M&M net profit rises 146 pc in second quarter
Mumbai: Tractors and sports utility vehicles (SUV) company Mahindra & Mahindra has posted a 146 per cent rise in net profit at Rs386.48 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2006, as against Rs157.2 crore in the same period last year. However, since the profit includes a once off exceptional income from the IPO proceeds of Tech Mahindra, the net profit for the company the quarter stands at Rs247.17 crore, an increase 56 per cent. Higher sales, including exports, have mainly helped the company to improve profits. Gross income increased by 30.6 per cent to Rs2,890.1 crore (Rs2,212.1 crore). This growth is largely contributed by exports that posted an increase of 51.5 per cent to 2,761 vehicles (1,822 vehicles).

M&M said this is the highest-ever quarterly vehicle export in terms of volume. Sales in the domestic market for utility vehicles rose by 10 per cent (against the industry growth of 13 per cent) at 29,449 units (26,601 units).

SUV Scorpio posted an increase of 20 per cent in sales volume. The growth in sales has had a cascading effect on their ranking in the JD Power survey for sales and customer satisfaction too; the company is now ranked 3rd for CSI (customer satisfaction index) and 4th for SSI (sales satisfaction index).

On Thursday, M&M shares rose by 5.87 per cent to Rs730.90 on BSE from Monday's close of Rs690.40.
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Carrier to merge Indian subsidiaries
New Delhi: Carrier Corporation has effected a merge of its two Indian subsidiaries Carrier Aircon (air-conditioning business) with Carrier Refrigeration, which represents its refrigeration business. The merged entity has been renamed as Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration Ltd.

Carrier is a subsidiary of US based United Technologies Corp, and has been operating in India through two legal entities. While the refrigeration business was a wholly owned entity Carrier Aircon was earlier a public listed company.

It was delisted as a result of an open offer from Carrier three years back. However, it still has minority shareholders.
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Output unaffected: Reliance Ind
Mumbai: Reliance Industries is trying to allay fears that the fire that killed one worker and injured another severely, at its Jamnagar refinery could impact its financial performance or disrupt supply of oil products.

The company issued a note for the press that did not mention the human casualty but only said the "RIL refinery has not been shut down. It said the LPG production at the complex continues to be normal at an average production rate of over 7,000 tonnes per day.

The official statement also made a mention about the injured employee. The company has set up two expert committees to probe into the incident. While one will probe the precise cause of the fire and recommend measures to avoid such incidents in the future, the second committee will come out with measures to re-start the unit at the earliest. The company has already initiated talks with equipment manufacturers to procure equipment for replacing those that were gutted in the fire, agencies said.

The Jamnagar refinery processed 6.6 lakh barrels of crude a day, accounting for about 24 per cent of the country's total LPG consumption.
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Flextronics name changed to Aricent
New Delhi: Telecom software maker Flextronics Software Systems' name has been changed to Aricent following the acquisition of 85 per cent of the business by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and Sequoia Capital. Flextronics still has 15 per cent stake in the company, which was earlier known as Hughes Software.

The company plans to invest about $100 million in research and an equipment laboratory in the next three years.

Aricent, based in Gurgaon, will continue to provide software services and products for the communications industry. The company, which has 6,700 employees, plans to hire 3,000 people by March.
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UB Group plans to source Scotch
Bangalore: The UB Group has said that it wants to source Scotch whisky from other companies that in acquire the brands. With consumers in the US and even in China preferring Scotch over other liquor there was a huge opportunity for the group to source the brew and market it abroad. Since countries like Scotland have stopped the setting up of more breweries due to environmental issues the company is planning to source fillings (immature whisky) from distilleries in Scotland as they don't have much value and maturisation will be carried out in India. This will enable purchasing young Scotch at attractive prices, and mature them in-house up to various age profiles.

The group plans to set up a marketing office in China which will help the company monitor the market conditions and also fine-tune to sell its whisky brands there.
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Maruti Suzuki emerges most favoured co in JD Power survey
New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki has emerged as the most preferred car company in the country in terms of customer satisfaction for the seventh consecutive year in a survey conducted by automotive consultants, JD Power Asia Pacific.

Maruti Suzuki scored 848 index points on a 1,000-point scale, against the industry average of 776 points in the survey.

According to the survey nearly 50 per cent of Maruti Suzuki's customers indicated that their expectations were exceeded, which generally results in particularly high levels of loyalty.

Maruti was followed by Ford, with Mahindra and Toyota tied at the third place.

The study also said that Tata Motors' performance on the customer satisfaction index had improved significantly and the company added 31 points to its previous years' score.

The customer satisfaction survey measures the overall satisfaction of vehicle owners who visit their authorised dealer or service centre for maintenance or repair work during the first 12-18 months of ownership.
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iGATE on recruitment spree
Hyderabad: Technology provider iGATE Global Solutions said it may hire 2,000 associates across its delivery centres in India, with a big chunk of this number from Hyderabad, where it is planning a special economic zone (SEZ). The company currently employs about 5,500 people, of them 3,000 are based in Bangalore, 550 in Hyderabad and about 500 each in Chennai and Noida centres, and the rest overseas on site.

Officials said the company is awaiting nod for a 25-acre SEZ in Hyderabad and another one at Bangalore. Based on the regulatory clearances and allotment of land the company plans to finalise investment plan for the Hyderabad campus.
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Wipro to acquire two companies
Bangalore: Wipro Infotech is set to acquire 3D Networks and Planet PSG in an all-cash deal. The deal includes an upfront cash payment of $23 million on closure of the transaction and additional performance linked payments based on achieving agreed financial targets over a two-year period. 3D Networks provides communication solutions that include consulting, voice, data and converged solutions and managed services.

The company's specialised solutions are deployed in ITES/IT, telecom, banking and finance, Government and service verticals.

3D Networks and Planet PSG are subsidiaries of the Singapore-based Planet One.

Planet PSG is the sole Global Nortel technical services partner on Periphonics platform in APAC region and provides professional services on voice and speech platforms in the region.

In India, 3D Networks have 270 employees and had revenues of approximately $36 million during FY 2005-06, a growth of 39 per cent year-on-year.
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Maruti Udyog Q2 net rises 40 per cent on small car sales
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has reported an almost 40 per cent increase in net profit at Rs367.4 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2006 from Rs262.2 crore in the same period last year. This is the third best quarterly performance by the company.

Total income, after reducing excise duty, increased 12.52 per cent to Rs3,540.89 crore in the July-September quarter from Rs3,149 crore in the same period last year. With excise, the total income was Rs4,020.7 crore in the period under review.

Profit before tax went up to Rs534.63 crore - a growth of 38.41 per cent over the same period last year.

Total income, after deducting excise, for the first half of the fiscal was Rs6,809.66 crore, a growth of 16 per cent. Net Profit for the fist six months of the financial year was at Rs737.01 crore, up 50.68 per cent over April-September 2005.

The company sold 1,57,683 vehicles during the quarter including 8,165 units of exports.
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Shipping Corporation Q2 net soars 114 pc
Mumbai: Shipping Corporation of India has reported a 114.26 pc increase in net profit at Rs321.29 crore for the quarter ended September 2006 as against Rs149.95 crore in Q2FY06.

According to the release by the company to the BSE, total income for the quarter grew by 46.88 per cent at Rs1,097.77 crore as against Rs747.37crore in Q2FY06.
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