HLL Q4 net up 76.9 pc
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever (HLL) has reported a 13.63 per cent growth in profit after tax but before exceptional income for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, to Rs293.98 crore from Rs258.72 crore in the corresponding period last year. After taking into account exceptional income such as the sales proceeds from Nihar hair oil to Marico for Rs148.88 crore the company's net profit was up 76.97 per cent at Rs442.86 crore (Rs250.25 crore for the year-ago period).

Exceptional item for the quarter included profit of Rs202 crore on sale of the `Nihar' brand, apart from other costs.

The company's net sales were up 11.64 per cent at Rs2,798.05 crore (Rs2,506.38 crore) with domestic HPC sales of Rs2,068.41 crore (Rs1,724.38 crore) and food sales of Rs432.13 crore (Rs389.86 crore). Exports dipped 19.47 per cent to Rs275.53 crore (Rs342.14 crore).

EBIT margin improved to 11.9 per cent from 10.5 per cent.

The home and personal care (HPC) business grew 20 per cent, while foods improved 11 per cent. In HPC, laundry, shampoo and skincare led the momentum. In foods, coffee grew strongly but tea recorded marginal growth in a declining market. The company's water initiative, at a test-marketing stage, has been extended from Chennai to Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli and Pondicherry.

HLL's shares ended Rs3.40 up at Rs290.65 in Friday's trade on BSE.
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Bharti Airtel net up 49 pc on user growth
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel has reported a 49 per cent increase in net profit to Rs682 crore during the fourth quarter of 2005-06 against Rs459 crore during the corresponding period last year on the back of a 78 per cent increase in its cellular subscriber base. Bharti, with a market capitalisation of Rs76,000 crore, registered a 47 per cent rise in its total revenue to Rs3,411 crore against Rs2,326 crore during the fourth quarter last year.

For 2005-06, Airtel has reported a 51 per cent rise in net profit to Rs2,258 crore, while its revenue grew 46 per cent over the previous year to Rs11,663 crore. Bharti's total subscriber base, including fixed line and broadband, surged from 1.18 crore to 2.09 crore during the year, of which 19.6 million are mobile users.

Bharti's shares were trading at Rs405 on the BSE, which is 0.66 per cent higher than its yesterday's closing price.
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GAIL net profit declines 22 per cent in Q4
New Delhi: GAIL (India) has seen a dip of 22 per cent in its profit after tax (PAT) during the fourth quarter of 2005-06. The company's PAT for the quarter stood at Rs409 crore against Rs524 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous financial year.

The dip in PAT in the fourth quarter was mainly due to the increase in subsidy burden to Rs538 crore from Rs273 crore in the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of 2005-06, the company's turnover increased by 11 per cent to Rs3,660 crore as against a turnover of Rs3,285 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

During the quarter gas transmission increased by 8 per cent to 78.34 million standard cubic metre (MMSCMD) as compared to 72.46 MMSCMD in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) transmission increased by 21 per cent to 690,000 million tonne (mt) as compared to 570,000 mt during the corresponding quarter of the previous year, the company said.

GAIL has achieved an 18 per cent jump in its net profit and a 17 per cent increase in the turnover for the full financial year 2005-06. The PAT during 2005-06 stood at Rs2,310 crore(Rs1,954 crore). The turnover during the year under review increased to Rs14,460 crore as against Rs12,412 crore.

This increase in profits has been achieved despite the fact that gas price for internal consumption has gone up from Rs2,850 to Rs6,740 per 1,000 standard cubic metre (SCM) with effect from July 1, 2005, the company said adding that GAIL also had to bear the subsidy burden of Rs1,064 crore towards the under recoveries on domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and PDS Kerosene as per the Government directives.
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ATI to expand operations in India
Hyderabad: ATI Technologies Inc, the $2.2-billion communications and graphics chip solutions provider, has started expanding operations in India. The company would be shifting to a new R&D centre and setting up a Digital TV Lab and an audio/acoustics lab.

The company plans to increase investments in India from $50 million (announced last year) to over $75 million within four years, with an average investment of about $10 million a year. The company has invested about $15 million in its Hyderabad development centre.

