Sterlite to list on LSE in 2 months
New Delhi: Sterlite Industries, currently quoted on Bombay Stock Exchange, is to float on the London Stock Exchange within the next two months. Sterlite plans to float up to 25 per cent of the company, raising around $250 million. The issue will value Sterlite at $1 billion and will be the most significant fund-raising on the London market this year. The group, which is being advised by HSBC and JP Morgan, decided on Friday to press ahead with the floatation despite there having been no main market listings in London since last year. Sterlite will become the first Indian metals company to have its primary listing in the UK. Anil Agarwal, the founder and owner of around 80 per cent of Sterlite, believes the company will achieve a better valuation here than it does in India and that the business will benefit from having a higher profile. Sterlite is highly acquisitive and aims to become the largest non-ferrous metals group with sales of $5 billion by 2005.
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Big B plans corporate comeback via films in JV with Mega Groups
Mumbai: The Big B is back. And this time, he means business. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, whose experiment with corporatisation floundered in the mid-nineties when his company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL) went under, is now planning a well-thought-out corporate comeback through the company’s new avatar, AB Corp. Bachchan is clear that this corporate comeback will be slow and steady. No mistakes this time. And clearly wiser with the benefit of hindsight, he has decided that AB Corp will take one thing at a time. The company is coming back with film production, but even that will be by way of joint productions with large corporate groups, so that the risk and expertise are spread out. Joint production is the cornerstone of AB Corp’s new strategy. No distribution, television software or events for now. “We’re going to move very slowly. We want to start with making films. We want to do it small, and we don’t want to do it alone. We want to go in for joint productions, holding hands with other bigger corporates. It could be the Tatas or the Birlas,” Bachchan said
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Modicare plans centres at Tiruchi, Tirunelveli
Madurai: Modicare plans to open two more centres in Tamil Nadu, one at Tiruchi and the other at Tirunelveli, according to Rathin Mathur, general manager (sales). Mathur, addressing media persons here on Saturday, claimed that the company has achieved a leadership position in the industry in a span of six years. At present, the company, operating through its 52 centres across the country, has reached over 2600 cities, he added. Elaborating on the success of the company, Mathur said the emphasis has been on providing a platform and an opportunity for all those who have the desire to work and earn in an ethical framework. Speaking about Modicare, Mathur said the organisation, which started with 400 consultants initially, presently is maintaining a level of over 9,50, 000 consultants. The southern region has emerged as the top most revenue-earning region for the company. The business in Tamil Nadu is worth over Rs 2 crore and Madurai, with a growing turnover of around Rs 70 lakh, is enjoying the second position
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Cauvery Oil unit to go on stream in July
Chennai: The Chennai-based Shriram Group has taken a significant stake in Cauvery Oil Palm Ltd, which plans to commence operating its oil palm unit in the first week of July, according to reliable sources. The 2.5 tonne per hour unit located at Varanavasi, Perambalur district, has been set up at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore with assistance from the Technology Mission for oilseeds, pulses and maize. The mission has contributed Rs 2.5 crore as machinery for the plant and the promoters have brought in the balance, they said. The unit will initially produce crude palm oil for supply to vanaspati units. The company hopes to process about 1000 - 1500 tonnes of oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) in the first year of operation. This is about 10 - 15 per cent of the plant's capacity. Cauvery Oil Palm hopes to achieve full capacity utilisation during the third year of operation. Cauvery Oil Palm is promoted by Dr V. Krishnamurthy who heads the Bharat Technologies Group.
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Tamilnadu Petro's exit from Petro Araldite may be delayed
Chennai: Tamilnadu Petroproducts' proposed exit from the joint venture company, Petro Araldite Polymers Ltd, might be delayed, because the overseas partner, Vantico, is likely to be taken over by another company. Vantico became TPL's partner in the joint venture two years ago, when the original collaborator, Ciba Geigy sold off its worldwide polymer business to Vantico. Last year, TPL said it was in negotiations to sell off its 24 per cent stake in the joint venture to Vantico. Approval from the FIPB was sought for the foreign company to raise its stake to 100 per cent. But in the meantime, Vantico itself is likely to be taken over by the Huntsmann group of the US.
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Sterlite to set up bauxite mining project in Orissa
New Delhi: Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd on Sunday announced the commencement of its Rs 4,000-crore bauxite mining and alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh district, Orissa. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed by Sterlite Industries and the Government of Orissa at a meeting held at the state secretariat in the presence of the chief minister of Orissa, Naveen Patnaik, and Anil Agarwal, chairman of the Sterlite Group. The new refinery will have an initial production capacity of one million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of alumina, with associated bauxite mining facilities located at Lanjigarh in the Kalahandi district of Orissa. The alumina refinery is being built with infrastructure to expand to 1.4 million tonnes based on the 150 million tonnes of bauxite resources committed by the Government of Orissa for this project. The refinery is being set up to meet the growing demand for alumina, a consequence of the expected increase in aluminium production internationally. It is expected that almost half of the total alumina produced in the plant will be exported and the rest will be used for captive consumption. Initially, mining will commence from the Lanjigarh bauxite deposit. To meet the power needs of the plant, Sterlite will also construct a power plant with a capacity of 100 MW as part of the project. Sterlite has engaged Worley, Australia, an engineering firm for providing engineering services for the alumina refinery project.
