Janus Fund picks up 6.2 percent stake in HFCL
Kolkata—Foreign institutional investor Janus Overseas Fund has picked up a 6.21 per cent stake in Himachal Futuristic Communications through open market purchases.
The shares have been purchased for Rs 4.89 crore and the fund has purchased 48,95,545 equity shares of HFCL representing 6.21 per cent of the company’s paid-up equity share capital. The company’s paid-up equity capital is pegged at Rs 78.81 crore.
Market grapevine has it the institution purchased on both the National and Bombay Stock Exchanges.
Janus Overseas Fund is an eligible FII governed by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Foreign Institutional Investor) Regulation, 1995. It is eligible to purchase and hold up to 10 per cent of the paid-up capital in a company in India.
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Honda Accord to be launched in July, 2001
New Delhi--The Honda Accord is to be launched in Delhi on July 6, 2001, and according to industry sources, it will be launched soon after in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

Market grapevine has it that the Accord will be priced competitively at Rs 12.25 to Rs 13.5 lakh though Honda officials denied the tag buzz.

Targeted at the 'upper-end of the luxury segment, the Accord will be manufactured locally and is expected to debut with 30 per cent indigenous content. The company is hoping to corner around 30 per cent of the 5,000-7,000 units a year D segment with its new model.
ABN-AMRO has been appointed lead-financier for the luxury car.
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Ford Ikon price hiked by 1.8 per cent
New Delhi—Yet another car maker has announced a price hike. After Maruti and Daewoo, Ford India has announced a uniform 1.8 per cent hike in prices of all variants of its mid-size car Ikon from June, 2001.
Ford, at present sells five variants of the Ikon, namely 1.3 CLXI, 1.3 EXI, 1.6 ZXI, 1.6 SXI and 1.8 ZXI diesel.
Accordingly, the ex-showroom (Delhi) prices of the Ikon would range from Rs 5.05 lakh to Rs 6.87 lakh, according to the company.
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Yamaha looks at the rural market
Coimbatore-- Yamaha Motors Escorts, enthused by an excellent response to its 4-stroke 106 cc bike 'Crux,' in the rural market has decided to tap this market of Tamil Nadu in a still bigger way.
With sales of ‘Crux’ touching nearly 33,000 units in Tamil Nadu last year, the company has worked out a new promotional campaign to provide impetus to its operations in the state.

