Indian Stock Market Blog

News. January 5, 2007

Top News:

1) Nicholas Piramals Wellspring, the chain of Pathology Laboratories and Diagnostic Centres acquires majority stake in Jankharia Imaging, a radiology and imaging centre in Mumbai. New entity would be renamed as Wellspring-Jankharia Imaging. Wellspring has ambitious investment plans in the next two years during which the Company would offer tele-radiology solutions requiring expert radiology opinions across India and abroad-(imjwire)

2) Mercator Lines denies the news of rig sale and private placement, and the Company clarifies that it does not have any such i.e. either Rig sale and/or placement at Rs. 60-(imjwire)

3) Mirza International clarifies on the news that Mirza Tanner may buy European Shoe Company. Company said Though company was looking for acquiring a retail / distribution company and / or a shoe manufacturing company overseas earlier, as of now the company does not have a concrete proposal & Mirza International plans to increase its manufacturing capacity by 1 mn pairs-(imjwire)

4) Asian Electronics denies the news that it will buy back shares by month end-(imjwire)

5) Hindustan Zinc increased lead prices by Rs 1500/tonne upto Rs 86300/tonne & Hindustan Zinc cuts prices by 4.2% upto Rs 9300/tonne to Rs 212200/tonne -(imjwire)

6) JSW Steel Galvanised Steel prices rose by Rs 1500 per metric tonne-(imjwire)

7) Wockhardt receives USFDA approval for Ondansetron Injection, generic version of GlaxoSmithKline Plcs nausea treatment Zofran-(imjwire)

8) Dr.Reddys Labs receives USFDA approval for Ondansetron Hydrochloride Tablets, generic version of Zofran-(imjwire)

9) Suven Life Sciences denies the news of receiving a major contract manufacturing order. Company also denies the news of going for private equity placement-(imjwire)

10) Hindujas on Thursday announced their interest to acquire Hutch Essar Ltd, joining Reliance Communications and British telecom giant Vodafone in the race for the country’s fourth-largest mobile operator-(BL)

11) Varun Shipping acquires its third modern Aframax crude oil tanker having cargo carrying capacity of approximately 105,000 DWT. With this additions, the Company will now be operating a diversified fleet of 18 vessels-(imjwire)

12) Metal Bulletin reports, China to import 355mnt of iron ore in 2007 up from 325 million tonnes in 2006-(imjwire)

13) Indian government partially lift the ban on sugar exports as domestic prices falls. Director General of Foreign Trade would allow exports against advance licences that stipulates re-export of white sugar against import of raw sugar. This would apply to advance licence holders who could not meet export obligations before July 4, 2006 as the government then banned sugar exports to augment domestic availability-(imjwire)

14) Southern European bank choses Polaris Cash Management software. It is Next-Generation, SOA based Intellect Cash and Liquidity Management Platform. The solution enables banks to offer liquidity products, letting their customers have rule-based optimisation of their cash-(imjwire)

15) ICSA India receives order from Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd on 100% Turnkey basis under JBIC 2006-07 worth of Rs 15.28 cr-(imjwire)

16) Dabur Pharma today launched a new indigenously developed anti-cancer drug delivery system, Nanoxel, and plans to introduce it in the highly lucrative US and European markets within the next 18-36 months-(BS)

17) Indian government approves 20 FDI proposals worth of Rs.27.92 bn-(BS)

18) India cabinet exempt ready made garments from Textile Committee Cess and it is levied at 0.05% on manufacturers of textiles and textile machinery to raise funds for research and technology improvements-(imjwire)

19) Plethico Pharmaceuticals accepts the news of plans to acquire a contract manufacturing company and a retail pharmacy chain in the US- (IMJ Wire)

News. January 3, 2007

Today’s Top Newspaper Headlines:- The Economic Times

Vodafone, Analjit may team up for Hutch

Max India chief Analjit open to the idea

Buzz over new Tata bid fires up Corus shares

Stock soar to 536.50 pence a share in intra-day deals

AV Birla joins retail rush, buys Trinethra

The Trinethra group has 172 retail outlets

The Hindu Business Line

Ranbaxy gets US FDA approval for hypertension drug

Company to manufacture and market Atenol

Equity markets greet New Year in style

Auto sales, institutional buying propel Sensex by 155 points

Direct tax collections up 42.74% in April-Dec

Corporate tax collections increase by 51.63%

The Financial Express

Airline leases may be taxed in Budget

Move will impact expansion plans and could raise fares

57% BSE companies yet to comply with Clause 49

Out of 4,143 companies listed on BSE, only 1,789 have complied

China bourses’ M-cap half of GDP

Shanghai & Shenzhen 300 index rose 121% in 2006, the largest rising rate in all global stock markets

News. December 29, 2006

Markets will remain buoyant today with positive performance from index stocks. Nifty will cross 4,000 and Sensex will cross 14,000 levels during the day, says Bose.

Cement prices likely to harden on rising demand
Rates may increase further by Rs 15-20 per bag.

Tata Power looking at coal mines abroad; Lanco in talks for Chinese equipment
The two companies awarded contracts for ultra mega power projects

Bajaj Hindusthan net profit rises 36%
Bajaj Hindustan Ltd (BHL) has recorded a 36 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 190.83 crore during the financial year ending September 30, 2006 against Rs 140.39 crore registered during the same period last year.

