GAIL set to implement Assam gas cracker project
New Delhi: The Rs54,606 million Assam Gas Cracker Project to be set up at Lepetkata, Dibrugarh is expected to be completed in five years from the date of its approval by the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA).

The JV, with Reliance Assam Ltd, will comprise a 70% equity stake by Gail and a 30% stake shared amongst OIL, NRL and the Government of Assam. The project is expected to give rise to substantial employment in downstream plastic processing industries and allied activities. It has been estimated that about 500 plastic processing industries are likely to come up in the north-eastern region if this project becomes operational.

The Government of Assam has agreed to grant exemptions from taxes on sundry items like capital goods, construction, feed stock and products.

The petrochemical complex will comprise of a cracker unit, downstream polymer and integrated off-site/utilities plants. The complex has been configured with a capacity of 220,000 tons per annum (TPA) of Ethylene and 60,000 tons per annum of propylene with Natural Gas and Naphtha as feed stock. This project, envisioned in 1985, and entrusted in 1997 to Reliance Assam Ltd. failed to take off due to non-availability of sufficient feed stock and other reasons.
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Spentex takes over Indo Rama Textiles
Mumbai: Delhi-based spinning major Spentex Industries on Wednesday acquired a controlling stake in Indo Rama Textiles for Rs220.4 crore by buying out the promoter's 49.4% stake and taking its total holding in the company to 84%. The transaction was carried out at Rs84.15 per share.

The board of Indo Rama has also been reconstituted with five new members.

Spentex has invested Rs120 crore by way of increasing cotton yarn capacity by 36,000 spindles at its facility in Maharashtra. Earlier this year, Spentex had also acquired Amit Spinning Industries within a week of acquiring stake in Indo Rama.

Indo Rama has a capacity of 1.22 lakh spindles. The additional capacities, along with its current 1.59 lakh spindles, will make Spentex the third largest spinning company in the country.
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L&T to develop Rs500-cr power project in Uttaranchal
Mumbai: Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) said on Wednesday that it has bagged the development rights for the Rs500 crore Singoli Bhatwari Hydroelectric Power Project from the Uttaranchal government.

The company's maiden 60 MW hydroelectric project built via the Public Private Partnership model, would be executed on a Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis, L&T informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company would develop, finance, construct, commission and operate the power plant located at Rudraprayag in Uttaranchal for a concessional period of 45 years, it said.

The project involves the design and construction of a 20 m high and 80 m long barrage, 12 km long headrace tunnel, surface powerhouse, substation and a 12 km long 132 KV transmission line. Turbines would be used to generate 361 million units of energy in a year with 90 per cent rainfall.
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NTC in talks for sale of 10 more mills
New Delhi: The National Textile Corporation is seeking approval from the Maharashtra government to sell land at its 10 mills in Mumbai, which could help the company mop up close to Rs4,000 crore.

Last fiscal, NTC had raised Rs2,000 crore by selling the land of five mills in Mumbai through an open auction. The corporation will be ploughing back the proceeds to revive its fledgling health. NTC has already placed an order for machinery for five mills with China Texmatech Co. NTC expects to wipe-off its cash loss by this fiscal and is targeting a turnover of Rs2,000 crore by 2008-09.

The company had 282 retail outlets, of which only 100 remain.

It had raised Rs1,800 crore through bonds in tranches to fund its voluntary retirement scheme. The first tranche of bonds worth Rs250 crore would be redeemed in January. The company will be paying Rs650 crore as interest on these bonds. As part of the restructuring plan, NTC will modernise 22 mills on its own at a cost of Rs530 crore, and another 29 will be revived through private participation.
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Dishman to buy Swiss co Solutia's unit
Mumbai: The Ahmedabad-based Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd has reached an agreement to buy the pharmaceutical services business of Solutia Inc for a consideration of $74.5 million (Rs340 crore).

The acquisition is Dishman's second in Switzerland this year.

Dishman has inked a definitive agreement to purchase Solutia's drug services business, comprising Carbogen AG and Amcis AG units in Switzerland. Rabo India Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rabo India Finance Pvt Ltd, advised the transaction.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and authorisation by the bankruptcy court overseeing Solutia's reorganisation. Dishman's consolidated turnover is Rs277 crore. The acquisition would be funded using $15 million from the FCCB fund of $50 million and a $60-million loan syndication from ICICI and Rabo.

Carbogen-Amcis is a pharmaceutical services provider, offering drug development and commercialisation services to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry at all stages of drug development since 1982. This business has research facilities at three sites in Switzerland: Aarau, Bubendorf, and Neuland. During 2005, the business had a turnover of about 80 million Swiss Francs ($66 million). Carbogen-Amcis generated approximately 90 per cent of its revenue in 2005 from repeat customers. All intellectual property, patents and trademarks, customer contracts, as well as employees of the business have been included in the transaction, Dishman said.
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Ranbaxy gets WHO nod for four more ARVs
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories has announced a strategic in-licensing agreement for the Indian market, with Ethypharm LL India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a French drug delivery firm, for the Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS) analgesic, Tramadol 50 mg Flashtab.

According to an official release issued by Ranbaxy to the BSE today, the product will be supplied from Ethypharm's manufacturing facility near Mumbai, and marketed and distributed by Ranbaxy under the brand name 'Trambax'."

The introduction of Trambax (Tramadol Flashtab) Tablets is part of Ranbaxy's strategy to provide world-class products with NDDS technology to doctors in India bringing rapid pain relief to their patients.
The company has also announced that four more of its Anti Retroviral (ARV) products have been included by the World Health Organisation, Geneva (WHO), in its pre-qualification list.