The new campaign, titled 'Demo Van Operation', would consist of a special van decked up in traditional colours of Tamil Nadu, which would travel throughout the state, particularly the smaller towns and villages of Coimbatore, Trichirappalli, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Sivakasi and Madurai, he said.
The company had also devised a series of loan-cum-exchange melas across Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichirappalli, Karaikudi and Tuticorin.
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Torrent Pharma profit dips 11 per cent
Ahmedabad—Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd recorded a dip of 11 per cent in its net profit despite recording higher sales for financial year 2000-01.
While announcing the audited financial results, the company stated in a press release that though the domestic market branded formulations sales grew from Rs 231 crore last year to Rs 278 crore, the net profit has gone down from Rs 46 crore last fiscal to Rs 41 crore this year. The total sales and operating income too has witnessed a 5 per cent dip, from Rs 428 crore to Rs 406 crore.
The net profit for the year is after a charge of Rs 2.36 crore for accrued leave liability to employees.
The company that the main reason for drop in the net profit was non-recurrence of a tender-based export order. The profit figure of the previous year included Rs 90 crore on account of a tender-based export order, essentially a non-recurring and uncertain item. If this was factored out of previous year’s figures, the sales and operating income growth was actually 20 per cent, the release stated.
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VF Corp to license kidswear Healthtex to Arvind
Mumbai--US garment major, VF Corporation, is selling the licensing rights of its kidswear brand Healthtex to Arvind Mills.
Under the agreement, Arvind will have to pay an annual royalty worth 5 per cent of the net sales of the licenced brand for 10 years.
The $ 6 billion VF Corporation already has a licensing agreement with Arvind for its Lee and Wrangler brands in India.
The Lalbhai Group flagship’s fully-owned subsidiary Arvind Brands will manufacture and market Healthtex in India.
Said senior officials in Arvind Mills, VF Corp will provide design and merchandise support. The product will be made in the company’s facility at Bangalore.
Arvind has a marginal presence in the kidswear market through its brand Leekids, which is dominated by players like Bangalore-based Planetkids, Jeny & Johny, Ruff and Weekender Kids.
The total size of the kidswear market is Rs 1,000 crore. Of this, clothing for boys contribute Rs 400 crore. The kidswear market comprises clothing from infants to children till the age of 12.
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Welspun gets large pipeline project in US
New Delhi—Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren has won a contract for supplying pipes for a 48 kilometres product pipeline to Dow Chemical company of the US. This is largest order ever received by a company in India from the US.
BK Goenka vice chairman of the company said that the investments made by the company in world class technology is now paying off. The company’s techical superiority has come through in one of the most competitive markets.
Welspun is presently engaged in supply of 157 km Dahej-Hazira pipeline for Indian Petrochemicals Corporation. The company has also exeucted export orders for US and China recently.
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Kinetic to launch three bikes, one scooterette
New Delhi-- Kinetic Engineering will launch two new motorycles this fiscal in alliance with South Korea's Hyosung Motor Company and would also roll out an economy variant of its recently launched 100 cc motorcycle 'Challenger' by December 2001.
A sister concern of gearless scooter maker, Kinetic Motor Company, will launch a 65 cc scooterette priced at about Rs 22,000 in September this year.
The joint managing director Sulajja Firodia Motwani said on Friday the new launches would be made to achieve the company's target of one lakh motorycles during this financial year (2001-02).
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LG to commence PC assembly line… lay stress on IT peripherals
New Delhi-- LG Electronics has announced commencement of its PC assembly line and said it was eyeing a 31 per cent share in the PC monitor segment this year itself.
According to a statement from LG, the company has set itself a target of Rs 500 crore annual turnover from this segment, up from Rs 240 crore last year and is also considering the launching its PC notebooks in India.
The company's monitor assembly line, set up with $10 million investment, has 3.5 lakh unit installed capacity; the proposed manufacturing plant shall have 3.5 lakh unit capacity, which can then be upscaled to five lakh units.
LG had identified the IT peripherals business as the key focus area to lead its growth this year and company officials said that it was planning a turnover contribution of 20 per cent from this segment.
LG's product strategy would be to increase the monitor range from the current 10 models to 14 models by the year-end, with a special focus on optical storage devices, Verma added.
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HPCL net at Rs 1,088 cr, up 2.89 per cent
Mumbai—Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, HPCL, registered a marginal increase in net profit by 2.89 per cent at Rs 1,088.01 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001, against that of Rs 1,057.41 crore last year.
The HPCL board has recommended a 100 per cent dividend (Rs 10 per share) for 2000-01.
The company's net sales stood at Rs 48,566.84 crore for the reporting year compared to Rs 33,830.87 crore in 1999-00.
The other income was also higher at Rs 464.51 crore (128.08 crore). It included Rs 142.28 crore collected under the LPG tatkal connection scheme and Rs 148.38 crore towards interest on amount receivable from the oil co-ordination committee.
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SAIL reduces debt burden by Rs 945 cr
New Delhi—Steel Authority of India, SAIL, reduced its debt burden by Rs 945 crore during the last financial year mainly due to better operations and mobilisation of cheaper loans.
The burden was bought down to Rs 13,930 crore at the end of March 31, 2001, as compared to Rs 14,875 crore at the end of 1999-2000, SAIL sources said.
In the last financial year, SAIL made loan repayments of over 2,400 crore to bond holders, banks, depositors under SAIL's public deposit scheme and foreign lenders.
The company also managed to bring down the average cost of borrowed capital (excluding steel development fund and government loans), sources said adding that this was partly achieved by better operations and partly through mobilisation of cheaper loans.
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Russell to negotiate with Brightstar over VST
New Delhi—The two contenders involved in the takeover of VST Industries-- ITC subsidiary Russell Credit and Brightstar Investments -- are said to be exploring grounds for reaching a settlement in mutual interest and reduce their exposure further.
Thus mediators are exploring ways for a possible settlement under which Russell Credit could buy the over 15 per cent holding of Brightstar in VST, market sources said.
As per the Sebi guidelines, the last date for making changes in the bids by either party for VST takeover is June 3.
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Hikal's net up 5 percent in 2001
Mumbai-- Agrochemicals manufacturer Hikal posted a net profit of Rs 18.14 crore in 2000-01, up 5 per cent from the previous year. The total income was Rs 104.6 crore, up 2 per cent.
The company board of directors has recommended a dividend of 50 per cent or Rs 5 per equity share.