TCS begins grooming science grads for career in IT
Science graduates to software professionals – that is what 500 graduates in mathematics and physics from 125 colleges will become after going through TCS Ignite.

Brokerage House Reports: December 29, 2006

Brokerage houses are bullish on Gujarat Gas, Gateway Distriparks, UltraTech Cement and Rolta India.

New Listing. December 29, 2006

Nissan Copper, which entered capital market with an initial public offering, IPO of 64.10 lakh shares of Rs 10 each aggregating to Rs 25 crore, will list today with 1,45,55,905 equity shares. The offer price was fixed at 39 per share.

CNBC-TV18’s Stocks Editor, Udayan Mukherjee expects Nissan Copper to list at around Rs 40-45.

Nissan Copper subscribed 5 odd times. Its customers are Siemens, Voltas, Bluestar etc. It may list around Rs 40-45 and drift near to its issue price of Rs 39 or below that through the day. One should not expect euphoric listing.

Top News Headlines. December 28, 2006

The Economic Times

Hutch’s $14 bn floor rate lifts valuation to $21 bn

Says it’s yet to receive any ‘acceptable’ offer for its 67% stake in JV

Tatas acquire 81% stake in Amalgam arm

Company valued at Rs 100-150 crore

Now, you can get cover for flight delays

Airlines in talks with insurers to compensate disruptions, fog, accidents

The Hindu Business Line

Ratan Tata blames some competitors

‘They would be happy if Singur project is delayed; but we won’t pull out’

UB Group earmarks $1 bn for overseas buys

Weighing options in Scotland, S Africa, Australia

HAL eyes tiw-ups with global aviation majors

Aims to treble turnover to $3 bn by 2011

The Financial Express

FM radio to get FDI boost

Foreign investment could be hiked to 49%

Periodic review of foreign companies and investment likely

No plan to have a negative list of sectors or areas

Call money at 12.5%

Rupee touches 44.30

Daily News & Analysis – Money

Anil in exit mode?

Vodafone, Essar top brass in Hong Kong for talks with Hutchison

There’s a limit to Corus bid: Ratan

We’ll not jeoparadise shareholders’ interests

Rs 3,500 cr REC tax-saver bonds

But old beneficiaries under section 50EC will be excluded this time

Top News Headlines. December 11, 2006

The Economic Times

Tatas to pick up under 10% stake in SpcieJet

Group claims the investment’s purely financial, not strategic

Stamp duty to pinch less on property deals

Duty only on the difference between original & resale value

India joins Top 20 wealth club

Bric countries expected to grow twice as fast as global average

The Hindu Business Line

Sinosteel may opt for buying co with land

Rethink on greenfield venture due to difficulties in acquiring land

Air India to finalise financing aircraft purchase by January

Airline examining two options for financing the aircraft acquisition

ESPN-Star Sports wins rights for ICC events

Value of the bid likely to be around $1.1 bnl

The Financial Express

States root for labour reforms, privatisation

All ministers against funding for centrally-sponsored schemes

Airfares take off: up 40% in 3 years

Since March 2003, airlines have hiked rates 11 times.

Is the Badshah the new Shahenshah?

Who’s a bigger brand? Here’s a three-part series on marketing’s biggest face-off

Daily News & Analysis – Money

Stocks, bonds brace for a correction

RBI lowers the boom; Bonds rally is set to abort.

Overcapacity clouds air cargo boomlet

Robust growth in passenger aviation has led to excess capacity in air freight market, too.

Cairn row may end, IPO today

Company’s merchant bankers will file second bunch of clarifications to Sebi.

Mixed

Ø Hero Group, which controls India’s largest two-wheeler maker
Hero Honda Motors Ltd. is seeking a foreign joint venture
partner to help its foray into the retail sector. However, the
proposed investment has not been disclosed.

Ø Tata Group is planning to buy nearly 10% in local low-cost
airline SpiceJet Ltd. for around INR1 billion at about INR51 a
share. The airlines board is meeting today to consider issue of
preferential shares to the Tata’s. This investment is looked upon
as the pure investment decision as per the Tata group.

Ø The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram are keeping a close watch on the inflation figures
as it poses threat to the economy and are unanimously
considering some stringent fiscal and monetary steps.

Ø RBI likely to increase short-term interest rates when it meets in
January, despite a surprise increase in cash reserve ratio on
Friday. Steps are taken to tighten the liquidity and keep
inflation under check.

Ø Tata Steel Ltd. raised its offer for Corus Group Plc., the
U.K.’s largest steelmaker, by 10 percent to 4.7 billion pounds
($9.2 billion), i.e. at 500 pence a share, which is 5% more
than 475 pence a share from CSN.

Essar Oil commences production at its 10.5 million tonne refinery. November 26, 2006

Essar Oil Ltd on November 24, 2006 has announced the successful start up of Operations at its petroleum refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, India.

The plant will start its trial production with a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes per annum of crude which will gradually go up to 10.5 million tonnes per annum. This current phase of commissioning comes four months ahead of the originally scheduled date of commissioning, i.e. March 31, 2007. The Company expects to attain production at full capacity in the next two quarters.

