Taj Residency is best hotel for 2003-04
Hyderabad: Taj Residency, Hyderabad has been awarded the National Tourism Award for the `Best 5-star hotel in India' instituted by the Union Ministry of Tourism for 2003-04.

Announcing this at a press conference the hotel said that it had competed with more than eighty hotels in the 5-star category across the country.

The parameters for the award include highest foreign exchange earnings per room, incremental earnings in forex over the previous year, highest percentage increase in foreign tourists arrivals, facilities for physically challenged guests, eco-friendly practices followed by the hotel and social responsibility practices.

The hotel is currently implementing an Rs 7-crore upgradation and renovation programme. The hotel is planning to go in for audit of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certificate in the month of March. The HACCP certificate has been considered a world-wide benchmark in food hygiene and it entails stringent compliance to process, which ensures that food handling and food processing were of highest standard.
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Wipro activates Kochi facility
Kochi: Software major Wipro Technologies has announced the launch of operations at its facility here, by moving a Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) design project to Kochi.

To begin with, Wipro has sent 15 people to the Kochi unit, located at the Infopark at Kakkanadu. Over the next couple of years, it plans to have 300 people at Kochi.
The company has acquired 25 acres of land at the Infopark to build its campus. Its construction will begin in the first quarter of this year.

Officials said that the company would hire professionals from the State for its Kochi facility.
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Reliance goes for franchisee owned outlets
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will set up 2,000 new retail outlets by December 2006. Of these1,500 outlets will be run by franchisee partners, a stark departure from RIL's current policy. Almost all of RIL's present 300 outlets are company-owned.

The first fifteen retail outlets will be commissioned by March 2005, said a senior Reliance official. Eventually, of the 2,000 petrol pumps, only 450 will be company-owned, while the remaining 1,500 pumps will be owned by franchisees.

The franchisee contracts could be of two types - where both the dealer and company share investments or where dealers invest in the outlet and lease it back to Reliance. But the overall structure of any of the models will be such that control will continue to rest with the company, the official said on the sidelines of an industry seminar.

Reliance will also shift its focus from highways to metros. The company has so far focused on highway outlets. According to the official, the company's strategy so far was to establish its presence through large outlets along highways and arterial links.
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Hughes Soft name change okayed
New Delhi: The shareholders of Hughes Software Systems Ltd have approved the change of name of the company to Flextronics Software Systems Ltd, subject to the approval of Central Government and other statutory approvals.

In a notice to the BSE, the company also informed that the shareholders and unsecured creditors of the company have approved the scheme of amalgamation between the company and Tenet Technologies Pvt Ltd.
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Saregama to distribute MGM titles
Kolkata: Saregama India Ltd has entered into a strategic alliance with MGM Studios, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc, to make films of the Hollywood studio available on VCDs and DVDs in India from March 2005. Saregama already has similar tie-ups with other global film production companies such as Paramount, Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and BBC.

Saregama India has said that some 100 titles of MGM would be released in India over a twelve month period. These titles would also be dubbed and released in select Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Saregama plans to promote the MGM films in "novel and innovative" ways including having on offer special collectors' edition sets of James Bond films, among other marketing initiatives. The company hopes to generate incremental business to the tune of Rs 3 crore in 2005-06 by virtue of the tie-up.

During the third quarter ended December 2004, Saregama India recorded a total income of Rs27.54 crore against Rs27.21 crore in the corresponding previous period. It recorded profit before tax of Rs2.12 crore compared to loss of Rs7.03 crore earlier.
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Salora to distribute Xerox products
New Delhi: Xerox Modicorp Ltd, a leading player in the document management industry, has announced the appointment of Salora International as its distributor in India.

As per the pact, Salora will distribute Xerox's office products including laser printers, facsimile and multifunction devices, a company release said.

Through its strong presence and established network, Salora will help ensure that Xerox's portfolio of office products are available to a larger base of customers.
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Corporate Results
Grasim Q3 net up 32.6 per cent
Mumbai: Grasim has posted robust third quarter results reporting a 32.6 per cent growth in net profit at Rs217.08 crore during the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, as against Rs163.72 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Total income from operations stood at Rs1,560.7 crore in the third quarter as against Rs1,332 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The net profit rose to Rs656.2 crore during the nine month ended December 31, 2004 compared to Rs497.2 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Total income from operations increased to Rs4,604.9 crore during the period under review as compared to Rs3,680.1 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

The company has planned a capital expenditure of Rs690 crore over financial year 2005 and 2006, it said. The amount would be spent on the setting up of captive thermal power plants at Jawad (50 MW), additional turbine at Malkhed (20 MW), implementation of ongoing modernisation and capacity expansion through de-bottlenecking. A grinding unit with capacity of one million tonne per annum at Dadri would also be set up.

