We are not hit by unrest at parent company: Hyundai India
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India has said that its operations have not been hit by the prolonged labour unrest at its parent, Hyundai Motor Company, Korea. The Santro and the Accent came with nearly 90 per cent indigenisation and, hence, are not dependent on the parent company for spare parts, a company official said. Even for the Sonata, the Accent Viva and the Accent CRDi, where the level of imported components was relatively high, Hyundai Motor India had enough components at the plant at Irungattukkottai, near here, and hence production would not suffer.
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Tinplate to increase capacity by 20,000 tonnes
Kolkata: Tinplate Company of India, a Tata group venture, will expand its capacity by another 20,000 tonnes during the next two
years. This is expected to make a significant contribution to the company's bottomline. Tinplate managing director B L. Raina said that the two-stage expansion programme will cost Rs 36 crore. "The installed capacity of the plant was 90,000 tonnes per annum but it was gradually increased to 1.14 lakh tonnes. In 2002-03, it was increased to 1.25 lakh tonnes. During the next two years it will be increased to 1.45 lakh tonnes. Though the investment will be nominal for this capacity expansion, still it will make significant contributions to the company's profit margins."

For the year ended 31 March 2003, Tinplate registered a net profit of Rs 2.01 crore on a total income of Rs 263.73 crore. The total accumulated loss of the company was Rs 140.37 crore. In 2001-02, the company registered a net profit of Rs 1.01 crore on a total income of 187.39 crore. In the first quarter of 2003-04, Tinplate's net profit was Rs 3 crore on a total income of Rs 80 crore.
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JK Corp stalls operations at magnetic tape unit
New Delhi: JK Corp has said that the operations at the magnetic tape division of the company have been suspended from 30 June. The company said in a letter to the Bombay Stock Exchange that its magnetic tape division has been "continuously incurring cash loss and the operations have become unviable." This has been attributed to the excess capacity in the country of audiotape and global decline in demand coupled with cheaper imports.
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M&M, Valtra Tractors in talks for probable investment
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has resumed talks with Valtra Tractors, a Finnish tractor company, for a probable investment, Keshub Mahindra, Chairman, M&M, said. "We look at every opportunity. The talks with Valtra are at a very preliminary stage," Bharat Doshi, executive director, M&M, said. Valtra, a euro 800-million company, is owned by Kone and has annual sales of 18,000 tractors.

M&M recently entered into a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Tractors for sale in the US market. The company will source compact tractors (spanning 18-32 hp) from Mitsubishi and sell them under M&M brand. M&M has ended the first quarter of 2003-04 with a 450 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 42.50 crore (Rs 7.80 crore). The company attributed the increase in profits to strong volume growth in its automotive sector, tight control on costs and increased dividend income from subsidiaries operating in IT and financial services sector.
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Suzuki opts for JV route for two-, three-wheelers
New Delhi: Suzuki Motor Corporation has decided to take the joint venture route for its two- and three-wheeler venture in India. The move comes after it established its presence strongly in the four-wheeler market through Maruti Udyog Ltd. According to the plans, the first set of two- and three-wheelers will roll out in the second half of 2004 when its cooling off period with its erstwhile Indian partners, the TVS Group, in its two-wheeler venture TVS Suzuki, comes to an end in October 2004.

The company had earlier planned to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary (WoS) for the two/three-wheeler venture, government sources were quoted as saying. Suzuki has now informed the government that its plans have undergone a change. In a letter to the government, Suzuki has stated that instead of incorporating a new Indian company, it has decided to initially acquire a 51 per cent stake in an existing company, namely, Integra Overseas Private Ltd and rename it as Suzuki Motor India Private Ltd (SMIPL).
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BHEL unit bags STP order
Bangalore: BHEL's industrial systems group has won an Rs 36.30-crore contract from the Chennai Metro Water Supply & Sewerage Board. BHEL, according to the order, will build a 40-mld sewage treatment plant at Nesapakkam over the next 18 months and also operate and maintain it for ten years.
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Pune to be fifth location for Dr Reddy’s R&D centre
Pune: Pune will be the fifth location for Dr Reddy’s Laboratories’ research facilities. DRL has four centres, two each in India and the US and Pune will be the next location, Dr Anji Reddy, founder and chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, said. The National Chemical Laboratory in Pune and the chemistry department at the University of Poona were the big pull factors, Dr Reddy said.

