Rel Comm comes into profitability; Q2 net at Rs702-cr
Mumbai: Reliance Communications has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs702.34 crore for the second quarter ended September 2006 as against a reported net loss of Rs19 crore in Q2FY06.

The company's total income increased 39.80 per cent to Rs3,525.98 crore as compared to Rs2,522 crore in Q2FY06.

On a standalone basis, the company posted a net profit at Rs496.52 crore for Q2FY07. The total income stood at Rs2838.61 crore.

EBIDTA stood at Rs1,353 crore in the second quarter, an increase of 216 per cent.

Reliance Communications added about 3.5 million subscribers during the quarter.
Back to News Review index page  

Spanish Court holds Pfizer's atorvastatin patents invalid
New Delhi: India's biggest pharma company Ranbaxy has said a Spanish court has invalidated Pfizer's patents on the drug and has favoured Ranbaxy's stand in the atorvastatin patents case.

A statement on the company's website said the Mercantile Court of Barcelona had sought an advisory opinion on Spanish atorvastatin patents from the European Patents Office, wherein EPO had found them to be valid.

"The Mercantile Court of Barcelona found Spanish patent ES 2,167,306 (counterpart of Pfizer's EP 409 281) to be invalid for lack of novelty. The two rulings made on September 26 in Lek Pharmaceuticals v/s Warner Lambert Co and in Laboratorios Cinfa et al. V/s Warner Lambert, found claims 1 to 3 of Pfizer to be invalid," the statement said.

Ranbaxy said that however, since Spanish patents can only be validated or invalidated by the country's courts, EPO's advisory opinion was not constituted as a legal judgement, the statement said.
Back to News Review index page  

Paras Pharma gets $12mn in venture capital funding
New Delhi: Venture capital company Sequoia Capital India has invested $12 million in the Ahmedabad-based OTC and personal care company Paras Pharmaceuticals.

Paras Pharmaceuticals has a portfolio of 15 successful brands, including Moov and DCold which are among the top 10 Indian OTC brands.
Back to News Review index page  

Deccan Aviation registers Rs42.94-cr Q1 loss
Bangalore: Deccan Aviation that operates low cost airline, Air Deccan, has posted a loss of Rs42.94 crore for the first quarter(Q1) of financial year 2006-07 (the company's FY is July to June). Net income from operations for Q1 stood at Rs358.70 crore.

The company said its profits were mainly hit by huge aircraft fuel expences to the tune of Rs240.11 crore and other direct operating expences like aircraft lease rentals at Rs229.33 crore.

Deccan Aviation's board of directors at their meeting approved in-principle, a foray into the air cargo business through a wholly owned subsidiary and formation of a company for the same. The board also approved the issue of 19.63 lakh equity shares of Rs10 each which shall be 1.96 per cent of post issue capital to Investec Bank (UK) on preferential basis, subject to approval of shareholders.

Capt G R Gopinath, MD of Deccan Aviation, said the company would be able to cut its losses going forward on the back of its fleet expansion plans and new route openings. will be the force propeller for our future growth and profitability, besides insulating us from the turbulence in the domestic aviation."
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Motors net rises 31 per cent to Rs442-cr
Mumbai: Tata Motors has reported a 31 per cent rise in net profit to Rs441.72 crore for the quarter ended September 30 this year. The company's revenue on a standalone basis (net of excise) rose 37 per cent to Rs6,571.79 crore for the quarter.

The company's profits were affected by rising raw material costs, interest rates and general inflationary pressure, even as truck and car sales accelerated by 30.5 per cent to 139,704 for the quarter.

The company's consolidated revenue (net of excise) – adding the numbers of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Tata Technologies and one axle and a transmission company - rose 42 per cent to Rs7,702.66 crore.
The consolidated net profit for the quarter increased 36 per cent to Rs536.44 crore.

Consequent to its results its stock fall nearly 4 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

……..not to increase prices
Tata Motors has said that it would not go for a price hike even though rising input costs are a cause of concern. Tata Motor's managing director Ravi Kant said that the company had to balance the price hike keeping in mind the consumers' purchasing capacity. He said, "We are a volume player. We would rather not increase prices," Kant said.

He added that the adding had to be very careful (of hiking prices) as far as commercial vehicles are concerned, while there was hardly any scope for increasing prices for passenger vehicle segment since the market is very competitive.

Kant added that the company would increase its production capacity of the Ace variety from 60,000 units a year to one lakh units a year in its Pune plant, without specifying any timeframe.

Kant, earlier, maintained that the company's consolidated EBITDA margin had gone down to 11.97 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal as against 12.54 per cent as against the corresponding quarter last year owing to increased input costs.
Back to News Review index page  

Jagran net soars 135 pc
New Delhi: Kanpur-based publishing house Jagran Prakashan has reported a 135.24 per cent jump in net profit to Rs17.54 crore for the quarter ended September 30 this year, on the back of a rise in advertisement and circulation revenues and better performance of its outdoor and event management businesses.

Cost reduction was also achieved by lesser use of imported newsprint. The company, which brings out the country's largest read newspaper 'Dainik Jagaran', reported a 25.88 per cent rise in its revenues to Rs141.72 crore from Rs112.58 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The net profit had stood at Rs7.46 crores last year. The earnings per share (non-annualised) of Rs3.49 was higher by 82.72 per cent.