The Company said that the project cost of Rs 10,826 crore (USD 2.4 billion) is extremely competitive and lower than estimated costs for a green field refinery.

The Refinery has been built with state-of-the-art, contemporary technology and will have the capability to produce petrol and diesel suitable for use in India as well as advanced international markets. It will also produce LPG, Naphtha, light diesel oil, aviation turbine fuel and kerosene. It has been designed to handle a diverse range of crude – from sweet to sour and light to heavy.

Shri. Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group said. “We are delighted at the successful commissioning of Essar Oil’s Refinery at a time when India is strengthening its presence in global markets and integrating with the global economy. The refinery signals our commitment to the nation to be a strong and dominant force in core sectors of the Indian economy. The early commissioning is also a tribute to the employees of the Essar Group and its business associates for their unstinted efforts”.

The refinery comes at a most opportune time and will fulfil the gap between worldwide demand and supply in the petroleum sector. Currently, refineries the world over, are operating at over 98 percent capacity utilisation. Significantly, there has been, no addition to refining capacities in the last three years and planned new capacities are not expected to come up before the end of 2008.

Essar Oil’s refinery is supported by dedicated infrastructure that includes utilities, terminals, crude intake and product evacuation facilities. These include:

Vadinar Oil Terminal, which has an integrated facility to receive crude through a Single Point Mooring system and dispatch of finished petroleum products through its product jetty. The Terminal can handle 32 million tonnes per annum of crude intake with a capability of handling tankers up to 350,000 DWT and product dispatch facilities with an annual capacity of 14 million tonnes. The Terminal includes a port, a tank farm, associated pipeline network and storage & dispatch facilities. The Terminal has been built at a cost of Rs 2,857 crore (USD 635 million).

Vadinar Power Company, which generates 120 MW of power at its co-generation plant and feeds both power and process steam for the refinery.

Essar constructions had a major role in the engineering, planning and construction of the entire refinery and had meticulously planned and executed the entire project in record time. Essar Constructions has over 1000 highly qualified technical and skilled manpower, besides the 16,000 people who worked at the refinery site during the project phase. The Essar Group believes that the synergies and advantages of the construction business have been a distinct advantage in building this petroleum complex.

Marketing:

The Company’s products will have a ready market both internationally and in India. The ideal location of the refinery near the Vadinar port ensures easy access to all international markets including Europe and the USA.

The Company’s strategy of commissioning its retail outlet in advance of the commissioning of the refinery ensures a ready outlet for its products in India. The Company will also be in a position to supply to bulk consumers. The Company has already commissioned over 900 retail outlets and expects to have 1500 outlets fully operational by the end of March 2007.

Videocon goes Oil Hunting. November 19, 2006

The company`s global subsidiary has entered into a Production Sharing Contract with Timor Sea Designated Authority for JPDA block in the Bonaparte Basin.

Videocon Industries Ltd on Friday said that the company’s global subsidiary has entered into a Production Sharing Contract with Timor Sea Designated Authority for JPDA Block # 06-103 within the Bonaparte Basin.

The company, along with its equal JV Partners Oilex of Australia (Operator), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has agreed to complete a guaranteed Work Programme of acquiring 1006 line Kms of 2D Seismic and 1020 Sq. Kms of 3D Seismic and drill 4 Wells in the First Phase of three years.

The risked reserves in the Block have been estimated at 47mn barrels of Oil/Oil Equivalent.

ZEE Gets Court Nod. November 19, 2006

It will announce the record date for the scheme to take effect in the third or fourth week of December. Zee shareholders will get shares in WWIL and Zee News

Zee Telefilms Ltd. said on Friday that the Bombay High Court has approved a proposal to split the company into three independent entities. Zee will announce the date on which the move will take effect in the third or fourth week of December.

The court approval paves the way for the setting of the Record Date for the demerger of the cable & distribution and news & regional broadcasting businesses into Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) and Zee News Ltd (ZNL), respectively.

On the Record Date, Zee shareholders will be allotted shares in WWIL and Zee News. The company expects this process to be completed by February 2007.

Bartronics. November 16, 2006

Shahina Mukadam of IDBI Capital Market is of the view that Bartronics India has 30% upside from current level.

Mukadam told CNBC-TV18, “There is a lot of business momentum in Bartronics India that is continuing and profits are doubling as we have seen in the first half. I believe there is a 30% upside from here over the next one-year and I would fundamentally be a buyer in the stock.”

Disclosure: Analyst doedn’t hold the above stock.

