Federal Mogul bids to increase stake in Goetze
New Delhi: The US based auto components company Federal Mogul Corporation is again trying to increase its stake in Goetze India. The former has bid for acquiring an additional 24.64 per cent stake in Goetze and has upped its bid to Rs222.5 per equity share against the Rs205-215 price proposed earlier.

"The mode of the proposed acquisition will be off-market inter se promoter transfer. The acquisition price per share will be Rs222.50 and the date of proposed acquisition would be on or after May 12," the company said. The American company said the bid to acquire 24.64 per cent of the share capital of Goetze India from the Anil Nanda-promoted Joint Investments would be carried out by Federal-Mogul Holding Ltd. If successful, the acquisition will give Federal Mogul a 50.10 per cent holding in the company.

Following the transaction chairman and managing director, Goetze India Anil Nanda's, share in the company would drop to about six per cent. After the completion of the transaction, Federal Mogul is likely to step up sourcing from Goetze as well as infuse more funds. The transaction, valued at about Rs140 crore, would not trigger an open offer as it is an inter se transaction. Nanda is likely to continue as non-executive chairman of Goetze India.

The share of Goetze, which opened at Rs245.54 at the Bombay Stock Exchange, jumped almost 20 per cent to close at Rs305.30 on Tuesday.
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Cubex gets order from NTPC
Hyderabad: Cubex Tubings has received an order of Rs8 crore from National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) for seamless solid drawn condenser tubes. This contract was awarded under global competitive bidding, the company said. Further, the company said it has participated in other tenders aggregating Rs50 crore of NTPC and is expecting a major share of these tenders.
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BOC India's Q4 net up 66 pc
Kolkata: The net sales of BOC India rose by 36 per cent to touch Rs168.82 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2006, as against Rs123.72 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2004-05. BOC India is a subsidiary of the UK-based BOC Group Plc.

During the last quarter of 2005-06, BOC's net profit after deferred tax jumped by 66 per cent to Rs15.2 crore from Rs9.15 crore. BOC registered its highest ever turnover of Rs560.93 crore in 2005-06, marking a 32 per cent growth over the previous year. Net profit after tax increased by 181 per cent to Rs78.63 crore (Rs27.97 crore).

The board of directors has recommended a dividend of 30 per cent (15 per cent), working out to Rs3 for every equity share of Rs10 face value.
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Indage Group makes plans to enter food category
New Delhi: Seabuckthorn Indage Ltd (SIL), a subsidiary of the Indage Group, a big player in the international hospitality industry plans to diversify into the foods category. The company initially plans to roll out its biscuits and over-the-counter (OTC) products in the coming few months. With its products positioned on the health plank the company is also planning to launch other food items such as jams and sauces apart from sharpening focus on its juices business. It plans to make juices into a Rs30-crore business and aims to capture around 5 to 8 per cent of the market by the year-end.

The company will not go in for a marketing blitz, but will focus on below-the-line marketing activities for which it would spend around Rs50-70 lakh.
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Ashok Leyland sales rise in April
Chennai: Ashok Leyland vehicle sales rose 47 per cent in April against the same period last year. The total vehicle sales of the company stood at 5039 units. Company sources said the company's sales grew on the back of the `goods segment', particularly by multi-axle vehicles and tractor trailers. There was also a spill over of Defence orders secured last year. Multi-axles, tractor trailers and vehicles for Defence are high margin products.
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Keltron registers 30 per cent rise in turnover
Thiruvananthapuram: The public sector Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) has reported a 30 per cent growth in turnover in the year ended March 31, 2006. The net turnover during the year was Rs110 crore against Rs82.51 crore in the previous year.

Company officials said that without considering the old liabilities being settled under one-time settlement by the State Government, the company has generated a surplus of Rs12.5 crore during the year. The cash profit in 2004-05 was Rs8.40 crore.

The five fully owned subsidiaries of Keltron at Kannur and Kuttipuram, which manufacture electronic components, logged a turnover of Rs35 crore during the year under review, taking the group turnover to Rs145 crore. Out of the Rs110 crore turnover of the holding company, 40 per cent came from information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, while 25 per cent was from defence project activities.

The company has set a turnover target of Rs132 crore for the current year towards which it has orders worth Rs54 crore in hand. The thrust areas for the year will continue to be IT and IT-enabled services and defence project activities.
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Reliance awards contract to Aker Kvaerner
Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) has awarded a $400 million contract to Norwegian engineering and construction major Aker Kvaerner.

Aker Kvaerner, as per the contract terms, the company will provide an 18 well subsea system - world's largest subsea equipment - for the exploration and production in gas-rich deepwater block in Krishna Godavari basin (KG-D6) to Reliance. The initial contract value is approximately $400 million. System engineering has started in Aker Kvaerner's offices in Norway, this will be followed by the completion of the front-end engineering and design. First deliveries of equipment are scheduled for July 2007.

The subsea division of the company will supply a complete production system including subsea trees, manifolds, steel tube umbilicals and power cables, controls system and associated connections to tie the subsea production system to an onshore gas terminal. The subsea production system will be installed in water depths from 700 to 1700 metres, according to a release from the Norwegian company.
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Balaji Telefilms registers 44 per cent higher net
Mumbai: Balaji Telefilms has posted a net profit of Rs59.64 crore for FY06 against Rs41.29 crore for FY05. Balaji Telefilms informed the BSE that its total income increased to Rs289.06 crore for FY06 from Rs201.68 crore in FY05. Net profit for Q4FY06 was Rs15.50 crore as compared to Rs9.64 crore for Q4FY05. Total income increased to Rs78.14 crore in Q4FY06 from Rs56.84 crore in Q4FY05.