Hikal recently acquired the research and development and bulk drug manufacturing unit of Wintac, Bangalore, formerly known as Recon.
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Modern Foods posts loss of Rs 16cr before selloff
Mumbai—Modern Foods Industries, the erstwhile public sector company, has posted a net loss of Rs 16 crore for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2000. Total income during this period was at Rs 122.7 crore.
For the 12-month period ending March 2000, Modern Foods -- which was then government-owned -- incurred a net loss of Rs 48 crore on a turnover of 160.5 crore.
HLL acquired a 74 per cent stake in Modern Foods in January 2000 for a consideration of Rs 105 crore. HLL claims to have arrested the decline in sales at Modern Foods and says sales have since grown.
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Tube Investments achieves topline growth of 11.3 per cent; declares 50 percent dividend
Chennai—Tube Investments, part of the Chennai-based Murugappa Group, has recommended a dividend of 45 per cent for the year ended March 31, and another 5 per cent for the company having crossed a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore.
According to the company, the dividend declared this time was 5 per cent more than the 40 per cent offered last year.
The company achieved a "topline" growth of 11.3 per cent and a 23 per cent growth in profit before tax. However, since the tax benefits that it enjoyed last year were not available this year, profit after tax stood at Rs 36 crore, a growth of only 10 per cent.
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HLL, J&J to review JV future potential
Mumbai--Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) and Johnson & Johnson Ltd (J&J) have initiated a review on the future of their joint venture, Lever Johnson.

The latter, which sells floor cleaners and insect control products, is a 50:50 joint venture and was set up in 1995.

HLL in its annual report says that the JV has run into rough weather and is now a "potentially sick company, " which implies that at least 50 per cent of its net worth has been eroded.

The two main brands marketed by the JV are Domex, a top end phenolic floor cleaner and Raid mosquito coils.

Savlon, a J&J product and a direct competitor of Reckitt Benckiser’s Dettol, is marketed directly by HLL.

With the venture not meeting its projections, both partners have already had to induct fresh equity into the company.
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Tatas, SIA float SPV to bid for A-I
New Delhi--The Tatas and Singapore International Airlines (SIA) plan to float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in order to bid for the government’s 40 per cent stake in Air-India, AI.

While the Tatas will hold a majority stake of 51 per cent in the SPV, the balance will be held by SIA. It is learnt that the SPV will submit the financial bid to the government.

Plans are that the Tata Group will take a 20.6 per cent stake, while SIA will hold a 19.4 per cent stake of the national carrier.

The paid-up capital of the SPV will depend on the valuation of Air-India, since the SPV has been formed with the sole aim of acquiring the government stake.

The Tata-SIA consortium is one of the two bidders left in the fray for Air-India.