Adrian Hartog, senior vice-president of ATI Technologies, who is based in Canada, said India and China in the Asia-Pacific region have emerged as two of the fastest growing markets for consumption of its chips for mobile phones, set-top boxes, gaming devices and graphics applications. "We expect to double India headcount from 175 to about 350 to 400 this year," he said.
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Bajaj Auto plans Rs.1,500-cr expansion
Pune: Bajaj Auto will invest Rs1,500 crore over the next three years in expanding capacity, research and development, new model developments, pro biking showrooms (company's high-end retail initiative) across the country and a new "learning centre" at Akurdi.

These requirements will be financed by the company's own funds, said Sanjiv Bajaj, executive director, Bajaj Auto. For fiscal 2007, the company is targeting a volume of 2.85 million units , including exports of about 365,000 units.
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Grasim in Rs.4,500-cr capex plans
Mumbai: Grasim Industries plans to increase its group cement production capacity by 8 million tonnes and its viscose staple yarn capacity by 25 per cent for the next two years. Around Rs4,500 crore will be spent on Grasim over the next two years and Rs1,520 crore on UltraTech over the next three years. At Grasim, the group would spend Rs2,475 crore on greenfield and brownfield expansion.

The greenfield plant, with a split grinding unit, will be located at Kotputli in Rajasthan and will have a capacity of 4 mtpa and the brownfield one will expand the Sambhupura unit by another 4 mtpa. The capex also covers thermal plants, which will be set up at each of these locations.

The capacity expansion during the current fiscal will be 1.5 million tonnes and the rest in the succeeding year.
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GSK Pharma offloads animal health biz to Virbac
Mumbai: GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) plans to sell its stand-alone animal health business in India, Agrivet Farm Care (AFC), to Virbac Animal Health India for Rs207.1 crore. The transaction would be completed by the second half of 2006, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, a GSK note said.
Virbac in India is a subsidiary of Virbac S.A., a leading animal health and veterinary products company headquartered in France that clocked revenues of £250 million in 2005.

GSK is not present in animal health in other global markets and AFC represents about eight per cent of GSK Pharma's sales in India. It clocked revenues of Rs119 crore in 2005.
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TVS Motor enters into JV with Columbian company
Mumbai: TVS Motor is planning to sign a joint venture (JV) with a Columbian company for setting up a motorcycle assembly plant in Columbia. The company plans to enter into an agreement with a minority partner contributing a small investment.
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Anil Ambani to float new firm for film distribution
Mumbai: The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) is planning to set up a new film distribution company, Reliance Films which would cater to the domestic market. RDAG's other film distribution company Adlabs Films is into overseas distribution of films.

The group is planning to invest Rs400 crore in this business in 2006-07. The rationale for beefing up its presence in film distribution, according to sources close to the development, is to streamline the business.

Reliance Films will not only deal with theatrical distribution but also buy all other rights - ranging from television, DVD, DTH, broadband, IPTV and overseas distribution rights.

The company plans to distribute 24 films in the current financial year and raise the number to 40 next year.

Reliance Films will try to capture the entire value chain of filmmaking and will provide an exploitation platform for the producer. This means, Reliance Films will pay the producer the cost of production of a film and an additional 10 per cent as minimum guarantee.
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Orchid launches five generic drugs in US
Chennai: Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals has launched five generic products in the US. The products launched in US markets are Cephalexin, Cefazolin, Ceftriaxone, Cefprozil and Cefoxitin.

The company has attained leadership position in the generic drugs market with its Cerftroaxone injection during the last fiscal and was able to garner business to the tune of Rs250 crore from the US market last year

"The US generics entry has been highly successful and the company has been able to garner a leading market share and revenue positions in several key antibiotic product introductions," senior officials said.

The company's net profit was Rs82.90 crore during this fiscal, compared to Rs14.85 crore the previous year. The sales registered a 29 per cent growth during the period when sales went up from Rs689.29 crore in 2004-05 to Rs888.70 crore.
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