RIL net profit soars 58 pc
Mumbai: Beating market expectations Reliance Industries (RIL) reported a 57.6 per cent growth in net profit for the third quarter in this financial year, led by 48 per cent growth in petrochemicals and 37 per cent growth in refining businesses.

Gross refining margin at $11.7 a barrel was nearly three times the regional Singapore benchmark.

Net profit for the quarter was Rs2,799 crore compared with Rs1,776 crore in the previous corresponding period. Total income grew 44.5 per cent to Rs26,514 crore over the same period last year and operating profit went up 50.5 per cent to Rs4,751 crore. Earnings per share went up to Rs20.1 from Rs12.7 in the corresponding quarter last year.

The RIL stock opened at Rs1,349 and closed at Rs1,367 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, after touching a high of Rs1,383.50.

Revenues in the refining segment went up by 37 per cent to Rs20,870 crore from Rs15,179 crore in the corresponding period last year. Crude throughput volumes for the current quarter was 7.9 million tonnes (MT) compared with 6.7 MT in the same quarter last year.

The petrochemicals business saw growth of 48 per cent - from Rs7,353 crore in the third quarter last year to Rs10,895 crore in the same quarter this year in keeping with market predictions.
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Reliance KG basin estimate doubled to 11.3 TCF
Mumbai: Reliance Industries has said independent assessment of 2P reserves for the D1 & D3 discoveries in KGD6 is estimated at 11.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF), almost double the earlier estimate.
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Tech Mahindra Q3 net up 122 pc
Mumbai: Tech Mahindra, IT solutions and services provider to the telecommunications industry, has posted a 122 pc increase in consolidated net profit at Rs166.8 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 as against Rs75.10 crore in Q3FY06.

Total revenue during the period under review rose 131 pc to Rs769.8 crore as against Rs332.6 crore during the same period a year ago.

The sequential rise in the company's net profit was 16.5 pc from last quarter's figure of Rs143.1 crore and revenue growth was 10.3 pc higher as compared to Rs697.6 crore inQ2FY07.
The company's total number of clients rose to 78 from 70, while the number of clients with whom Tech Mahindra does annual business of above $1 million rose from 17 to 22 in the current quarter.

However the company did not see any rise in the number of clients who contribute more than $5 million in revenue. The company derived 19 pc revenue from North America, 73 pc from Europe and 8 pc from elsewhere.
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Subex to acquire Canadian software company
Bangalore: Subex Azure, a telecom software product firm, is acquiring Canada-based Syndesis Limited for $164.5 million (around Rs740 crore) in an all-cash deal. The acquisition is the largest ever acquisition made by an Indian company and surpasses Subex's own record of acquiring Azure for $140 million (around Rs620 crore) in July last year. Syndesis enters the Subex fold with 400 people, taking the total headcount to 1,200.

Subex Azure plans to finance the acquisition through a $200 million (around Rs 890 crore) GDR issue on a premier European exchange.

The company has received shareholders' approval for this and expects the acquisition to be completed within March 31, 2007.

For the last fiscal, Subex had a turnover of close to Rs250 crore.
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HPCL to sell 50 pc stake in Vizag refinery to Total
New Delhi: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) - is planning to sell 50 pc of its stake in the Vishakapatnam refinery to French firm Total SA for Rs6,000 crore.

Total is likely to pick up the stake in collaboration with Kuwait Petroleum.

HPCL is currently at a preliminary stage of discussions with Total and will finalise the deal in 2-3 months.

HPCL is setting up a 9 million tonne export-oriented refinery adjacent to the existing refinery at Vishkapatnam at an estimated investment of Rs12,000 crore.

The Lakshmi Mittal group is also reported to be in interested in picking up a 49 per cent stake in the refinery in Punjab.

HPCL has tied up with GAIL (India) Ltd for city gas distribution projects in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and is likely to reach an agreement with the state-run gas marketing company for distribution project in Rajasthan.
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RIL exports rise 141 pc in Q3
Mumbai: Reliance Industries, the country's largest private sector refiner, said its exports for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, increased 141 per cent to Rs16,013 crore, from Rs6,638 crore in the previous quarter. This constitutes 58 per cent of the company's total turnover.