News To View. November 16, 2006

Results today:
Balrampur Chini

Indian ADRs:
MTNL up 5% and ICICI Bank up 4%

Thermax to invest Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) at Savli in Gujarat to add to mfg capacity

Deccan Chronicle files for QIP issue

Shreyas Shipping & Logistics:
To start shipping services to two new foreign destinations within a year
To start services to Mauritius, Singapore
To set up seven new Domestic Freight Stations

French Cement major Vicat to buy majority stake in unlisted company MyHome Cem for Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion). MyHome has a cement capacity of 3m tn/yr and deal works out to USD 120-125 per tonne – ET

Mores Baer arm picks up 20% in US nanotech start up focusing on solar photovoltaics – ET

Amercian Tower Company in outsourcing talks with Bharti, Tata, Hutch. Amercian Tower has already decided to pick up stake in Reliance Communications cell tower company – BS

Tata Coffee rights issue opens today

Blue Bird IPO opens today

NTPC, RIL to go for out-of-court settlement over gas supplies from RIL’s KG Basin field – FE

Cipla cuts AIDS drug prices

TV18 to be suspended after trading ends today

Zandu Pharma board meet today to consider bonus issue

Bilcare board meet on November 23 to consider pref issue

Sterlite Q2:
Net profit at Rs 1207 crore versus Rs 259 crore
Net sales at Rs 6,718 crore versus Rs 2,647 crore
EBITDA margins at 40% versus 23%
Copper revenue of Rs 3,307 crore; EBITDA of Rs 503 crore
Aluminum revenue at Rs 969 crore; EBITDA of Rs 264 crore
Zinc revenue at Rs 2442 crore; EBITDA at Rs 1919 crore

Thermax Q2:
Net Sales up 57% at Rs 307.8 crore versus Rs 482.3
Net profit up 39% from Rs 25.3 crore to Rs 35.1 crore
Operating Profit up 40% from Rs 37.7 crore to Rs 52.7 crore
Other Income up from Rs 3.6 crore to Rs 8.8 crore
OPM at 10.92% versus 12.25%

Analyst Call. November 14, 2006

PN Vijay, Investment Advisor: The broadbased rally is likely to continue. Metal stocks may drift downwards, but cement, auto, real estate and engineering stocks may continue to outperform.

Utpal Choudhury, IDBI Capital: There has been accumulation of long positions on the Nifty, but profit booking is keeping the average premium at comfortable levels. Not much downside is seen from current levels, but consolidation cannot be ruled out.

Anil Manghnani, Technical Analyst: The market continues to look positive, and if the Nifty sustains above 3870 levels, it could rally up to 4062. Traders should book profits at every rise. I like RPL, Sun Pharma and VSNL.

Essar Oil may report oil find next week!!! November 12, 2006

======================================================
Holds 70 per cent operating interest in the 574 square km onshore block.
======================================================

Essar Oil may announce its first oil strike next week. The announcement may coincide with the inauguration of the company’s refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat. According to sources, it has completed its second phase of exploration drilling at Mehsana in Gujarat and has submitted the findings for evaluation by the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons.

Essar Oil holds 70 per cent operating interest in the 574 sq. km onshore block with ONGC holding the other 30 per cent. The sources said that the DGH had asked both the equity partners in Mehsana to join in a meeting next week before finalising the evaluation report.

Having signed the product sharing contract way back in July 1998, Essar completed the first phase of exploration drilling, unsuccessfully, in June 2005. Though existence of heavy oil and associated gas were noticed in two of the wells, production could not be established on a sustainable basis. In the second phase of the work programme, the company drilled another three appraisal wells to establish the presence of recoverable oil reserves.

Essar Oil has said it is on track to commission the 7.5-million-tonne refinery at Vadinar — to be expanded to 10.5 million tonnes by March 2007 — by the third week of November. The company has already procured four million barrels of crude oil, the last consignment of which was received on Saturday.

NELCO. November 10, 2006

Nelco is the other stock, which is locked in circuit. They have reported their numbers a short while earlier. Investment Advisor, SP Tulsian who tracks that stock very carefully talks about it.

He says that the amount of Rs 8.15 crore which has been received by the company in Q4 largely must be representing compensation rights on the transfer of development rights of their Andheri property.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with SP Tulsian:

Q: What did you make of Nelco’s numbers?

A: Though it seems they have shown good results, but in their Q4 results, they have booked an EBIT of Rs 8.15 crore from the property development against the topline of zero that means the entire amount must have come as a compensation. Because they did not carry any closing stock of developed property since they have transferred last year’s entire property held by them as a fixed assets from two stocks in trade, but they did not have any stock in trade on September 30, 2005.

So the amount of Rs 8.15 crore which has been received by the company in Q4 largely must be representing any compensation rights on maybe the transfer of development rights of their Andheri property.

If I remove that amount, the bottomline which has been about Rs 13.56 crore gets reduced by that amount and the bottomline is close to Rs 5-6 crore. So if you take an overall look of the FY06 results I won’t say that the result is very good because the topline has been very low. However, one just cannot take a conclusion or take an investment call merely on Q4 results or based on FY06 results on the stock.

Q: That’s the point; sales are down year on year for the full year at Rs 117 crore odd. You are confident that next year the sales could perk up because we are expecting some new defence orders?

A: Let me just give a small background, last year this company became a subsidiary of Tata Power, earlier Tata Power used to hold about 48%, they have increased their stake to 50.1%.

Now Tata Power has divested their power system division to Tata project last year, they have transferred their broadband division to VSNL, now they have the strategic electronic division which still continues to be with Tata Power which perfectly fits into the business profile of Nelco. There has been some talk that probably Tata’s are thinking of transferring this division to Nelco which will give the good boost to the topline of the company.

Even this strategic electronic division of Tata Power has received an order of Rs 200 crore for rocket launcher for Ministry of Defence and Nelco is supplying mainly unattended ground sensors to Ministry of Defence. So if you combine both of these businesses, probably Nelco could have a topline of close to Rs 200 crore on an annualised basis. But coming on Nelco alone they did not have any defence order in the whole of the last year, whatever turnover we have seen has been the spillover of the orders which company received in FY04 at the fag end of FY05, so I think those orders have got executed by the company.

