Ramco Systems trims quarterly net loss
Chennai: Ramco Systems Ltd has reported a lower net loss of Rs3.82 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 compared to a net loss of Rs30.03 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 was Rs33.77 crore (Rs34.59 crore), total expenditure was Rs31.14 crore (Rs30.98 crore) and interest was Rs2.78 crore (Rs2.72 crore).

For the year ended March 31, 2006 the company's net loss was Rs34.06 crore (Rs40.36 crore) on revenues of Rs117.46 crore (Rs115.48 crore).
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BPCL Q4 net up 409 pc
Mumbai: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Saturday reported an 408.90 per cent rise in its net profit for Q4 2005-2006, to Rs1788.3 crore, up from Rs351.4 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Net sales were up 33.51 per cent at Rs21,318.8 crore (Rs15,968.1 crore).

For the full fiscal, the refiner showed 86.56 per cent decline in net profit at Rs129.8 crore (Rs965.8 crore), despite 22.76 per cent increase in net sales to Rs72,395.6 crore (Rs58,970 crore). Expenditure was up 25.26 per cent to Rs71,822.1 crore (Rs57,336.3 crore).

The fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) improved to Rs59.61 (Rs11.71) but the full year EPS was low at Rs4.33 (Rs32.19). BPCL had reported losses in the first three quarters of FY06.

"Financial results of the year have been adversely affected on account of high crude oil and product purchase prices, which could not be fully passed on to consumers," BPCL's statement on FY06 results said.
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Madras Cements to spend Rs.1,052-cr on expansion
Chennai: Madras Cements Ltd will spend Rs1,052 crore on beefing up its capacity by 4 million tonnes (mt), by 2007-08. Of this amount, Rs613 crore will be spent on a new 2 mt a year plant near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, while Rs439 crore will be expended on an additional clinker facility at its existing plant in Jayanthipuram, Andhra Pradesh.

This will result in cement capacity going up by 2 mt at the Jayanthipuram plant.

The greenfield plant in Tamil Nadu is expected to go on stream in the fourth quarter of 2007-08, while the additional clinker facility - a 4,000 tonnes a day kiln - will be ready in the second quarter of 2007-08.

Madras Cements' capacity is currently at about 6 mt, with plants in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

According to A.V. Dharmakrishnan, executive director - finance, the company will fund the expansion with a mix of own funds and debt.
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Madras Cements Q4 net up 42 pc
For the quarter ended March 31, 2006, Madras Cement has posted a 42 per cent increase in profit after tax and a 44 per cent increase in sales over the same period last year.

For 2005-06, the company's net profit increased by 41 per cent and sales by 36 per cent over the previous year.

The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs5 a share (50 per cent), taking the total dividend for the year to Rs15 (for a Rs10 share).

The improved performance was due to higher sales and an increase in selling prices in the market.

The company's plants operated at full capacity from the last quarter of 2005-06, following increased demand for cement in the southern region. Prices improved in all the four southern States.

According to a company press release, it sold 47.28 lakh tonnes of cement during the year against 38.39 lakh tonnes the previous year.

It exported 2.88 lakh tonnes of clinker (1.02 lakh tonnes in the previous year) and 2.28 lakh tonnes of cement (82,990 tonnes) during the year with export income going up to Rs85.20 crore from Rs25.48 crore last year.
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SBI Life rolls out BEA tech platform
Coimbatore: BEA Systems' WebLogic portal and `Graph Talk,' a core insurance package, has allowed SBI Life Insurance Company to print out and issue policies at the branch level in real time.

While earlier, SBI Life was doing batch integration between WebLogic and Graph Talk, the portal has now been enabled allowing it to be used as a campaign portal as well. It will also allow the insurance company to target customers in a much better way.

The portal could be accessed by a large number of users, especially when they start leveraging their relationship with the bank (SBI). Officials said that SBI Life was in the process of rolling out more functionalities in the WebLogic portal.
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D-Link to offer meshed outdoor networking tool for corporates
Kolkata: D-Link (India) Ltd, part of the $ 1.13 billion-turnover D-Link Worldwide, will launch a meshed outdoor enterprise wireless networking solution with path redundancy in the next 3-4 months.

Company officials said that the meshed wireless enterprise networking solution would have ease of deployment and would be targeted at select market segments. These include the government sector working in the area of rural connectivity, banks and corporate entities spread over large campuses and service providers.

Hitherto the company's focus was on the SOHO and SME segments, but it now intends to move up the value chain and extend its offerings to corporate enterprises.

D-Link has on offer over 40 established products in the modems, switching and routing space. The company has a significant presence in the market for networking products in the SOHO and SME space.
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Hutch introduces full talk time in TN circle
Coimbatore: Hutch has introduced full talk time of Rs99 on HutchBasic99 and HutchCampus99 starter packs in Rest of Tamil Nadu (ROTN-other than Chennai city) Circle.
With this offer, new customers of Hutch would enjoy full talk time benefit on the starter packs that earlier offered a talk time of Rs25.

To avail themselves of the benefit of full talk time, customers should recharge their starter pack prepaid Hutch phone with a coupon of Rs200 and above within 48 hours of making the first call.

Customers would also benefit from extended validity of 5 days on HutchBasic99 and validity of 8 days on HutchCampus99.
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AAI to invest Rs.1500-cr on modernisation of non-metro airports
New Delhi: The Airport Authority of India will invest about Rs1,500 crore towards modernisation of at least 10 non-metro airports in the country by 2008.

According to sources, AAI is awaiting approval from the ministry of civil aviation on the final list of airports to be covered in the first phase of the non-metro airport modernisation programme.

AAI has already identified 12 cities, which include Jaipur, Udaipur, Srinagar, Amritsar, Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Vishakapatnam, Mangalore, Nagpur, Goa, Varanasi and Trichy, the sources said.

Of these 12 airports, 10 will be modernised using the public private partnership (PPP) model.

The air side of the modernisation will be with AAI, which will include modernisation of terminals, parking bays, taxiway and runways.
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Anil Ambani ropes in Bachchan as ambassador
New Delhi: Having unveiled a new logo as part of its 'corporate identity' makeover, India's third-largest business house, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADA Group) would appear to have roped in Amitabh Bachchan for its corporate film.

According to sources the group would spend about Rs150 crore in plugging the corporate film, with the theme line 'Think bigger; Think better', on television and other media.

The corporate makeover initiative comes within a year of the birth of the group, a result of the de-merger of Reliance Industries, which is expected to spend about Rs7bn this fiscal alone on advertisements, perhaps the largest budget by any corporate entity in India.
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BEML eyes large scale orders from Indian Army
Bangalore: City-based Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) is pitching for a substantial order for 1,400 Tatra heavy duty trucks, from the Indian Army, valued at over Rs700 crore.

The company is also pitching for an order of 100 to 150 'milrail' coaches from the Indian Army, for An order value of over Rs50 crore. These rail coaches are deployed by the armed forces for movement of troops across the country.). The order for 50 coaches, of a valued of around Rs20 crore, is ready for dispatch. Few years ago the company had executed an order for 75 coaches valued at Rs30 crore.

BEML on Saturday, rolled out BFAT (flat military rail wagons) ordered by the Indian Army. BFAT wagons are used to transport battle tanks, heavy artillery equipment and other military vehicles.

The company has an order for 178 BFAT wagons from the Indian Army. The chief of Army staff, General J J Singh, who flagged off the first wagon, said the Army had placed orders worth Rs600 crore for the year with BEML.
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