London-based NRIs, the Hinduja group is the other bidder.
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Japanese and Korean brands rule the AC mart in Jan-Apr
New Delhi-- During the first four months of the year, January-April Korea's Samsung and Japan's National have grabbed substantially increased their share of the air-conditioner market and rose to occupy the second slot, trailing marginally behind leader LG Electronics.

Carrier, the dominant player till 1999, has descended to the fifth position while Hitachi (from Amtrex Hitachi) is in the fourth place.

From January to April, total AC sales are estimated at 1,45,000 units.

LG, which led the race with a 20-per cent market share in 2000, gained 22 per cent of the market at the end of the January-April 2001.

Analysts say Samsung is racing ahead on account of large shipments from Korea, while National is cashing on its strong brand equity.

The two were followed by the Lalbhai and Hitachi joint venture, Amtrex Hitachi. The share of Voltas declined from 10 per cent in 2000 to 8.2 per cent in Jan-April 2001, while Videocon improved its share from four per cent to 5.5 per cent.
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Pentamedia to merge subsidiaries
Chennai-- Pentamedia Graphics Ltd, today announced plans of merging three of its wholly-owned content-providing subsidiaries, Media Dreams Ltd, Mayajaal Ltd and Kris Srikkanth Sports & Entertainment Ltd, into a single entity — Penta Entertainment Ltd. Necessary approvals and legal formalities are in process.

The company in its notice to the BSE, informing the bourse about the proposed merger said that Media Dreams has already obtained a change of name and the legal formalities were in process.

After this announcement Pentamedia’s shares rose The stock was 2.18 per cent up at Rs 88.90 in afternoon deals at the BSE, while the benchmark BSE index was down 0.81 per cent.

The Chennai-based firm has been on an acquisition-and-further-consolidation spree over the past few months.

In February this year, Pentamedia bought the California-based movie production company, Improvision Corp, for $19.8 million in stock. In November 2000, it had tried to acquire US-based Film Roman.

But the deal fell through after the latter issued termination notice to Pentamedia citing material breach of stock purchase agreement and MoU signed between the two. As per the amendatory agreement, Pentamedia was to acquire 49.946 per cent of Film Roman equity for $10 million.
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VSNL launches unlimited access Internet package
New Delhi-- Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) today announced the launch of its unlimited access Internet services allowing its customers to surf the Internet throughout the year for an annual payment of Rs 2,400.

Titled ‘Monsoon Magic 2001’, the package will be available for subscription from all VSNL Internet nodes launched at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Coimbatore, Jallundhar, Kanpur and Hyderabad.

The account comes with 5 Mb of e-mail space and WAP-enabled access to the VSNL portal, whereby customers with mobile phones can access their account on their handsets. Subscribers will also be able to get online payment facilities and renewals with state-of-the-art security technologies.

The offer from VSNL is valid till August 31. VSNL also announced the extension of Internet regular package till August 31. The regular package, announced in January 2001, has been very popular to the users as it provides a 100-hour account for three years at a cost of Rs 750.
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HLL; out of mushrooms and leather
Mumbai-- Hindustan Lever, HLL, is hiving-off to hive off its mushroom and leather shoes and goods businesses into separate subsidiaries. The company would either sell or look at roping in joint venture partners for both.

The leather shoes business, which employs around 660 employees, clocked a turnover of Rs 71 crore in fiscal 2000, up from Rs 69 crore in the previous year.

The mushrooms business, which employs 340 people, had clocked Rs 25 crore in revenues last year.

Both businesses are targeted primarily at the export market and while the mushrooms business has a growing/processing unit at Ooty in Tamil Nadu, the leather business has three manufacturing units and a leather cell in South India.

For fiscal 2000, HLL stated that its exports of shoes had grown and this is seen as area of future growth. The uppers business is now shrinking and was under pressure due to difficult conditions in Europe.

For the year, the exports of HLL group rose to Rs 1,917 crore against Rs 1803 crore in 1999.

HLL stated that its objective is to aggressively grow in focused value-added categories and phase out traded exports.
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