Bajaj Auto Q3 net up 23 pc
Pune: Registering record sales for its two-wheelers for the third quarter of the current fiscal, Bajaj Auto (BAL), has recorded a turnover of Rs2,729 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs2,107 crore for the corresponding period last year, representing a growth of almost 30 per cent.

The company has recorded a 13 per cent jump in gross profit at Rs524 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs464 crore reported for the third quarter of the previous fiscal. Net profit for the third quarter stood at Rs345 crore (Rs280 crore), an increase of 23 per cent. The EPS for the quarter under review works out to Rs34.1.

A press release from the company said that on a sequential basis, operating EBITDA margin stood at 14.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2006-07 as compared to 15.1 per cent during the previous quarter, attributable to the sales promotion expenses incurred during the festive season, which enabled the company to improve its market share and ensured a healthy top-line growth of 30 per cent, the statement said.

BAL registered sales of 6,52,406 units for the third quarter as compared to 511,106 units recorded during the same period last year, an increase of 28 per cent, compared to the industry average of 13 per cent.
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Reliance Retail buys property worth Rs1,000 crore in NCR
New Delhi: The Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail has acquired property worth Rs1,000 crore over the last week in the national capital region.

Sources said Reliance Retail acquired a property at Vikaspuri in West Delhi valued at around Rs280 crore apart from seven other properties valued at around Rs700 crore.

Six of these properties are at Dwarka near the Indira Gandhi International Airport and one is at Rohini in West Delhi. The company would be taking part in another bid tomorrow for two properties at Vasant Kunj in South Delhi which are together expected to be valued around Rs25 crore.

The properties acquired by Reliance Retail were a part of auctions by the Delhi Development Authority, through which it had collected about Rs900 crore against a reserve price of about Rs400 crore.
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Bharti to float cos to manage retail back-end
New Delhi: The Bharti Group plans to float more than one company to manage the back end operations of its retail business in its joint venture (JV) with Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer.

"The front end of the retail business (outlets) would be owned completely by Bharti. For cash and carry and back end operations like logistics and supply chain we will partner with Wal-Mart," Rajan Mittal, joint managing director, Bharti Group, said.

The details of the Bharti,Wal-Mart JV would be finalised soon said Rajan. He said after the formalities were completed, the roll out of the stores would begin soon.
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Reliance to set up 50,000bpd refinery in Yemen
New Delhi: Reliance Industries is planning to build a 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) greenfield refinery in Yemen in partnership with a local Yemen company Hood Oil.

The refinery would be located on the Red Sea coast. The work on the refinery would be completed in 36 months from the work taking off, which is expected to happen later this year.

Reliance will have an obligation to sell products from the refinery in the Yemen domestic market for the first five months and there after can cater to the export market.

The Yemeni government has also awarded Reliance two onshore exploration blocks under the last round of auction. The Indian company will again partner Hood Oil in the two blocks, Block 34 and 37, which measure around 7,500 km each and are located on the border with Oman.

The two blocks are among seven that Yemen offered for exploration.

Reliance is already partnering Hood Oil in a producing block, where the two companies hold 25 pc stake each, and Canada's Calvalley Petroleum is the operator with 50 pc stake. The block currently produces 7,500 barrels of oil per day and the output will go up to 10,000 barrels this month.
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Citigroup Property to invest $500 million in realty
Bangalore: Citigroup Property Investors (CPI) will invest $500 million to build assets in Indian property market according to David Schaefer, managing director and head-Asia pacific, CPI.
The company is looking at investing in the hospitality and residential sectors in addition to creating office space in tech-parks.

He said that since India is facing a shortage of quality hotel rooms in major cities, the company is planning to bring in funds to build quality assets which bring in global hotel brands.

The company plans to spend nearly 40 of its committed investment towards the hospitality sector to build hotels and service apartments in tier II information technology cities. The company has since May 2005 invested $250 million in building real estate assets in residential and hospitality sectors in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad.
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Citigroup Property to set up luxury hotel in Bangalore
Citigroup is partnering with Bangalore based Nitish Estates to develop a 250-room luxury hotel in Bangalore for $100 million. For the management of the hotel, the company is in talks with three of the top global hotel chains.

The hotel is being designed by an architects firm based in California and will be operational in 30 months.
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Tata Steel to acquire Rawmet
Mumbai: Tata Steel has entered into a Definite Agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity stake in Rawmet Ferrous Industries at an enterprise value of Rs101 crore.

The company informed the BSE that out of the enterprise value, Rs41.31 crore was towards equity of Rawmet. The company expects the transaction to be completed by the end of February 2007.
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ABB India gets Rs186-crore deal from Karnataka Power Transmission
Bangalore: ABB India has won a contract for a turnkey project worth Rs186 crore from the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL) to implement an integrated Network Manager SCADA/ EMS/DMS (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Energy Management System, Distribution Management System) solution, said a company release.

Last week the company won a similar deal worth Rs250 crore from Jindal South West group for its steel complexes.

The scope of the KPTCL project includes design, engineering, supply, installation, testing and commissioning and is scheduled for completion in about 24 months. The system will monitor and control 830 main transmission and distribution substations spread across the state.
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SingTel keen to hike stake in Bharti
New Delhi: Singapore's leading telecom operator Singtel has shown interest in increasing its stake in Bharti Airtel. On Tuesday the company said it was committed to the long-term potential of the Indian market and would consider raising its stake in Bharti Airtel if it was offered right terms and conditions. Singtel holds about 31 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel.

Vodafone currently holds 10 per cent equity in Bharti Airtel , which it may have to sell if it acquires Hutchison Telecom's Indian stake due to regulatory issues. SingTel may decide to pick the stake held by Vodafone in that case.
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Gujarat Gas to supply gas to fertiliser Krishak Bharti
Mumbai: Gujarat Gas Co. has entered into a deal to supply 3,50, 000 cubic metres of gas a day until March 31, to state-run fertiliser firm Krishak Bharti Co-operative Ltd.
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ETA Ascon to invest $600 million in India
Chennai: Dubai-based ETA Ascon business conglomerate has chalked out big plans for investing in infrastructure, manufacturing and service sectors in India.

The company says it has envisaged a capital investment of $ 500-600mn in the next two years, of which its equity investment will be $100-150mn.

Founded in 1973, ETA group employs over 40,000 people and has revenues of over $3bn. It has operations mainly in UAE and India with interests in areas like construction, manufacturing, trading, shipping, retail, leisure, facilities management, automobiles, insurance and IT.

According to the group, it has identified certain areas for investment, such as building port facilities, including private ports, special economic zones and independent power plants based on coal and industrial goods like lifts and elevators.

The company may also set up container terminals and handling cargo containers.

ETA is among the 14 new players approved by the Government for moving containers from inland container depots. It will operate the service from Mumbai to Delhi with its own ICDs.
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