Dr Reddy was here to address the CEO Forum of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture on the DRL success story. Speaking on the hearing in the US courts on Pfizer’s suit against DRL, Dr Reddy said he is eagerly awaiting the outcome of the legal battle with $250-billion Pfizer regarding Norvasc.
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IHCL Q1 net profit rises 86%
Mumbai: Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) has posted an 86.13-per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 3.76 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June, as against Rs 2.02 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. The IHCL board has approved the sale of Gateway Revier view Lodge, Chiplun, for Rs 3.45 crore to Chiplun Hotel Pvt Ltd.

The total income rose 17 per cent to Rs 137.66 crore, compared to the earlier Q1 income of Rs 117.77 crore. This growth was driven by higher room revenue which was up 1.1 per cent, uptrend in occupancy, flat average room realisations (ARR) and food and beverages income which was higher by 14.3 per cent. IHCL executive director Zubin Dubash said the cash flow from the Chiplun sale would be Rs 3.1 crore and the transaction is likely to be completed in Q2.
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Grasim Q1 net up 24% to Rs 131 crore
Mumbai: Grasim Industries has reported a 23.7-per cent growth in net profit after exceptional items at Rs 130.5 crore in the first quarter, as compared to Rs 105.5 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. Net turnover rose 3.5 per cent to Rs 1,174.7 crore from Rs 1,135.5 crore in the previous fiscal. Net profit margins during the quarter have improved to 11.11 per cent from 9.29 per cent.

The company says the prospects for Grasim continue to be bright. Grasim had shut down two VSF plants for nearly 45 days during the quarter, which have since resumed operations. Lower capacity utilisation at 71 per cent this quarter, vis-a-vis 82 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the earlier year and a 15 per cent decline in sales volume is attributable to water shortage, the company said. However, higher realisation and maximum cost optimisation have enabled the company to partially offset the impact on its VSF operations.
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BSES Q1 net profit up 8%
Mumbai: BSES Ltd (renamed Reliance Energy Ltd), which announced an eight per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2003, has become the first listed company in India to consider payment of quarterly dividend. The company on Monday announced the issuance of notice to the stock exchanges for consideration of the proposal for quarterly dividend. The company has reported a net profit of Rs 85 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal ended 30 June 2003, an increase of 8 per cent compared to the net profit of Rs 79 crore in the same quarter last year.

After writing back of tax provision of Rs 3.60 crore, the net profit during the quarter is Rs 88.20 crore, indicating an actual increase of 11 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Further, an industry analyst pointed out that the company has reported an eight per cent net profit growth despite making provision of Rs 58 crore during the quarter towards future contingencies. The profits of BSES would have been even higher had the provision not been made. BSES’ total provision now stands at Rs 320 crore comprising writing off of bills of Rs 135 crore in the last two years, especially for cleaning up future contingencies.
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Polaris Q1 net up 15% to Rs 16 crore
Chennai: Polaris Software Labs Ltd (Polaris) has reported a net profit of Rs 16.42 crore for the first quarter ended June 2003, as against Rs 14.36 crore during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 15 per cent. Income from software services stood at Rs 153.67 crore (Rs 73.54 crore). The figures are not comparable as the current quarter include revenues from OrbiTech Solutions Ltd, which has been merged with Polaris.

For the fourth quarter last fiscal, which included revenues from OrbiTech, Polaris reported revenues of Rs 155.91 crore and a net profit of Rs 13.03 crore. “The last quarter has been a busy one and a very challenging one too. Managing the emotional aspects of the merger was a truly learning experience. However, attrition has gone up to 14 per cent. Litigations have also consumed more management time than anticipated. In addition, competitive pricing in the marketplace has lead to lower margins. We have strengthened the focus on business development and we can look forward to some good product business. Our delivery capability has also been simultaneously augmented,”said Mr Arun Jain, chairman and managing director, Polaris.
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