So if I take the EBITDA margin of Q4 with the Ministry of Defence orders, they have about 20-21%, while for whole of FY06 they have EBITDA margin of 11% that means the fixed cost had been eating away. Basically Nelco requires a restructuring of transfer of one division from Tata Power to this, then you will really see a big spurt in the activity which could take the bottomline of the company more than Rs 25-30 crore on an annualised basis giving an EPS of close to 10-15.

So I think mainly based on these developments the market is expecting the stock to get re-rated.

Q: Particularly on the defence side of the business though, what sort of order book do you think it has and traditionally what sort of execution period does the company work on with these projects?

A: I think all the Ministry of Defence orders have been executed by Nelco, I do not think that any of the unexecuted order remain in Nelco’s books unless and until they really get the new orders from them it won’t be there.

Coming in on the margin front, I think they have about 30-35% EBITDA on all the Ministry of Defence orders because Nelco is the only approved supplier on the Ministry of Defence for the unattended ground sensors. Otherwise also it is a very rigid exercise to get yourself empanelled on the Ministry of Defence supply.

There are very few companies in this segment, so I think once you see the Ministry of Defence orders flowing in because there has been a talk of Scorpene deal, where there has been allegations of kick off and Defence Minster Pranab Mukherjee has said that there has been no deal. But once that deal gets materialised, and even if a small portion of that comes to Nelco, it can substantially improve the performance of the company.

Q: Any upsides you see from the real estate side because I believe they have some real estate, which they are thinking of developing now?

A: I had an idea that they have the Andheri property, which they have been developing in joint venture with Tata Development Corporation. Their FY05 balance sheet doesn’t show any property because the entire property current stock in trade shows nil.

So if they have any development rights in the form of FSI or maybe TDR or any undeveloped portion of land, which they transfer in future because those are intangible, we cannot value them.

But the way they have received Rs 8.15 crore in this quarter, but I don’t think that property should really be a kicker or a business model for the company in the years to come.

Q: What have you made of the run up today on the sugar stocks and news that the ban might be lifted for about 2 million tonnes?

A: This is more of a political tussle going on because now the crushing has started in UP and even in Maharashtra, farmers in Maharashtra are screaming for a higher price because they are getting Rs 850 per tonne for the sugarcane while the UP farmers are getting about close to Rs 1,200 per tonne.

So obviously there will be hue and cry amongst the farmers but I think this is more of a political tussle between the two heavyweights. I think they should get resolved and sooner or later maybe the export will get lifted maybe by December or the beginning of the new year and probably that should be a big kicker for the stocks but I think till that time it will keep languishing like that on every news flow or the expectations of the news flow coming in.

Q: You yourself were less bullish on sugar stocks than you were one year or six months back given how the price trends internationally and locally are playing out?

A: Basically I take a fundamental call and if I see that they can really grow 100-300% on an annualised basis, I don’t generally make investments. Definitely about three years back when it was on a take off stage I have chosen sugar as a sector, I invested, I advised my clients. However since then I think for the last six months we have been taking a call because this was expected that probably sugar season, again the talks are going on that UP might extend the subsidy scheme to March 31, 2008 which could be again the next positive.

But I don’t think that can really give you an appreciation of 100% on an annualised basis. So I think we had been taking a calm and quiet call on the sector and we have been advising and have kept on booking our profits and shifting into other sectors.

Top News. November 10, 2006

Brokerage houses are bullish on Amtek Auto, Ashapura Minechem, Centurion Bank of Punjab, Eastern Silk, KEC International, Suzlon Energy, Hexaware, Aegis Logistics and Mercator Lines.

Today’s Top Newspaper Headlines:-

Britannia, Danone take the battle to royalty turf
Britannia seeks royalty for Tiger brand, while Danone fights back for Little Hearts.

M&M, Renault team up for a car plant
Nissan may drive in later.

Housing fin companies set to gain ECB access
Realtors may also get nod to raise ECB funds.

$142 mn Qantas Airways deal for TCS, Satyam
Airline expects to save $100 mn legacy costs: TCS.

US slashes visa issuance fee for Indian visitors by $50
Application fee of $100 at designated HDFC Bank stays.

Merieux acquires Shantha Bio
Acquisition strengthens French company’s presence in Asia.

RPG puts fresh retail strategy in place
Undertakes total organisational revamp, brings in people from FMCG majors.

Volkswagen may invest Rs 1,000 cr in Maharashtra
Board meet on November 17 to take a final decision.

Decision on exports a blow for sugar industry
Private, co-operative sugar mills had already geared up for exports.

Murdoch print foray in March-April
Likely to begin with TV magazine.

Asian Paints exits Myanmar
Will sell entire stake in local arm there; focus on fast growing markets.

Equity funds come up a cropper
80% of them have not outperformed the Sensex in the last one year.

Kalyani Steel. November 5, 2006

Kalyani Steel today turned as the top gaining mid-cap in the wake of the group’s recent announcement of signing a JV with Singapore Technologies Kinetics.

