TCS Q2 consolidated net up 43 per cent at Rs1,019-cr
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services has become the first Indian IT company to cross the Rs1,000 crore mark in net profit while total revenues stood at Rs4,495 crore ($978 million) -- an increase of 42.43 per cent YoY and 8.18 per cent quarter on quarter -- while its net profit increased by 43.37 per cent YoY and 15.41 per cent quarter on quarter to touch Rs1,019 crore ($222 million) according to Indian GAAP for the quarter-ended September 30, 2006.

TCS' (US GAAP) total revenues stood at $975.43 million (Rs4,483 crore) -- an 8.15 per cent Q-on-Q rise -- and net income stood at $215.78 (Rs991.82 crore) -- an 8.18 per cent quarter on quarter increase. TCS' operating income (EBDITA) increased by 300 basis points due to offshore leveraging. The company registered a sequential revenue growth of 6.1 per cent while its net profit saw a sequential growth of 15.40 per cent.

TCS added 58 new customers and increased its customers in the one million-dollar band from 258 to 274.

The company said it continues to be the employer of choice in this industry with the best retention rate and this is helping us execute on the ground globally.
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HCL consolidated net rises 45.1 per cent
Mumbai: HCL Technologies registered a net profit of Rs205.83 crore on revenues of Rs891.64 crore for the first quarter ending September 30, 2006. Its net profit grew by 45.1 per cent while revenue growth was at 50.21 per cent on a year on year basis. The company had recorded a net profit of Rs89.39 crore on revenues of Rs343.89 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

HCL recently entered into a 70 million dollar multi-service outsourcing deal with supplier of automatic test equipment Teradyne and another multi-million deal with global supplier of end-to-end solutions of wireless communications networks.

The company's total income stood at Rs922.52 crore for the first quarter, whereas the same was at Rs455.86 crore in 2005, the company said. The company added 3,826 people in the quarter taking its total headcount to 36,452 as of
September 30.

The company has declared an interim dividend of 200 per cent, that is Rs4 per share on shares of Rs2 each. It also said that the results of the first quarter of the current fiscal are not comparable to those of previous year as they include results of six subsidiaries - DSL Software Ltd, Shipara Technologies, HCL Technologies BPO Services, HCL Technologies (Mumbai), Aquila Technologies and HCL Enterprise Solutions (India) Ltd, which were amalgamated with the company last year.
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Geometric Q2 consolidated net rises 200 per cent
Mumbai: Geometric Software Solutions has posted a 200 per cent jump in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 at Rs10.08 crore against Rs3.38 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

The company's total income increased from Rs50.85 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 to Rs82.85 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006.
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GAIL led consortium to invest Rs1,125-cr for CBM blocks
New Delhi: A GAIL led consortium which includes Arrow Energy (India) and EIG Energy Infrastructure Corporation, have been awarded three CBM blocks under the recent third round of CBM bidding.

The total expected capital expenditure of the entire project with a duration assumption of 20 years will be around Rs2,700 crore. The company plans to invest Rs1,125 crore to develop three coal bed methane (CBM) blocks. Tata Power Company is also a consortium partner in two of the awarded blocks.

Out of the three blocks, one block is in Rajmahal coalfield, Jharkhand and the other two are in Mandraigarh and Tata Pani Ramkola coalfield in Chhattisgarh.

As per Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the potential of the Rajmahal blocks is 5.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF), and for the Mandraigarh and Tata Pani Ramkola coalfields are 4.2 TCF and 1.9 TCF, respectively.
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Piramal ties up with French company to develop chikungunya medicine
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal has entered into an MoU with a French pharma company to manufacture an anti-chikungunya drug the details of which have been made available.

Nicholas Piramal said 90 per cent of the residents of Reunion Islands a French territory near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, suffer from chikungunya and as India also suffers from the same disease, the company decided to enter into a collaboration with a French company and make a drug that would be beneficial for both the countries.
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Tata Steel may pick up 20 per cent in Corus for $1.5bn
Mumbai: Tata Steel is likely to pick up a 20 per cent equity stake in its Anglo-Dutch company Corus Group for 800 million ($ 1.5 billion), according to a British media report on Sunday. The report said Tata Steel was expected to launch its bid for Corus and was not averse to making a hostile bid.

The UK newspaper reported that Tata Steel was prepared to make a hostile bid of pound 4.2 billion (nearly $7.79 billion) if its favoured option of a friendly merger was rejected.

The Tata Steel-Corus combine, if it works out, will become the fifth largest steel company in the world with a capacity of 23 million tonnes a year.