Essar Steel Q3 net jumps to Rs197.5 crore
Mumbai: Essar Steel Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs197.54 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, as against net loss of Rs21.74 crore in Q3 of FY-04. The total income zoomed by 53 per cent to Rs1,428.95 crore from Rs931.58 crore in October-December 2003.

The total sale of steel for the quarter ended December 2004 stood at 5.24 lakh tonnes (5.02 lakh tonnes in Q3 of 2003-04).

The domestic sales stood at 3.60 lakh tonnes (3.56 lakh tonnes) while overseas shipments rose to 1.64 lakh tonnes for Q3 of current fiscal from 1.46 lakh tonnes in same period last year.

Moser Baer posts Rs 31.73 crore net loss for Q3
New Delhi: Optical media maker Moser Baer India Ltd has posted a net loss of Rs31.73 crore for the third quarter of this fiscal against a net profit of Rs107.08 crore during the previous Q3.

The company's total Income was down to Rs369.32 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 compared to Rs478.92 crore during the third quarter of 2003-04.

According to the company's guidance, it expects to grow its revenue at a compounded annual growth rate of 25-35 per cent over the next three years.

Novartis Q3 net dips
Mumbai: Pharma major Novartis has reported disappointing third quarter results. The company's net profit for the third quarter ending December 31, 2004, declined 55.32 per cent to Rs21.8 crore from Rs48.8 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Sales for the third quarter also declined at Rs135.16 crore as against Rs145.32 crore in Q3 of previous fiscal. The company said while generics business continued to under perform and registered a 2.3 per cent drop in sales, the over-the-counter business grew by 10.3 per cent.

For the nine-month period ending December, the net profit dipped to Rs64.7 crore compared to Rs92.9 crore for the April-December period of previous fiscal. Net sales stood at Rs 392.4 crore as against Rs 402.6 crore in FY04.

Dabur Pharma Q3 net up 16.6 per cent
New Delhi: The Rs213 crore Dabur Pharma Ltd has reported a 16.6 per cent growth in its net profit at Rs7.2 crore for the quarter ending on December 31, 2004, as compared to Rs6.2 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The total sales during the period grew 4.4 per cent to Rs56.6 crore from Rs54.2 crore in October-December 2003.

During the nine-month period of current fiscal, the company reported a net profit of Rs16.6 crore as against Rs14.8 crore in the same period of lat fiscal, registering a growth of 11.6 per cent.

The total sales during April-December period 2004 grew by 11.5 per cent to Rs186.5 crore as compared to Rs167.2 crore in year ago period.

The company also announced that it had received US FDA approval for his bulk drug plant in Kalyani, West Bengal for Metaxalone, a muscle relaxant.

i-flex Solutions Q3 net up 33 per cent
Mumbai: I-Flex Solutions Ltd has reported a 32.9 per cent growth in net profit at Rs48 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, as against Rs36.1 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter.

Revenues for the quarter grew 37.7 per cent, to Rs249.4 crore, from Rs181.1 crore. There was robust revenue growth in all lines of business, said a news release from the company.
Gross profit rose 18 per cent, to Rs111.52 crore, up from Rs94.48 crore.

Income from operations went up 34.1 per cent, to stand at Rs 64.9 crore (Rs 48.37 crore). Interest income was higher at Rs 6.33 crore (Rs 5.42 crore) while `other expenses' sharply rose to Rs13.6 crore, up from a negligible amount the corresponding year-ago quarter. Consequently, profit before tax amounted to Rs57.5 crore, up from Rs53.77 crore. Provision for income tax was substantially lower at Rs9.5 crore, down from Rs17.6 crore.

The consolidated net profit amounted to Rs45 crore while the consolidated revenues were at Rs300 crore, and operating income at Rs58 crore for the quarter.

The growth in non-Citibank share of revenues continues, with the section contributing to 37 per cent, up from 30 per cent at the beginning of the financial year.

The company has also informed BSE that the board of directors at their meeting has allotted 7,650 ESOP equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each to the applicant employees of the company.

Datamatics Q3 net up 49 per cent
Mumbai: Datamatics Technologies has reported a year-on-year increase of 49 per cent in net profit, at Rs7.15 crore, for the third quarter of the current fiscal. Revenues for the quarter, at Rs14.47 crore, rose 38 per cent. The consolidated net profit fell 10.6 per cent to Rs5.16 crore, down from Rs5.77 crore during the previous corresponding period, although revenues grew 22.8 per cent, to Rs37.8 crore (Rs30.8 crore).

The board has recommended a dividend of 25 per cent, or Rs1.25 per share of face value Rs5.
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