The company also showed its highest-ever export figures over a nine-month period at Rs48,696 crore.

Reliance expects its export turnover to more than double this fiscal at Rs75,000 crore, up from Rs32,691 crore in 2005-06. The surge is mainly attributed to larger dispatch of polyester, polymer and petroleum products.

Reliance processed 7.89 million tonne of crude oil into fuels in the quarter compared with 6.7 million tonne a year ago, the company said.

Fuel exports increased to 4.8 million tonne in the quarter compared with 2.6 million tonne a year ago.

The company earned Rs16200 crore from exporting fuels, up from Rs6750 crore last year.
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Bharti Airtel to invest $2bn in network expansion
Mumbai: Bharti Airtel plans to spend $2 billion to expand its network in 2007-08, starting April 1.

Bharti Airtel will expand coverage in towns and villages where mobile penetration is still very low. The Indian telco major said it aims to extend services to about 5,000 towns by March 31, compared to 4,000, as of July last year.

Bharti Airtel shares have surged 82 per cent in 2006.
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ONGC, Mittal group trying to revive joint venture
New Delhi: ONGC and the L.N Mittal group are trying to revive the near-defunct trading joint venture, ONGC Mittal Energy Services Ltd (OMESL).

In this regard, top brass of both companies are expected to meet shortly to decide future business strategies of their joint ventures, namely ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) - the upstream oil and gas JV - and OMESL.

The two companies may also discuss the possibility of expanding the product offerings of OMESL beyond international trading.
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Shell plans setting up coal gassification facility in India
New Delhi: Shell, a world leader in coal gassification technology, is negotiating with ONGC for setting up coal gassification facilities in the country.

Vikram S. Mehta, managing director of Shell India, said, "To set up such a facility we need to ensure the availability of the right quality of coal. Also there are several legal procedures to be fulfilled, both at the Central and the State levels, which we are currently working out."

Coal gassification was part of the multi-point memorandum of understanding signed by ONGC and Shell in January 2006. Shell may also participate in the next round of bidding for coal bed methane (CBM) blocks. The company did not participate in the last round of bidding (CBM Policy-III) in 2006.

A few locations have been shortlisted for the project. The following days, however, witnessed differences between both the companies on a number of issues previously agreed upon.
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ONGC confirms gas find in KG and Mahanadi basins
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has confirmed finding natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast and the Mahanadi basin off the Orissa coast.

ONGC chairman, R.S. Sharma, said a K-G well, in water depth of 2,840 metres, was still to reach its target depth but initial testing in the presence of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) officials has confirmed the presence of natural gas. The well has reached a depth of 6,600 metres and the target depth of 7,000 metres would be reached in the next two weeks.

ONGC will drill four-five more appraisal wells before it can announce the size of the discovery and the reserves it holds, he said.
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Wipro in talks with Singapore Airlines for BPO deal
New Delhi: Indian software major Wipro is in talks with Singapore International Airlines (SIA) to outsource reservations call centre functions from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, and possibly UK, over the next one year to a centre in Mumbai.

This is part of a trend where several international airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airways have already outsourced their reservation services to India as part of their cost cutting drive.

The move will shift 140-odd jobs from call centres in Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada to India.

Justifying the move, SIA said the proposal to outsource these services to India is consistent with the airlines' objective to improve productivity and efficiency by being more cost-effective in the provision of services to customers.
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Siemens' Q3 profit doubles
Mumbai: Siemens, the flagship of the Siemens group in India, has announced doubling of its quarterly profit at Rs98 crore for the October-December period, from Rs49 crore recorded during the corresponding period in the previous year.

Sales turnover increased 91 pc, to Rs1,627 crore, for the first quarter ended December 31, 2006, while new orders rose 23 pc to Rs5,128 crore. The company said its focus on growth-led strategies, both in the domestic and export markets, helped it double the profits.

The company's non-executed order value position as of December 31, 2006 stood at Rs11,040 crore, a rise of 56 pc from Rs7,058 crore in corresponding period last year.
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