Corus makes 18 million tonnes of steel a year while Tata Steel produces 5 million tonnes a year. Corus has no mining interest while Tata Steel has access to cheap iron ore.

Tata Steel is said to have taken a loan of up to $ 6.5 billion from its advisor ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank as well as Standard Chartered Plc to fund the pound 4.2 billion ($7.79 billion) bid.
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RIL to begin retailing ATF at 25 airports
New Delhi: With Reliance Industries entering into the business of retailing ATF at 25 airports the public sector monopoly in the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) business is coming to an end.

The Mukesh Ambani Group flagship has won approval from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to set up aviation fuel business at 25 non-metro airports. Land is being allocated to the company at these airports and Reliance will set up infrastructure of its own to store and retail ATF.

While AAI has already cleared Reliance's selection in a dozen airports, negotiations are being concluded in the case of the remaining 13 airports to finalise throughput charges.

The 25 airports where Reliance is setting up ATF business include Hyderabad, Juhu airport at Mumbai used by helicopters, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhuvaneshwar, Ranchi, Lucknow, Nagpur, Udaipur, Vadodara, Aurangabad, Madurai, Raipur, Gaya, Jabalpur, Juhu, Belgaum, Agartala, Imphal, Dimapur, Bhavnagar, Kandla and Porbandar.

As of now, public sector companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL are the only ATF suppliers at Indian airports. Since they have control over the business, they revise ATF prices once a month and the consumers that is the airlines, do not have freedom to negotiate prices.
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Wanbury acquires Spanish pharma co
Mumbai: Wanbury has acquired Spain-based Cantabria Pharma for 42 million (Rs250 crore). The consideration would go up to 50 million (about Rs300 crore) and this would be linked to Cantabria Pharma achieving certain milestones in terms of profitability and product sales. With this acquisition Wanbury has got a toe-hold in the European market.Cantabria Pharma is the branded generic drugs business of Industria Farmaceutica Cantabria is Wanbury's first overseas acquisition. The company had acquired two domestic companies over the last two years — Doctor Organic Chemicals Ltd and Pharmaceutical Products of India — and expects to complete the domestic merger process by December or January.

The overseas acquisition would bring into Wanbury's fold Cantabria's branded generic medicines that are sold ethically, that is, only through prescriptions, trademark rights, about 50 marketing authorisations and close to 100 sales, marketing and support personnel. The acquisition would be financed through internal accruals over three years and term loans, he said.

Wanbury shares were down 3.53 per cent on the BSE, at Rs150.10.
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IVRCL bags Rs329-cr orders
Hyderabad: IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd has announced that it has bagged orders of the value of Rs329 crore. In a press release, the company said the orders include water transmission works of Rs284 crore in Gujarat and Kerala and building works of Rs45 crore.
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Provogue India enters into JV with Liberty Intl
Mumbai: Garment retailer Provogue India has entered into a joint venture agreement with UK-based Liberty International PLC to develop and manage regional shopping centers for the growing organised retail sector in the country.

Liberty International's equity contribution would be around Rs202.5 crores, Provogue informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Under the agreement, Liberty International PLC would be taking 25 per cent of the equity shares of its wholly owned retail infrastructure subsidiary - Prozone Enterprises Pvt Ltd - subject to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval, it added.
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Tata Motors to sell cars in Ghana
New Delhi: Tata Motors has entered the passenger vehicle segment of the Ghana market with the launch of its car and multi-utility vehicles.

The company introduced its passenger car range, including Indica hatchback, Indigo sedan, Indigo Station Wagon, along with multi utility vehicle - the Sumo and the Safari Dicor, Tata Motors said in a statement from Mumbai.

Tata Motors is already present in Ghana with its commercial vehicles, which were launched in 1974. The distribution and marketing of Tata passenger vehicles in Ghana will be handled by Tata Ghana and PHC Motors Ltd, which also distributes Tata Motors' commercial vehicles, the statement added.
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Zensar's PAT soars 175 per cent to Rs12.09-cr
Pune: High value business and increased billing rates, enabled software and BPO services provider Zensar Technologies to announce a Profit After Tax of Rs12.09 crore for the quarter ended September 30, recording a YoY growth of 175 per cent. The company also registered revenue worth Rs148.72 crore, a jump of 50 per cent over the quarter in the corresponding year.

The company said it was well on its way to crossing the guideline of Rs550 crore as revenue and PAT of Rs50 crore. The company has positioned itself as an end to end IT solutions provider and combined with a consulting led strategy, Zensar has been able to garner high value projects. Zensar added 14 new customers this quarter, which includes implementing business intelligence solutions for a leading US lens maker as well as consulting strategy and implementation of software for a leading UK-based retailer last week.
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