According to another official release issued to the BSE today, the products approved by the WHO are: Efavirenz 600mg tablets, Efavirenz 200mg capsules, Stavudine 30mg capsules, Stavudine 40mg capsules.With these inclusions, the company has a total of 12 ARVs on the WHO pre-qualification list. Ranbaxy also has three approvals from USFDA for ARVs, making it eligible for making supplies to the US funded PEPFAR programme.
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Thermax announces Q4 & FY 06 results
Mumbai: Thermax Ltd has announced the following results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2006.

By way of unaudited results the company has said that it has posted a net profit after tax of Rs419.70 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, as against Rs261.90 million for the corresponding quarter ended March 31, 2005. Total Income is at Rs4800.60 million for Q4 FY 05-06 as against the corresponding Q4 quarter last year at Rs3474.20 million.

By way of audited results, the company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs1232.50 million for the year ended March 31, 2006 (FY 05-06) where the same was at Rs552.90 million for the year ended March 31, 2005 (FY 04-05). Total Income is Rs 14980.00 million for FY 05-06 where as the same was at Rs9411.60 million in FY 04-05.

By way of audited consolidated results, the Group has posted a net profit after minority interest of Rs1025.30 million for the year ended March 31, 2006 (FY 05-06) where as the same was at Rs682.80 million for the year ended March 31, 2005 (FY 04-05). Total Income is Rs 16397.70 million for FY 05-06 where as the same was at Rs12813.60 million in FY 04-05.
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ICI India posts profit in Q4
New Delhi: Paint manufacturer ICI India Ltd has posted a net profit at Rs10.61 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as against a net loss after taxation of Rs1.01 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal.

The figures for the quarter and year ended March 31 are not comparable with those for the corresponding periods of the previous year due to the divestment of the rubber chemicals business from December 28, 2005, the Kolkata-based company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

It recorded total income (net of excise) of Rs193.03 crore for the same period 2005-06 (Rs188.18 crore), it said. The board of directors has recommended a dividend of Rs6 per share of Rs10 each for the year. The payment of dividend is subject to the approval of shareholders at the AGM. The net profit stood at Rs50.15 crore in 2005-06 (Rs47.18 crore), it said.
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Gulf Oil Q4 net up 46.4 pc
Hyderabad: Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd, a Hinduja Group Company, has reported a gross turnover of Rs507 crore during the financial year 2005-06, as against Rs473 crore in the previous year showing an increase of 7 per cent.

The cumulative net profit for the fiscal was Rs22.79 crore as against Rs20.03 crore in the previous year, an increase of 13.8 per cent. The company board has recommended a dividend of 70 per cent (65 per cent) In the fourth quarter, the company increased its turnover by 13.1 per cent Rs158 crore (Rs 139 crore). The net profit during the period rose 46.4 per cent to Rs4.02 crore (Rs 2.75 crore).

Gulf Oil's lubricants, explosives, mining, speciality chemicals and infrastructure divisions have performed well during the year and specifically in the last quarter, according to a company press release.

The Speciality Chemicals Division has also tied up with a European company for manufacture of their patented products for marketing in India and overseas. Drug Master Files for two products are already filed with EDQM, France. Two more products are on course and will be ready for submission by June-end.
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Thermax PAT for 2005-06 jumps 77 pc
Pune: Thermax Ltd today announced a 32-per cent revenue growth for 2005-06 at Rs1,464.9 crore against Rs941.6 crore for the previous year. Exports increased 21 per cent to Rs307.6 crore while the consolidated revenue for the group increased 29 per cent to Rs1,606.2 crore. Profit after tax stood at Rs123.3 crore (Rs55.29 crore), an increase of 77 per cent.

Earning per share was Rs9.69 on face value of Rs 2 per share. Operating profit margin increased 3.5 per cent as the transformation initiative started yielding results . Consolidated profit after tax was up at Rs102.5 crore against Rs67.20 crore for the previous year. Earnings per share was Rs7.96 (last year Rs5.46). ME Engineering, the UK-based subsidiary, incurred a net loss of 2.08 million affecting consolidated profit.

The order book on consolidated basis stands at Rs1,730 crore as on March 31, 2006, a 57 per cent increase over last year. The company has recently bagged a breakthrough contract of Rs360 crore for the design, manufacture and supply of four auxiliary boilers and five heat recovery steam generators for a major refinery. Based on the order book position and strong enquiry inflow, the company expects to grow at more than 30 per cent in FY 2006-07.
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Shreyas Shipping to expand services to Pakistan
Mumbai: Shreyas Shipping and Logistics Ltd, the first Indian liner to start a direct container service to Pakistan from India, after both countries had agreed to open their borders for trade recently, said it would expand its service from next week.

"We will be increasing our service frequency to every five days from 10 days now. We will be deploying another 550-TEUs vessel on the route as the demand for cargo space is growing," said Mr S. Ramakrishnan, chairman and managing director. "We took a calculated decision to commence a service to Karachi when the volumes were low. The response to the service has been overwhelming," said Ramakrishnan.

Currently, Indian ships can carry only bilateral cargo between India and Pakistan. But once both countries sign the shipping protocol, ships from India and Pakistan would be allowed to carry third country cargo.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Shipping posted a net profit of Rs7.23 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 as against Rs12.66 crore in the year-ago period. The drop in net profit was mainly on account of the fall in the charter hire earnings. There has been a 25 per cent drop in charter rates over the past one year and the company had pulled out three of its vessels from time charter last year.
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