Biscuits maker Britannia Industries Ltd reported a 37% drop in standalone operating profit and net profit as higher prices of commodities like sugar, wheat and milk have led to higher costs. Edible oil prices, which were ruling softer compared to a year ago period, too are seeing an increase. Inflation seems to have hit demand for its products too, as overall revenues (including other operating income) grew by just 8% during the quarter. Continue Reading →
Companies
Reliance Industries’ higher output offset by lower margins in the December 2009 quarter
|
Reliance Industries results were largely in line with expectations. The petroleum major’s sales rose by 93% to Rs 58,848 crore in the December quarter, compared to the same period last year. Its net profit, however, rose by a more modest 16% to Rs 4,008 crore. There were a few reasons for the significantly higher growth in sales. The December 2008 quarter was a relatively bad one and RIL’s sales had fallen by 9%. Its refinery at Jamnagar had been commissioned in December 2008 and would have operated at much lower capacity, than in the current fiscal. Continue Reading →
Economy+Policy
Power exchanges get new regulations
|
After stock exchanges came commodity exchanges and now you have power trading exchanges. Their life just got more interesting, with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the central power sector regulator, notifying a host of regulations they have to adhere to. The current exchanges too have been set up under the purview of the regulator, but these were in the form of guidelines. Continue Reading →
Companies
Telenor hikes stake in Unitech Wireless to 60.1%
|
Norwegian telecom company Telenor Asia Pte Ltd. pumped in Rs 1,493 crore into its Indian telecom joint venture with Unitech, Unitech Wireless. The money is through the fresh equity into a bunch of subsidiaries that operate in the various circles. With this infusion, Telenor owns a 60.1% stake in the company, against 49% earlier, making it the majority shareholder. Telenor’s total investment in the telecom business is Rs 4,113 crore so far, and will increase to Rs 5,606 crore after this investment.
Continue Reading →
Companies
Pipavav Shipyard loses $36mn shipbuilding order
|
Ship-builder Pipavav Shipyard announced the loss of a $36mn (Rs 165 crore) contract to build a Panamax vessel. The company said that Setaf sas, a French company, cancelled its order for building a 75,000 dwt panamax vessel. The vessel, to be delivered in 2009, was delayed because a Goliath crane required during construction was not built on time. Chinese workmen needed to install the crane were not available due to the change in government policy on issuing visas to Chinese workers.
Companies
Keki Mistry to take over from Deepak Parekh as HDFC CEO
|
Deepak Parekh will formally relinquish his position as the chief executive officer of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on December 31. It is an important milestone in his career spent in first making HDFC one of India’s well-respected housing finance institutions and then transforming it into a diversified financial services conglomerate.
Economy+Policy
Food inflation soars, at 15.6%
|
The intertwining of agriculture and politics has usually meant that farmers and the consumers, especially those at the margin, suffer from government action or inaction. Food prices have been rising for a long period, at least a year, and show no signs of abating.
Today, the government announced the wholesale price index data (WPI) for the week ended November 14.
Companies
PVR to share 15% revenues with DLF
|
Companies
Jubilant Organosys in drug discovery alliance
|
In its second tie-up in this month, Jubilant Organosys, which does contract research and manufacturing services, has linked up with the UAB Research Foundation, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Southern Research Institute, a non-profit research organisation. Continue Reading →
Companies
Hindalco fixes floor price at Rs 130.90 per share for QIP issue
|
Aditya Birla-group metal firm Hindalco will raise Rs 2,900 crore through a qualified institutional placement route.
The company has determined the floor price for the share (face value: Re 1) at Rs 130.90 as prescribed by the SEBI formula.
The stock closed on the BSE at Rs 133.80 on November 23.
Earlier, Hindalco had increased the FII investment limit from 24% to 40%, and also raised the target amount from the QIP issue from Rs 2,400 crore to Rs 2,900 crore.