Kalyani Steel today opened at Rs 415.05 against yesterday’s closing price of 408.05, reached a high of Rs 489.65 and closed at Rs 488.85, a gain of 19.8 per cent.

The scrip has moved 26 per cent up since last week as the company has made announcements about its future plans. Kalyani group, through the JV is eyeing to engage in design, engineering and manufacture of high end technology and critical defence systems for armed forced.

The company also recently announced raising Rs 52 crore by issuing 16 lakh equity shares at Rs 325 a share to a financial investor.

Sunrise sector+scarcity value+institutional investors = P/E of 86!!! November 5, 2006

Certain kinds of companies invariably get a high valuation. Ones that are in the ‘sunrise’ sector; or from a sector from which there are hardly any stocks listed; or companies that are funded by private-equity investors. Educomp Solutions combines all these three features. It is in the evergreen, recession-proof and one of the fastest-growing segments of the Indian economy – education. Apart from Navneet Publications, NIIT and Aptech, there are hardly any ‘education’ companies listed. And it is backed by smart players like Gaja Capital. Investors are willing to give its high grades – Educomp’s P/E is an eye-popping 86.
Educomp focuses on K-12 (Kindergarten to Class 12) education with four services: Smart Class, Professional Development, ICT (Information Computer Technology) and Others (Retail). Smart Class is a technology-enabled learning solution, which caters to private schools in India under the build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) model. This segment contributes around 10% of the revenues. The professional development segment focuses on training teachers by providing them skills in inquiry-based learning, creative thinking, and building problem-solving skills among students. For this, Educomp Solutions partners with Wipro, Microsoft, and the Azim Premji Foundation. This division contributes 30% to the revenues. The ICT business segment caters to government and state schools in India for which Educomp enters into a long-term (usually five years) contract to provide IT solutions. The fourth segment caters to the retail market, with a range of toys like Playgo and Learning Road, and educational CDs. Educomp plans to launch a chain of retail stores, Play-n-Learn, through a network of franchisees. The first of such stores has been launched in Gurgaon, Haryana. There are some other businesses like online tutoring for the US market, learning portal PlanetVidya.com, campus management system eCampus, and annual maintenance contracts.

Educomp has one of the best opportunities to create a perennially profitable business in India with revenues coming from domestic growing market and mature high-margin overseas markets. It depends on how smartly it can create a path for itself, because its growth involves a lot of concept-selling at all levels. Computer literacy is very low in India and the government is focusing on providing computer literacy and computer-aided learning to students as well as teachers. If more schools across the country join this computer-aided teaching trend, Educomp may develop a steady revenue base, but it will have to keep selling the idea across the country to different state governments. Recently Educomp launched an online Maths portal – Mathguru.com, which will provide step-by-step solutions for all math problems through visual and voice explanation for classes 6-12. It is targeting a subscriber base of 75,000 students in the current year and 200,000 students by the end of the next fiscal.

A bigger growth opportunity lies in the US, for online tutoring business, which looks like an obvious opportunity to exploit, given India’s high level of educational talent, IT skills and low costs. This business will be spearheaded by the US subsidiary, Edumatics Corporation in which Educomp will put Rs 8.05 crore over the next two years. It also expects to generate revenue from education content development for the US and South-East Asian market, which is another promising area. Educomp’s performance for the June quarter deteriorated over its March 06 performance. But this is mainly because of the seasonal nature of the business as most of the revenue and profit is booked in the second half of the financial year especially in the fourth quarter. For the first quarter, revenue was Rs9 crore, down by 63% compared to the previous quarter. Operating profit declined by 70% to Rs 3.5 crore and net profit fell to Rs2 crore from Rs7 crore. However, even then, the operating margin was extremely high at 37% while the net profit margin was a substantial 20%. The only problem with this company is that its current valuation probably factors in the growth opportunities of the next few quarters.

Expert Picks. November 4, 2006

With markets on an upswing, Moneycontrol gives you stocks and sectors that look attractive for next week. Experts give picks likeZee, Punj Llyod, Bombay Dyeing, Bajaj Auto and may more.

Sumit Rohra, Antique Stock Broking:

I like media, property, hotels. My top pick in the market remains Zee. The stock looks extremely strong and is well on its way to the Rs 400 level mark. Th other stock I would like to push is Punj Llyod. The stock has the potential to go up to Rs 850-870. I like Bombay Dyeing as well. Technically, DRL has given a good close today and has a fair amount of upside, may be 5-7%. Cement which has closed strong today and it could do well in the early part of next week.

Be long in the market and close to 13,303 one could look at selling and booking profits.

Deven Choksey, KR Choksey:

There is a good amount of consolidation that has taken place in the IT sector. I like Infosys, TCS there. Bajaj Auto looks good in the auto space. In the banking space, SBI looks good.

Janish Shah of Networth Stock Broking:

Next week the markets will see stock specific movements. M&M and some stocks in FMCG sector are good. Dabur and ONGC too are good stocks. Next week stocks in the IT sector will see sideway movements since Rupee has appreciated and the US economy has shown some kind of a slowdown. Moreover, the banking stocks may see some pressure in the coming week.

