 83 per cent of the total equity shares of the entity. The offer price includes a premium of 80 per cent compared with the traded value of $2 a share on Saturday.

The two companies are into products and services, including real-time charging, billing, pre-paid products and managed services catering to the wireless telecom space.

After the acquisition process is over BCGI would become a 100-per cent subsidiary of Megasoft. The tender offer is expected to commence on or before August 1, 2007, and will expire on the twentieth business day.

Megasoft would fund the acquisition solely through internal accruals (about Rs120 crore) and partly leveraging its long-term assets.

Boston Communications currently has over 20 tier-1 clients including Sprint and Telephonica. While the standalone revenues of Megasoft this year (January-December) are expected to go up to close to Rs300 crore from Rs180 crore last year, BCGI's revenues are expected to slightly come down to $70 million from over $80 million last year.
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