Zee Tele: Tight show in difficult times
Mumbai: Rise in subscription revenues and a check on costs have helped Zee Telefilms post a fairly impressive earnings growth for the January - March 2003 quarter. Zee Telefilms as a standalone entity and Zee Network as a whole have come up with earnings numbers that provide some respite from rather insipid performance in the past two years. A rise in revenues by 26 per cent has been magnified into a 54 per cent spurt in post-tax earnings due to an improvement in operating profit margins. Notably, expenditure has declined by 1.1 per cent despite the rise in revenues.
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Jisco posts Rs 120.98-cr net profit
Mumbai: Leading galvanised steel exporter, Jindal Iron & Steel Company Ltd (Jisco), will provide consultancy and take on O&M contracts for galvanising plants in developing markets, talks already on with units in Iran and Ethiopia, Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & Managing Director, told analysts here on Monday. The move has the benefit of making Jisco a raw material supplier. Names of the units were not disclosed, but a separate team is in place to oversee this.
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Ashok Leyland ties up with Hino
Chennai: Ashok Leyland Ltd on Monday signed a technology transfer agreement with Hino Motors of Japan, for high-power engines — with a power capability of 260 HP and eight-litre displacement. The company will manufacture these engines (with technical support from Hino) in India — initially with a local content of about 30 per cent, going up to 90 per cent in five years. The agreement covers CNG engines also.
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HPL debt: GAIL ready for lower rate
New Delhi: The restructuring proposal of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) has received a fresh lease of life with Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) agreeing to a lower rate of loan conversion. Top HPL sources said that GAIL, which was earlier insisting that Rs 2,000 crore of HPL's debt be converted into preference shares, had agreed to a conversion of Rs 600 crore now.
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Keltron device to analyse gold purity
Thiruvanathapuram: The Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) has announced the launch of a gold purity analyser. Branded the Keltron Robo Gardien, the product is a portable microprocessor-based instrument for analysing the purity of gold and detecting spurious stuff, says a company press release. The device ensures that gold is neither lost nor spoiled during the analysis, the release says. At the same time, the instrument is able to detect both metallic and non-metallic stuffing used in ornaments, the release adds.
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WBIDC back in black after 18 years
Kolkata: West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), state’s nodal body for industrial promotion, has come out of red after 18 years. Drastic cut in administrative expenses and promotional costs, one-time settlement of dues resulting in increased recovery, have all led to a net profit of Rs 3.2 crore for WBIDC in the last fiscal. In ‘01-02, the corporation had suffered a net loss of Rs 53 lakh.
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Kinetic Engg exports touch 25,000-mark
New Delhi: Kinetic Engineering on Monday said that it has reached a milestone figure of 25,000 vehicles exported to the United States. Exports, which began in 1994, have consisted of its mopeds Luna and V2, and scooter Style, rechristened as Milano for the US market. Cosmo Motors managing director Lance Weil — Kinetic’s exclusive importer and distributor for the US specially flew in to participate in a celebration at the company’s manufacturing plant in Ahmednagar, where he and Kinetic Engineering chairman Arun Firodia jointly flagged off the truck containing latest shipment of mopeds for the US market.
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GCPL net rises 21per cent to Rs 12 cr in Q4
Mumbai: Godrej Consumer Prod-ucts Ltd (GCPL) has reported a 21.7 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 11.99 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003, from Rs 9.85 crore in the same period of last year. Net sales, however, declined 2.4 per cent to Rs 107.6 crore from Rs 110.3 crore, though sales of Godrej brands improved 5 per cent from Rs 99.2 crore to Rs 104.0 crore. Sales and margins in the fourth quarter were impacted to a limited extent by uncertainty around the implementation of VAT, the company said in a release.
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Scion plans products for fragrance market
Panaji: Scion International, a Dubai-based global lifestyle and beauty solutions company, is drawing up ambitious plans to take on giants like Hindustan Lever (HLL), Henkel, among others, in the mass market for fragrances with a range of products.
Company officials, while emphasising the importance of the nascent Indian fragrance market, indicated that the company would be setting up a manufacturing facility which would eventually grow to support the global operations for the company.
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Indian Rayon net zooms 142 per cent to Rs105 crore on business recast
Mumbai: Aditya Birla group company Indian Rayon and Industries Ltd has reported a 142.4 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 105.33 crore for the year ended March 31, 2003 as against Rs 43.46 crore in the previous year. The company has attributed the substantial increase in the net profit to the continuous restructuring of the business processes, operational excellence and effective financial management. The company fared well despite a net loss of Rs 18.66 crore, including Rs 57.08 crore loss on sale of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). The figures are, however, not strictly comparable. Net sales for the reporting year registered a 2.4 per cent increase at Rs 1,443.82 crore as against Rs 1,410.63 crore, despite an underperforming garments business.
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Disconnected! Reliance Info launch hits roadblock
Kolkata: Reliance Infocomm’s May 1 commercial launch of WLL-mobile, NLD and ILD services appears to be in some considerable danger of derailment from the look of things. With less than 72 hours for the launch, the company still doesn’t have the connectivity in place with BSNL in 90 percent of the cities where it proposes to launch telecom services commercially. This was confirmed by top Reliance Infocomm officials on Monday.
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Apple launches online music service
New Delhi: Apple Computer on Monday unveiled its long-awaited online music service, promising to make the process of buying music on the Internet simple and cheap enough to compete with file-swapping sites the record industry blames for its slump.Apple said in a statement that its Internet-based iTunes Music Store software would allow users to download music for 99 cents per song without subscription fees.
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TVS Motor to spend Rs 1,000 cr on new products
Chennai: TVS Motor Company Ltd on Monday said that it proposed to spend "Rs 200 crore per year for five years" on new product development. Addressing a press conference here, the Chairman and Managing Director, Venu Srinivasan, said that he expected the Indian market for motorcycles to grow to 1 crore vehicles in 2010, from about 35 lakh now. The company desires to have a market share of 25 per cent by 2010.
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