Punj Lloyd. November 4, 2006

Punj Lloyd is close to bagging a large international order, reports CNBC-TV18 .
Punj Lloyd is likely to bag orders worth over Rs 500 crore from West Asia and Europe, which will be announced soon. The orders are likely to be for supply of pipes for the oil and gas sector. However, the management has not been available for comments.

Sources say that Punj Lloyd has a current order backlog of Rs 11,428 crore. The current order backlog account stands at 40% for domestic contracts and 60% for international contract. 26% of the total order backlog represents pipelines.

Stocks in news: November 3, 2006

Re-listing:
Shyam Telecom

Ex-dividend:

Sundaram Clayton (Rs 7 per share), Dabur India (Re 1 per share), Gujarat Alkalies (Rs 1.50 per share), Madras Cements (Rs 7.50 per share), Asian Paints (Rs 5.50 per share), Ingersoll Rand (Rs 3 per share) and Ramco Industries (Rs 5 per share)

RIL set to make USD 4 billion acquisition in exploration, petrochemical sectors in Europe – HT

Cabinet allows NTPC to bid over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for ultra mega units

Bajaj Auto Finance prices 6:10 rights issue at Rs 325 per share

Dishman Pharma’s subsidiary Carbogen-Amcis AGc to invest USD 8 million for additional Oncology production line

Lakshmi Mittal to acquire substantial stake in HEG – DNA

Glenmark:
Expects to complete one European acquisition in FY07
In talks to out-license drug GRC 6211
Glenmark’s GRC 6211 to enter phase I clinical trials in November 2006
GRC 6211 is an Osteo-arthritis drug
Glenmark also in talks with several cos to license neuropathy drug
Expects revenues to grow by 15% in FY07

Cognizant:
Plans to add over 3m sq ft of company-owned facilities across India, to invest USD 200 million
To create capacity for over 30,000 new staff in planned India units

Khaitan Electricals board approves:
Issue of up to 25 lakh shares to prospective investors on preferential basis
Issue of up to 10 warrants to promoters on preferential basis

Hindustan Dorr-Oliver bags Rs 248 crore (Rs 2.48 bilion) orders from Vedanta, Tata Chemicals and Reliance
JHS Svendgaard ties up retail chains Subiksha and Spencers for private label business in dental, oral healthcare products

DLF EGM on November 14 to include conversion of debentures into equity and issue of bonus shares to address the grievances of minority shareholders

Moschip looking at acquisitions to more than double its size to USD 20 million in the next one year – DNA
Apollo Hospital to buy a hospital chain in UK – DNA

Rajiv Chandrasekhar may pick up stake in Sahara One, Rajiv denies of any such plans – TOI

Government raises serious audit objections in financials of Panna- Mukta accounts. PMT is jointly held by ONGC, RIL and BG – ET

Airtel drops Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador

Emami to push sales in rural market, to tie up with more local distributors – BS

Ray Ban plans 2 brand launches in 2007 costing between Rs 10,000-15,000 (Rs 100-150 billion)- BS

GV In News Once Again. November 3, 2006

G V Films Ltd is close to signing an agreement with € 50.5-million Mondo TV S.p.A of Italy for co-production of animated cartoons in India for global market and acquiring distribution rights for English and dubbed version of 1,500 titles from Mondo’s library for South Asia and the ASEAN markets. Mondo is also negotiating for 7-10 per cent stake in GV Films. The agreement also envisages outsourcing of content production for Mondo at GV’s facility.

Mr A. Venkatramani, one of the directors of GV Films, confirmed that the company was in an advanced stage of negotiations for a partnership in pre-, post-, and production levels in animation. But he declined to divulge further before wrapping up the deal.

Due diligence

According to merchant banking sources in Mumbai and in London, a due diligence exercise by a leading UK-based merchant banker is currently on. “The deal is expected to be through in the next two to three weeks”, sources close to the development said.

Sources also said that for renewable distribution rights for five years, GV is likely to pay $5 million as a minimum guaranteed total value. The deal for distribution rights, outsourcing and co-production, according to industry sources, may open up a revenue stream worth $20 million a year for GV Films.

Mondo TV S.p.A is the flagship of the Mondo TV group, which is involved in production, distribution of cartoon series and full-length animated features for television and theatre viewing. It is also into other related areas such as audiovisual distribution, musical distribution, multimedia utilisation and merchandising. It has produced a library of more than 1,100 episodes. It also owns the distribution rights for additional 5,500 episodes.

For GV Films, the deal would mark its second serious initiative outside India. GV Films has recently tied up with 1-Net Singapore, a subsidiary of Mediacorp Technologies, for providing infrastructure and dedicated bandwidth to the company’s film Web portal filmsnfilms.com to cater to their US, European and Singapore markets.

However, the stock finished weak on the BSE. It closed at Rs 9.08, down 1.94 per cent. against Wednesday’s close of Rs 9.26. Trading volumes spurted to 14.96 lakh shares against the two-week average of 11.58 lakh shares.

BOC India. November 3, 2006

BOC India Ltd , now a member of the Linde Group, posted improved results for the second quarter ended September 30.

The company’s gross sales for the quarter amounted to Rs 134.22 crore, up by 25 per cent over Rs 107.39 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The profit before tax (without extraordinary items) for the quarter at Rs 19.16 crore, a growth of 86 per cent over the same period of last year.