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Galada told to sort out profit-sharing with Hind Alum
New Delhi: The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has directed the ailing Galada Power & Telecommunication Ltd (GPTL) to sort out the issue of profit-sharing with Hindustan Aluminium Ltd (HAL) and submit a fully tied-up rehabilitation proposal to IDBI by June 21. At a recent hearing, the Bench noted that the company and its existing promoters have submitted a rehabilitation proposal to the operating agency, IDBI, in response to the advertisement issued for change in management. The proposal envisaged running the unit on job work-cum-profit sharing basis with HAL and selling the plant and assets of the company at Hyderabad. IDBI was unable to examine the proposal in the absence of a profit sharing agreement with HAL, it observed. GPTL submitted at the hearing that it would be entering into such an agreement with HAL shortly, the bench noted. The bench, in its recent order, directed the company to sort out all issues with HAL and the working capital bankers within a stipulated time frame and submit a fully tied-up proposal to IDBI. It directed IDBI to examine the company's proposal and submit the status report by July 7.
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Yearly net of 556 major companies up 38.4 per cent
Mumbai: The yearly net profit of 556 major companies, which declared their results so far, rose by 38.42 per cent to Rs 36,425 crore during 2002-03, from Rs 26,316 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. This has occurred probably due to the significant increase in net profit by companies like Nahar Exports, Motherson Sumi Systems, Deepak Nitrite, Sanwaria Agro Oils, Cheviot Company, Mahindra&Mahindra, Kalyani Steels, Benaras Hotels and Lakshmi Electrical Control. The net profit of Mahindra&Mahindra increased by 41.7 per cent to Rs 145.53 crore during 2002-03, from the level of Rs 102.69 crore during 2001-02. The sales of the company also increased by 14.0 per cent during the same period. Nahar Exports is another notable example. It registered a sharp 57.3 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 25.21 crore during 2002-03. But its sales declined by 9 per cent during the same period. The other income of the bank increased significantly by 92.9 per cent to Rs 5.94 crore during 2002-03, from the level of Rs 3.08 crore during 2001-02. In the fertiliser sector, Deepak Nitrite has performed well. While its net profit increased by 48.2 per cent to Rs 11.71 crore (Rs 7.90 crore) during 2002-03, its sales increased by 17.8 per cent to Rs 249.32 crore during 2002-03. But its other income decreased by 24.8 per cent to Rs 2.28 crore during 2002-03. In the banking sector, Dhanalakshmi Bank has performed well. While its net profit increased by 49.2 per cent to Rs 15.02 crore (Rs 10.07 crore) during 2002-03, its main income increased by 4.5 per cent to Rs 189.22 crore during 2002-03. Its other income increased by 19.4 per cent to Rs 70.16 crore during 2002-03. In the Jute goods sector, Cheviot Company has performed well. While its sales grew 7.0 per cent to Rs 129.33 crore, net profit increased by 108.3 per cent to Rs 22.60 crore during 2002-03. There are some big companies whose performances have been adversely affected in terms of net profit. Mention may be made of Hind Lever Chemicals, Essar Shipping, Mcnally Bharat and Dr Reddys Lab. The net profit of Essar Shipping declined by 63.3 per cent to Rs 63.30 crore during 2002-03, from the level of Rs 172.30 crore during 2001-02. Its sales marginally declined by 0.1 per cent to Rs 479.75 crore during 2002-03. Hind Lever Chemicals also showed poor results. Its net profit declined by 36.6 per cent to Rs 30.03 crore during 2002-03, from Rs 47.34 crore during 2001-02. Its sales decreased by 23.5 per cent to Rs 983.43 crore during 2002-03.
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Becton studying ways to prevent reuse of syringes
Mumbai: Becton Dickinson is a company engaged in making sure that single-use syringes are not used twice, a sure way of helping deadly diseases spread fast. Reuse of disposable syringes is a malaise rampant in countries such as China, India and Pakistan. Of an estimated 2 billion injections given every year in India, 40 per cent or 800 million are said to be recycled disposable plungers, a practice that help breed highly contagious diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis. "The risk has always been with the healthcare workers, paramedics and downstream workers who handle the disposing of the syringes,'' said Rakesh Kumar, general manager-medical systems, Becton Dickinson India Pvt Ltd. Becton Dickinson is currently researching on solutions for prevention of reuse of syringes for the curative market. "We expect to bring out two solutions or technologies in 12 months time after approvals from DCGI (Drug Controller General of India),'' he said. The company has designed a software package to track incidences of needle stick injuries. "We have devised a software system, Epinet, for needle stick injuries and we are in talks with several major hospital chains to team up with them and collect data. With a database in place, one can put across the importance of prevention of needle stick injuries especially to healthcare workers and paramedics to government authorities,'' Kumar said.
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Samsung plans R&D thrust, to double investment by '05
Bangalore: Samsung Electronics is planning a major thrust on research and development (R&D) in India. With a major expansion lined up, after its R&D hub in Bangalore, Samsung India Software Operations (SISO) has planned to increase its manpower from 400 to 600 this year and double its investment to $60m by ‘05. “Given the strength of our existing competency levels and the software capability that exists in India, I expect SISO to play a leading role in contributing to Samsung’s global business,” GyuChool Kim, MD of SISO said. The company is taking up new software projects for the parent company in the areas of networking and telecom protocol, telecom switching systems and infrastructure, multimedia or digital media as well as application software.
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