M&M posts Rs236-cr net profit
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra has reported a 26 per cent fall in net profit to Rs236.04 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, as against Rs321.18 crore in the same period last year.

The company said the fall in net was on account of exceptional items that contributed to the net profit in the corresponding quarter last year. The profit before exceptional items in that quarter of 2005-06 was Rs175 crore.

According to the company, the normalised profit after tax for the quarter ended March 2007 was Rs238.6 crore compared with Rs175.6 crore in the Q4 of last year, an increase of 35.9 per cent. The company had exceptional items at Rs14.29 crore during the quarter as against Rs145.55 crore in the same quarter previous year.

Gross turnover increased by 20.6 per cent to Rs3,176.5 crore from Rs2,632.8 crore.

For the full year ended March 31, 2007, net profit increased to Rs1,068.4 crore from Rs857.1 crore. Gross revenue for the year was Rs11,558 crore as against Rs9,451.4 crore, a growth of 22.3 per cent.

The board of directors of the company has recommended a final dividend of 25 per cent and a special dividend of 15 per cent aggregating Rs4 per share. The company's shares closed at Rs740.25 on the BSE on Monday, up by 1.16 per cent over the previous close.
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IOC Q4 net slips 60 pc: oil bonds make up
New Delhi: IOC has recorded a 60 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2006-07 to Rs1,609.67 crore from Rs4,030.57 crore in the corresponding previous period. However, it registered 52.5 per cent increase in net profit for the full year, aided by oil bonds received from the Government in tranches for selling petroleum products below cost price and sale of its holding in ONGC. The compensation in the form of oil bonds had boosted the company's profit in the fourth quarter of the previous year, when it received bonds worth Rs6,571.44 crore. For the period under review, IOC saw gross turnover moving up to Rs55,548.88 crore (Rs48,388 crore). Net profit rose to Rs7,499.47 crore (Rs4,915.12 crore).

The IOC board has also declared final dividend of 130 per cent (Rs13 per share). This is in addition to the interim dividend of 60 per cent paid in December 2006.

The IOC stock rose 1.35 per cent to close at Rs481.10 against the previous close of Rs474.70 on the BSE.
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Hero Honda launches yet another Splendor
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors has launched deluxe segment model `Splendor NXG.' The model comes priced at Rs40,990 and Rs41,990 (ex-showroom Delhi), and would be available in two variants with spoke and cast wheels. Built with a new engine, it can deliver peak power of 7.7 PS. Last year, the company sold over 1.09 million units of Splendor.

The company sees further scope for penetration in the 100-125 cc segment as the deluxe segment comprises 51 per cent market against the premium bike segment, which accounts for 11 per cent.

Hero Honda, which launched eight models last year, is now looking to consolidate its position in these models.
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Ranbaxy gets rights for 13 dermatology products in US
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc has acquired the rights to 13 dermatology products from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) for $26 million or Rs105 crore. According to Ranbaxy, the products which totalled sales of $15 million or more than Rs60 crore for 2006, have been in the market for 10 years and are used in the treatment of dermatitis, psoriasis, fungal infections, scabies and acne. RLI already sells the registered acne capsules Sotret and claims the drug is the largest selling brand among the Isotretinoin brands and enjoys a 36 per cent market-share in its category. The products will be sold in the US market under the Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc label.
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Jain Irrigation to acquire stake in Israeli co
Mumbai: Jain Irrigation Systems has agreed to buy 50.001 per cent stake in an Israel-based company NaanDan Irrigation Systems for $21.5 million (Rs 87 crore) in an all-cash deal to be done through Jain Irrigation's wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands.

Of this amount, $10.5 million will be invested in NaanDan for its growth, said a statement from Jain Irrigation. The deal is expected to be closed next month.

The company, to be renamed NaanDan Jain Irrigation CS Ltd, will be controlled and managed jointly by Jain Irrigation and Kibbutz Naan, a co-operative, on an equal basis.
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Unitech Q4 net jumps to Rs357-cr
New Delhi: Real estate player Unitech's net profit jumped to Rs357 crore for the last quarter ended March 31, against Rs35.46 crore in the same quarter the previous fiscal. Total sales rose to Rs884.15 crore (Rs220.47 crore).

The company is planning to invest Rs10,000 crore in shopping centres and hotels in the next two years. It would develop 7-8 malls and about 28 hotels and construction has already begun for four hotels.

Unitech's net profit for entire year 2006-07 stood at Rs983.56 crore, up 1,312 per cent from Rs69.65 crore in the previous fiscal. Total sales for the entire year registered 285 per cent increase at Rs2,599.64 crore, up from Rs674.75 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company has recommended issuance of bonus shares in the ration of 1:1. It also announced a dividend of 25 per cent for the fiscal 2006-07.
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SAIL to expand capacity
New Delhi: Steel Authority of India has announced plans to increase its installed capacity to 24.98 million tonnes by 2010 form the present level of 13 million tonnes. Initially, the expansion plan of the company was to raise its capacity to 22.5 million tonnes by 2010 with an investment of Rs37,000 crore. Now, the revised estimate for the higher installed capacity along with the ongoing programme has been pegged at Rs43,000 crore. Reviewing the progress of the expansion programme of SAIL, Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers, urged the top management of the company to implement the programme on time.
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Essar to encash Hutch stake
Mumbai: Essar group plans to encash its 33 per cent stake in Hutchison-Essar, its joint venture with UK's Vodafone, to raise around $4.5 billion (Rs 18,000 crore) for overseas acquisitions.
The group recently bought two steel plants in Canada and the US for $3.2 billion and committed $4 billion in Egypt to set up a refinery and steel plants. It is hunting for more global assets.

The group is said to have has appointed banks to advise it on assigning its one-third stake in India's fourth-largest mobile service provider.

An agreement between Vodafone and Essar gives the latter the option to sell its one-third stake in Hutchison-Essar to Vodafone after three years. Essar also has the option to sell between $1 billion and $5 billion worth of Hutchison-Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised value.

The decision by Essar to monetise its Hutchison-Essar stake follows the government approving this month the sale of Hutchison's majority stake in the company to Vodafone, almost three months after the initial agreement.
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NTC to sell mill land
New Delhi: The National Textile Corporation (NTC) plans to sell around 40 acres of mill land in Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Udaipur.

Earlier in December 2005, NTC garnered Rs2,500 crore from auction of five mill sites in Mumbai.

A senior government official said the value of the land had been estimated at a conservative Rs500 crore. However, given that the land parcels are located in prime areas their auction could fetch much higher prices. Three independent valuers have been appointed to assess the land value.

After the land sale the National Textile Corporation will relocate its mills from the four cities to lower cost locations.
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TCS sets up financial solutions unit
Mumbai: TCS has brought its products services business under a new business unit called TCS Financial Solutions that will function as a dedicated product company within TCS. The products offered from TCS Financial Solutions will be positioned under an umbrella brand called TCS BaNCS.

TCS officials said the new initiative will ensure singular focus on design, development and marketing of financial services products and will bring a lot of transparency for our customers.

The new unit has a customer base of 214 financial institutions across 80 countries. In 2006-07, revenues from TCS financial products went up by 66 per cent to $170 million (Rs697 crore) from $102 million (Rs418.2 crore).
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