The advertisement revenue shot up 30.11 per cent to Rs91.48 crore, driven by the increases both in rates as well as total space sold. Circulation revenue rose 8.40 per cent to Rs42.70 crore over the quarter.
Back to News Review index page  

Tatas' Corus buyout to be completed by mid-January
Mumbai: Tata Steel is expected to close the acquisition of Corus Group Plc by middle of January 2007.

Earlier Tata Steel's offer to buy out UK-based Corus at 455 pence per share was accepted by the board of Corus and recommended to its shareholders at the same price.

Tata Steel sees tremendous synergies with Corus in various sectors such as operations, maintenance, logistics, customer services and other areas.
Back to News Review index page  

ITC Q2 net up 18 pc
Kolkata: ITC has reported an 18 per cent rise in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs679 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 as against Rs572 crore.

The increase in net profit came from a Rs888 crore rise in gross income at Rs4,704 crore, mainly due to sharply higher profits from its cigarette and hotels businesses.

Earnings per share (EPS) in Q2 of the current fiscal rose to Rs1.80 from Rs1.52 in Q2 of the last fiscal.

With other income remaining virtually flat at Rs79 crore in Q2 of this fiscal, ITC had to absorb a Rs551 crore rise in total expenditure at Rs1,914 crore mainly on account of a Rs437 crore rise in raw material costs to Rs1242 crore.

Profit before tax (PBT) climbed Rs142 crore from Q2 of the last fiscal to Rs957 crore in Q2 of this fiscal, while the company's tax bill climbed Rs36 crore to Rs278 crore in Q2 of this fiscal.

Cigarettes continued to be the mainstay of the company's bottomline with the cigarette division contributing Rs786 crore to the company's PBT, while the hotels division reported PBT of Rs57 crore, the agri-business unit Rs46 crore and the paperboards, paper and packaging division Rs110 crore.

The other FMCG products division comprising businesses like garments, staionery, matches and foods, reported a loss of Rs48 crore in Q2 of this fiscal, up from Rs35 crore in Q2 of the last fiscal.

In terms of revenue, cigarette sales climbed to Rs3,101 crore in Q2 of this financial year (from Rs2723 crore in Q2 of the last fiscal FY'05-06), other FMCG sales jumped to Rs409 crore (Rs246 crore), hotels revenue rose to Rs200 crore (Rs153 crore), agribusiness to Rs868 crore (Rs465 crore) and paper products group revenue to Rs522 crore (from Rs469 crore).
Back to News Review index page  

Asian Paints Q2 net up 27 pc
Mumbai: Asian Paints has reported a net profit of Rs77.56 crore (Rs61.17 crore) on a stand-alone basis for the quarter ended September 30, a 26.79 per cent rise over the corresponding period of the previous year. Net sales increased by 30.28 per cent to Rs784.9 crore (Rs602.47 crore). For the six-month period, net profit increased by 28.5 per cent to Rs135.6 crore (Rs105.5 crore). Net sales rose by 24.73 per cent to Rs1,388.3 crore from Rs1,113 crore.

The board has recommended an interim dividend of Rs5.50 per share. Shares of the company fell 0.80 per cent to Rs667.75 on the BSE.
Back to News Review index page  

Madras Cements Q2 rises four times
Chennai: Madras Cements' net profit has increased four times to Rs90.07 crore on net sales of Rs407.25 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2006 against a net profit of Rs18.81 crore on net sales of Rs246.09 crore in the previous comparable quarter. The company has announced interim dividend of Rs7.50 (75 per cent) for 2006-07. Interest costs dropped to Rs4.20 crore (Rs7.03 crore).

The company attributed the performance to better market mix - targeting sales in markets that offer higher prices - and cost reduction in all areas, especially power after commencement of full-fledged operation of the thermal power plant at Alathiyur and additional windmills.
Back to News Review index page  

Ashok Leyland to set up unit in Uttaranchal
Chennai: Commercial vehicles maker Ashok Leyland has announced plans to set up a vehicle manufacturing unit in Uttaranchal with an investment of over Rs1,000 crore, according to a press release from the company. The company will set up a vehicle assembly and cab facility to produce 25,000 vehicles a year, initially, and the production facility will be expanded to 40,000 vehicles. It has identified 200 acres land at Pant Nagar and the unit will create employment for 3,000 people.

According to R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland, the unit would strengthen Ashok Leyland's presence in the northern region, which contributes to a quarter of its sales.

The development of Uttaranchal as an auto hub has made the selection easier.

The investments get excise duty exemption and income tax exemption/concession for five/10 years.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2006, Ashok Leyland reported a net profit of Rs95.36 crore on an income from operations of Rs1,928 crore.

During the corresponding quarter in the previous year, the company reported a net profit of Rs75 crore on income from operations of Rs1,440 crore.
Back to News Review index page  

Orchid, Swedish co sign pact
Chennai: Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd has signed a contract with Swedish biopharma company Biovitrum to support its drug discovery activities, a release from Orchid said.
Back to News Review index page