The board has recommended a full and final dividend of 150 per cent i.e. Rs3 per share, the release added.
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Century plans mill in Gujarat
Kolkata: Century Textiles & Industries is planning to gradually relocate its mill operations to Gujarat mainly due to high taxes and water charges. The company has started downsizing its textile operations in Mumbai.

The investment in the cotton mill in Gujarat would be funded through a mix of internal accruals and debt and the cotton mill in Gujarat would be set up at a cost of Rs500 crore, B K Birla, chairman, Century Textiles & Industries, said.

The Gujarat government was extremely proactive and would allocate land over the next 3-4 months. The cotton mill would be completed by the end of next year, Birla said.

The company will progressively reduce production at its textile mill in Mumbai where currently about 1200 looms and 77,000 spindles are in operation. Birla added.
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TNPL FY06 net up 112 per cent
Mumbai: Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Papers (TNPL) has registered a net profit of Rs80.55 crore for FY06 as compared to Rs37.95 crore for FY05. The company informed the BSE that its total income increased to Rs 801.41 crore in FY06 from Rs668.22 crore in FY05.

The company's net profit for Q4FY06 is Rs34.60 crore as compared to Rs23.83 crore for Q4FY05. Total income has increased to Rs221.07 crore for Q4FY06 from Rs184.07 crore in Q4FY05, the release said.

The board has recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent taking the total dividend for the year to 30 per cent after adding the interim dividend of 15 per cent already given, the release added.
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Tatas` Bangladesh plan up against local steel makers
Mumbai: The Tata group plans in Bangladesh are facing yet another road block - this time from local steel manufacturers. Ten days ago the company submitted a revised proposal for its $3-billion investment to the government of Bangladesh and is now facing the country's two prominent steel industry associations - Bangladesh Steel Mills Owners' Association and Bangladesh Re-rolling Mills Association opposition. The two associations have threatened to launch a country-wide agitation from May 31 if "the Indian heavyweight is ensured long-term guaranteed gas supply".

The two associations claim to represent 100 steel and 300 re-rolling mills across Bangladesh.

The associations say that if the Tata group is given guaranteed supply of gas for a long period, it will be disastrous for all local companies in terms of energy security as the country's gas reserve will deplete by 2011. According to him, the price of gas (to be supplied for the project) should be set on the basis of the international market price. The two associations organised a press meet in Dhaka last weekend to air their "concerns.

Local steel players also fear that the Tata steel plant will produce cold-rolled steel, which will affect their market share. But the Tata group had earlier made its position clear that it would produce only hot-rolled steel, raw material for local industries.
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Titan acquires 5 per cent stake in consumer wireless solutions firm
Mumbai: Titan Industries has acquired a 5 per cent equity stake in Innoviti Embedded Solutions, operating in the consumer wireless products space.

Rajeev Agrawal, chief executive officer, Innoviti, said, " Titan has picked up a minority stake of about 5 per cent in the company which can go up to 5 per cent when fully converted." Innoviti has two product lines, one for wireless data products and the other for wireless mobile phone extensions and two product lines-- vaayu and payezee.

Innoviti works on next generation wireless technologies; especially those targeted at smart personal objects and next generation mobile networks.

The company would use the distribution set up and reach provided by Titan to market its products and also work together on jointly creating products.
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MTNL obtains NLD licence
New Delhi: State-owned telecom corporation Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) has got the National Long Distance (NLD) licence from the Government leading industry analysts to expect the beginning of another new round of tariff cuts in the STD space in the lucrative circles of Delhi and Mumbai.

Anita Soni, Director (Finance), MTNL, said, "We have received a letter from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) saying that the approval has been granted to give us the NLD licence. We have delivered the payment of Rs2.5 crore as entry fee and kept the documents ready. We will sign the licence tomorrow," she said.

The newly procured NLD licence may give MTNL an edge as operating in the two cream metros will strengthen its bargaining position with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) for lower carriage charges (less than 65 paise) for rest of the country, which will also help MTNL reduce its STD rates for rest of the country.
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Toshiba launches new laptop models
Bangalore: Toshiba Computer Systems, a division of the Singapore-based laptop maker has introduced new models of laptops in association with reseller HCL Infosystems.

The entry-level range by Toshiba, the Satellite A100 and M100 sport TFT (thin film transistor) displays, are priced from Rs 71,000 onwards but the company says it is offering the products at a much lower sales price. Positioning the Qosmio G30 as a TV-n-PC, Toshiba expects the laptop to attract tech-savvy customers.

The G30 sports a HD-DVD drive (HD-DVDs have up to three times the storage capacity of a DVD, which is 4.7 GB) and a one-bit digital amplifier for better sound projection. It is priced at an MRP of Rs1.75 lakh.

The other notebook lines are the Portege with EasyGuard enhancement and the business notebook line, Tecra M5.
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L&T to set up a shipyard with an investment of $110mn
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro plans to invest about $110 million in setting up a shipyard that can build huge vessels, including large crude carriers as there is a growing demand for specialised vessels and the company has proven capabilities in this area.

At present the company is looking for a location both on the eastern and western coasts of the country to set up the shipyard.

Last week, L&T had won a Rs440 crore contract from Netherland shipping company to build four semi-subersible heavy lift container cargo ships. The order marked the formal launch of L&T's venture into ship building and the vessels will be built at a new shipyard that will form part of the company's engineering complex at Hazira in Gujarat

The company will make an incremental investment of round Rs50 crore for this. It has infrastructure facilities at Hazira and this investment is to fine tune the facilities for ship construction.

L&T is also planning to foray into defence ship building as it has capabilities in both civilian and military areas and has received licenses from the Union Government for defence production.. The company is eyeing for orders from Navy and the coast guard for the construction of vessels.

Recently, L&T along with Tata Power bagged a Rs172 crore order from the Indian Army for the production of Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers.
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