Bharti Q3 net soars 90 pc to above Rs1,000 crore
Mumbai: Bharti Airtel's net profit, as per Indian GAAP, has risen by more than 90 pc to Rs1,033.34 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 against Rs543.54 crore registered in the quarter ended December 31, 2005.

The group's total revenue has risen nearly 62 pc to Rs4,928.18 crore in Q3FY07 as against Rs3,045.18 crore in Q3FY06.

On a standalone basis, Bharti has reported a 93.7 pc rise in net profit at Rs1,043.69 crore for Q3FY07 as against Rs538.68 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total revenues rose nearly 61 pc to Rs4,723.68 crore from Rs2,936.03 crore a year ago.
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Bharti Airtel buys out SingTel's stake in cable co
Bharti Airtel has announced buying out Singapore company SingTel's 50 per cent stake in a joint venture under sea cable company Network i2i for $110 million. With this Bharti holds 100 per cent stake in the company, which connects Chennai to Singapore through a 3,100 km optic fibre under sea cable.

Bharti is looking to expand in other parts of the globe through partnerships and possible acquisitions. The acquisition is expected to result in cost savings for Bharti Airtel in terms of cheaper international bandwidth.

Bharti has also transferred its passive infrastructure for mobile communications such as towers into a wholly owned subsidiary, Bharti Infratel. The move is aimed at increasing operational efficiencies and cutting down on costs. Bharti has 34,000 towers across the country, which can now be shared with other mobile operators for a fee. Bharti also plans to would launch DTH services by the end of 2007 and has applied for a DTH licence.
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Educomp Q3 net zooms 113 pc at Rs8 crore
New Delhi: e-learning enabler company Educomp Solutions reported a 113.25 pc increase in net profit at Rs8.21 crore for the third quarter ended December 2006. The company's revenue was up 117 pc at Rs27.57 crore for the quarter.

The company said it has expanded dramatically in almost all business segments, especially Smart Class, which caters to private schools.
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Tata Steel may raise bid price for Corus
London: Tata Steel is said to be close to hiking its offer for Corus the Anglo-Dutch company, but may wait until the deadline set by regulators before announcing the offer.

Tata is in talks with its banks on financing for the bid but wants to hold back any announcement until January 30 to make it harder for Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, of Brazil, to come back with a raised bid of its own, it said.

Tata is understood to be contemplating an offer of up to 550 pence a share. At present, CSN has tabled a higher offer at 515 pence a share compared to Tatas 500 pence a share.

The UK Takeover Panel has given the two rival suitors time until January 30 to revise their bids and has indicated that if the competitive situation continues shortly before that date, the winner would be decided through an auction.
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Sun Pharma to acquire companies in the US
New Delhi: Sun Pharmaceuticals is looking at acquiring companies in the US with a war chest of $500 million.

The company says it is interested in acquiring a generic business in the US. The company is aiming to touch sales of $100 million from the US market this year, and had raised about $350 million through convertible bonds and the rest was through internal accruals.

The company is expected to touch a growth of 25-30 per cent this fiscal. Sun Pharma recently got a shot in the arm with a US appeals court upholding a lower court ruling in favour of its Detroit-based subsidiary Caraco in a patent infringement case over Johnson&Johnson's painkiller drug Ultracet. The company sells a total of 28 products in the market, which all put together should give a sales of around $100 million this fiscal.
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India Inc against mandatory quarterly results
New Delhi: Most of India's top corporates are against SEBI's norms for companies to declare performance on a quarterly basis and favour announcing it only twice a year, industry chamber Assocham said. According to an eco pulse survey as many as 95 per cent of CEOs and MDs were against SEBI's mandatory guidelines the company's to declare their quarterly performance.

Most of the respondents were of the view that with limited human resource at their disposal, it was extremely difficult to paint a true picture of their performance to shareholders.

The pressure for declaration of quarterly results was so much that even the top management spent a lot of time in projecting their profits and losses to suit their requirements and maintain their credibility, the survey said.
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Grasim Q3 profit rises
Mumbai: Grasim India's largest cement producer, quarterly net profit has more than doubled on higher sales.

the company said its net profit rose to Rs411 crore ($93 million) in its fiscal third-quarter ended December 31 from Rs162 crore a year ago. The company's sales rose 37 per cent to Rs2,280 crore from Rs1,660 crore.
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Suzuki introduces four new motorcycle variants
New Delhi: Suzuki Motorcycle India, a subsidiary of leading Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Suzuki Motor Corporation, has launched four upgraded models of its existing motorcycles, 'Zeus' and 'Heat'.

The new variants of 'Zeus' would be priced in the Rs42,725 and Rs46,326, range whereas the new 'Heat' variant would be tagged at Rs35,100 ex-showroom Delhi.

"Zeus & Heat -- two motorcycles brands, were launched in 2006, and have had a positive response from consumers.
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Coromandel Fertilisers to buy 25 pc stake in Godavari
Mumbai: Complex fertiliser maker Coromandel Fertilisers plans to acquire 8 million shares, or 25 per cent, in subsidiary Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals at Rs150 each. The company will also make an open offer for a further 20 per cent in Godavari, it said in a statement.
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Champagne Indage to acquire Tandou winery
Mumbai: Wine specialist Champagne Indage will sign a pact to acquire a winery subsidiary of Australia's Tandou for an undisclosed sum, according to media reports. Tandou Wines runs a 30 lakh cases a year winery and could potentially bring annual revenue of at least A$55 million, the report said.
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Glenmark net rises to Rs189 crore
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has recorded a net profit of Rs189 crore for the three months ended December 2006 as compared to Rs62 crore in the same period last fiscal. The company's total income for the December quarter of 2006 has jumped to Rs44 6 crore from Rs205 crore in the year-ago quarter.
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Ipca Laboratories Q3 net rises 13 times to Rs35 crore
Mumbai: Ipca Laboratories has registered an over 13-fold net profit after tax of Rs34.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, as compared to Rs2.67 crore in the year ago period.

The total income (net of excise) of the company has increased to Rs233.05 crore for the latest quarter, up 33.48 per cent over Rs174.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, Ipca Labs informed the BSE.
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Govt approves $1.2 billion FII investment in RComm
New Delhi: The Government has approved foreign investment of upto $1.2 billion in proposed issues of ADRs and GDRs by Reliance Communications, a finance ministry statement said. The Government has cleared 23 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs5,411 crore.
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Patni Computer expands onshore US operations
Mumbai: IT consulting and services provider Patni Computer Systems has announced an expansion of its on-shore operation in the US with the opening of its third regional development centre (RDC) at Bloomington, Illinois.

The facility is nearly 10,000 sq ft large and can accommodate 100 professionals and will initially focus on executing software development projects for Patni's insurance business unit.

Patni presently has 23 international offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company hopes this would swiftly ramp up its existing overall development operations in North America.
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Dell plans to expand business in India
Kuala Lumpur: Dell Inc plans to expand its business in India. The company has announced that it would use Malaysia as the hub for the Asian market while its call centre in India would cater to other parts of the world. The company has also announced setting up a new factory in Chennai. Dell president and chief executive officer, Kevin Rollins said Malaysia has played an integral part of its global initiative.

He said the centre was based in Malaysia and not in China or India because of its skilled work force, conducive business environment, robust infrastructure and the government's commitment to the information technology industry.

Dell has opened a 200,000 sq feet centre in Malaysia's high tech city called Cyberjaya.
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