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The government gave oil marketing companies something to cheer before they prepare the third quarter’s results. They have got bonds to compensate them for the losses incurred on selling retail petroleum products like PDS kerosene and LPG. Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation have been issued bonds worth Rs 22,000 crore, with the companies getting 54.4%, 24.2% and 21.3% respectively.
December has been a good month for fertiliser companies. Earlier this month, the government had issued 7% bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to 23 companies. Now the government has released another tranche of 6.2% bonds worth Rs 4,000 crore to 16 companies. These bonds are not eligible to be kept with banks as SLR but can be bought by insurance companies, in the ‘other approved securities’ list and as special bonds by PF/Gratuity/Superannuation funds.
Continue Reading“We are clear ….SEBI’s letter Forged….” That’s the blurb on Pyramid Saimira’s website, a sign of a relieved company or actually a relieved promoter that he is not under Sebi’s glare. But it would be unfortunate if the hoax perpetrated on the financial media, Pyramid’s shareholders and the market regulator Sebi were to end so tamely.
Satyam Computers has entered into damage control mode, proposing a buyback to return cash to shareholders. The IT services major recently proposed a buyout of two group firms –Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra- in the construction and infrastructure business. The move angered shareholders who went on a selling spree, from which its shares are yet to recover.
Today, Axon Global’s shares will stop trading on the London Stock Exchange, marking a smooth ending to a takeover, which at one time saw HCL Technologies and Infosys Technologies pitted against each other. Though the logic of the deal and its benefits for HCL has been dealt with earlier, the ease with which HCL outbid Infosys is puzzling.
Indian companies are struggling with a decline in demand which is affecting production, a fact visible in the December’08 quarter. If October’08 saw a marginal decline in industrial production after more than a decade of continuous growth, November’08 threatens to be worse. Investors should brace themselves for nasty surprises when the quarterly results are announced.
Suzlon Energy has rescheduled its payment to Martifer, the Portuguese construction, energy and distribution company, for its 22.7% stake in Repower. Suzlon will now pay €65mn in December 2008, €30mn in April 2009 and the remaining €175mn in May 2009. The agreement will see Suzlon take control of Repower much later than scheduled but also gives it way out of a messy situation.
India’s industry is in trouble, with the index of industrial production declining by 0.4% in October 2008. Recent months have seen a distinct slowdown of production but this is the first time that there has been a decline. The main cause is a 1.2% decline in the manufacturing index even as the mining and electricity indices grew a bit.
The US FDA had issued a warning letter to Sun Pharma’s subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories on Oct 31, 2008. The letter is now available on the FDA site detailing the reasons why the warning was issued. It points out deviations from current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for medicines. These deviations were detected in an inspection between May 1 to June 11 2008, and are mainly due to issues related to quality control.
Continue ReadingMore evidence of the slowdown, not that anyone needs it. The Indian Railways play a key role in the transportation of certain petroleum products, cement and clinker, coal, iron ore and agricultural products. In FY08, volume traffic growth was high at 9% but FY09 has seen growth decelerate. In November’08, volume traffic is up by just 1.3% to 66.6mn tonnes and up by 6.5% to 534.6mn tonnes in the April-November period.
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