Asian Paints Q4 net up three times
Mumbai: Asian Paints has reported a net profit of Rs69.08 crore (Rs20.08 crore) for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007. Turnover for the quarter under review increased 29 per cent to Rs727 crore from Rs564.4 crore. For the full year ended March 31, 2007, net profit on a standalone basis increased 45 per cent to Rs269 crore from Rs187 crore. Sales and operating income increased 21.7 per cent to Rs2,821.2 crore (Rs2,319 crore).

The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs1 per share (10 per cent) on Rs10 shares for March 31, 2007. The company had paid an interim dividend of Rs5.50 per share and Rs6.50 per share in March 2007.

According to the company, net sales and operating income include income arising out of processing charges for products manufactured for the joint venture unit Asian PPG Industries Ltd and the wholly owned subsidiary Asian Paints Industrial Coatings Ltd.
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Cairn India makes two gas discoveries in Rajasthan
New Delhi: Cairn India announced making two new oil and gas discoveries in its Rajasthan block. The company said it has received a six-month extension from the Government to undertake further exploration activities in the northern region of the block.

The discoveries were made in Kameshwari West-2 and Kameshwari West-3 wells in the company's productive Rajasthan block. The Kameshwari West-2 discovery located northwest of the 2003 Kameshwari discovery and south of the giant Mangala field, encountered 18.2 metres of net oil pay.

The Kameshwari West-3 discovery is located to the north of Kameshwari West-2 and encountered up to 16 metres of gas pay.

Test results in the upper interval confirmed the presence of a gas pool that flowed at approximately 75,000 standard cubic ft per day.

According to the statement, the Government has awarded the company a six-month extension to the exploration phase of the Northern Appraisal Area (NAA) of the Rajasthan licence RJ-ON-90/1 from May 2007.

The extension will allow the company to explore the full potential of the Northern Appraisal Area, the company said.

In June 2005, Cairn was granted an 18-month extension until November 14, 2006 to complete its activities in the northern appraisal area. However, severe flooding in Rajasthan in 2006 stopped the work. The company had sought further extension of part of this acreage to complete its planned work programme.
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Bajaj Auto to demerge
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the company at its board meeting on May 17, would consider its results and dividend and would also take up the issue of the long-speculated demerger of the financial and automotive businesses.

Bajaj Auto is conjectured to transfer over Rs6,000 crore out of its surplus capital of Rs8,000 crore to the new financial services entity to be used as its share capital.

Bajaj Auto will also transfer equity investment in various joint ventures, such as the life and general insurance companies (Bajaj Auto has 76 per cent equity in it while Allianz has the rest) and Bajaj Auto Finance (in which the promoters have a 42 per cent equity stake), to the new company.

Chairman Rahul Bajaj's sons- Rajiv, Bajaj Auto's managing director, and Sanjiv, its executive-director - are expected to be on the boards of both the companies.
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Moser Baer gets copyright of 7,000 films
Mumbai: CD and DVD maker Moser Baer has bought the copy rights and exclusive licenses for 7,000 films in all major Indian languages.

The company has also lined up 450 distributors in the country and stocks will be soon available in around 100,000 outlets, including stationary shops, telecom shops and regular audio and video outlets pan-India.

Moser Baer provides VCDs for Rs28 and DVDs for Rs34.
Company officials said if any other company succeeded in providing DVD and VCDs at the price which Moser Baer provides they would be successful in killing the piracy business in India.
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Ceat starts brand restructuring exercise
Mumbai: Tyre brand Ceat which is represented by the rhino mascot plans to invest Rs 20 crore in a 360-degree branding exercise to rework the parent brand, `Ceat' (tyres), `Ceat Shoppe' (retail outlet selling tyres) and promote the `Ceat Cricket Rating'.

Ogilvy & Mather which has been appointed for the exercise will restructure and reposition the brand based on customer feedback, past legacy and market research. Internally, employees would be asked to come up with their views.

Externally, the company will ask buyers, dealers, agents, passengers and the youth in general as to where the brand stands, where it should be and what is expected of it.

The exercise will focus on the usage cycle of the product i.e. tyre. Advertisements will be based on the feedback generated and will be displayed across the electronic, print and Internet media. The company intends to expand its retail presence through its chain of exclusive Ceat Shoppe outlets. Ceat will also double the existing chain of 75 dealerships by the end of this year and make its presence felt in the tier 2 cities. Moreover, the retail outlets will wear a new face and have features like two-wheeler tyre balancing, headlight alignment and provision of nitrogen gas in tyres as added services - the first of its kind in the country.
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Whirlpool to spend $20 m to develop products
Hyderabad: Whirlpool of India will spend $20 million in product development over the next 18 months. The company plans to increase focus on innovation in home appliances like washing machines, dryers and air conditioners and increase its market share in the categories. The company hopes to achieve a market share of 27 per cent in refrigerators. The company hopes to break even in 2008 having become profitable at the operational level. It is also confident of making a turnaround in 2008 with net profit.

During the first nine months of last fiscal ended December 31, 2006, Whirlpool of India clocked a turnover of Rs 1,245 crore and expects a 20 per cent growth in 2006-07 over the previous fiscal.
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Dell to launch computer priced at Rs10,000
New Delhi: US based computer maker Dell will soon launch low-cost personal computers priced at about $238 or Rs10,000 across the world, including India. The company is at present testing the product and would customize the product according to the market and customer needs.

The company declined to give a time frame for the launch in India. The company recently launched three new laptops for the Indian market - Latitude D630, D830 and D531 priced in the Rs52,000 to Rs64,000 range. The new products will have longer battery life, increased connectivity and performance, according to the company. The company is also planning to launch D430 ultra-mobile notebook and Dell Precision M4300 computers in the coming weeks.
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S&P's names eight Indian cos as challengers to global majors
New Delhi: According to rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) annual rating of global challengers eight Indian firms are expected to emerge as challengers to the world's leading blue chip companies, The list suggests the growing significance of manufacturing in India, given that five of the eight firms are in this sector and no Indian information technology company figures in the list.

The list includes cement major ACC, capital goods major Siemens India, hospitality major Indian Hotels Co, Lakshmi Machine Works, watch company Titan Industries, FMCG company Marico, hotels company Hotel Leela Venture,
and equipment maker Jain Irrigation Systems.

The eight Indian companies are part of S&P's list of 300 mid-size companies across 37 countries in the latest S&P Global Challengers List. In contrast, China has four companies on the list. Japan has the highest at 62, followed by the US with 58, the UK with 19 and Australia with 15.

Last year, seven Indian companies were in the list but, again, there were no infotech firms. The seven companies were Chennai Petroleum, Bharat Forge, Siemens India (the only repeat this year), UTI Bank, PNB, Nicholas Piramal and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

The list consists of publically listed companies from around the world with a minimum market capitalisation of $500 million and a maximum of $5 billion as of December 31.
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Tata Steel among top contenders in race for Vietnam plant
Mumbai: Tata Steel, Baosteel of China and Evraz of Russia are the top contenders to pick up a majority stake in an integrated steel plant in Vietnam. The project, which is expected to attract Rs 14,000 crore as investment will have local enterprises as minority partners.

The winning bidder will be announced next month. Tata Steel, if it wins the bid, will have to shell out over Rs7,000 crore for the project.

The expression of interest by three companies followed invitation from the Vietnam government for setting up a steel unit with annual production capacity of nearly 5 million tonne.

If Tata steel bags the deal, It will be second largest investment by Tata Steel.
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