The PBT of the corresponding period of last year amounting Rs 57.32 crore included extraordinary income of Rs 47 crore from the sale of property.

SBI Declining Market Share. November 3, 2006

The issues of slipping marketshare and not-so-satisfactory record with regard to customer service dominated the discussion the SBI Chairman, Mr O.P. Bhatt, recently had with 14 Chief General Managers, each heading a circle.

The meeting was held in Kolkata for the first time. The two Managing Directors and all the Deputy Managing Directors, among other senior officials, were also present.

The meeting noted with concern that the SBI, both as an entity and as a group, was fast losing market share.

The group’s market share declined from more than 30 per cent to around 25 per cent in the past few years, while SBI’s own market share dropped from around 25 per cent to 21 per cent.

If the economy could grow at eight per cent and was poised for a double-digit growth, there was no reason why SBI, the largest commercial bank in the country, should not be able to grow and also to hold on its market share, if not increase it, it was felt.

The bank and its associates were not lagging in technology or reach or in expertise. The not-so-satisfactory level of customer service in SBI and its associates, it was felt, was more due to other factors.

First, the average age profile of the employees is skewed at more than 50 years. As a result, retraining and re-skilling efforts do not always yield the optimum.

Amrit Banaspati. November 3, 2006

Amrit Banaspati Company Ltd (ABCL) has reported a growth of 6.38 per cent in its net profit for the second quarter ended September 30, to Rs 3.33 crore against Rs 3.13 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. It also recorded an increase of 13.42 per cent in its Q2 net sales to Rs 128 crore (Rs 112.85 crore). According to a company release, Mr N.K. Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, ABCL, also said that the company had undertaken a restructuring plan.

Under the restructuring plan, the company will de-merge its paper business into a separate entity, while the edible oils business will be merged with Amrit Enterprises Ltd, another edible oil company of the group, increasing the net worth and scale of operations of the combined entity.

Nandan Exim. November 3, 2006

Nandan Exim counter recorded a combined traded quantity of 63-lakh shares on the BSE and NSE even though the Re 1 face-value stock declined around 5 per cent to Rs 14.30.

According to market sources, traders are active in the counter of late expecting major investment decisions by the company. Grapevine suggests that it is diversifying into infrastructure business — a textiles park and a township around Ahmedabad. Expansion is expected in denim capacity and backward integration through spindle additions.

Mr Vedprakash Chiripal, Chairman, responding to Business Line over telephone confirmed that expansion and diversification projects were on. The cost of the expansion project is Rs 327 crore, to be funded by debt and equity. The textiles park is estimated to cost Rs 250 crore.

Mr Chiripal said IL&FS was the consultant to the park project, which is to be built on the already acquired 95 acres of land and would house 21 units, one being from Nandan. It has planned an FCCB issue to part finance the project at hand. He, however, said the issue is at a preparatory stage. Merchant banking sources felt that FCCBs could be priced between Rs 15 and Rs 16 with a conversion timeframe of 3 to 5 years.

Nandan has also recently allotted 1.28 crore shares at Rs 13.25 each on preferential basis to promoters (15 per cent) and non-promoters (85 per cent).

The company has posted a net profit of Rs 5.49 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2006 compared with Rs 3.60 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Turnover increased by 48 per cent to Rs 59.09 crore and has proposed an interim dividend of 7.5 per cent. It has also planned 1:1 bonus shares.

Tata Tea. November 2, 2006

Tata Tea has firmed up a slew of packet tea launches under its Tetley and Tata Tea brands to maintain 10% growth in its branded tea business in 2006-07. For starters, it will launch green tea under the Tetley banner and premium Darjeeling under the Tata Gold brandname in India.

Talking to newspersons on Thursday, Ms Sangeeta Talwar, Tata Tea’s executive director (marketing) said: “In the first half of 2006-07, we’ve been able to grow our branded tea business by nearly 10%. We expect to maintain similar growth in the second half. The domestic market may expect new launches in the second half.”

Incidentally, in 2005-06, branded tea business worldwide contributed nearly 88% to the total turnover of Tata Tea group. The group had clocked a turnover of Rs 3151.12 crore in 2005-06.

Tata Tea is positioning green tea, which is rich in anti-oxidant, as a health drink for the Indian market. The company is in talks with yoga centres, gyms, spas, airlines, health magazines and cosmetics companies to market its green tea. Such green tea will be available in two flavours – ‘giner, mint and lemon’ and ‘lemon and honey’. The company will launch the products by end-November in select locations in the country.

In this light, Ms Talwar said: “The market for green tea in India is at a nascent stage. It is perhaps below 1% of the total tea market in the country. With Indians becoming more health conscious, we see great potential for this product in the coming years. We also have plans to introduce green tea in sachet form mainly for the institutional buyers.”

Elaborating further, she said four different tea varieties – Darjeeling, Assam, Ceylon and Nilgiris — would be launched under the Tata Gold brand. “These packets will contain premium orthodox teas. We have chalked out an aggressive marketing strategy for the Tata Gold brand,” Ms Talwar said.

Hike In Price By Hind Zinc In Sync. November 2, 2006

Hindustan Zinc hiked zinc prices by Rs 9,500 per tonne to Rs 2,21,800 w.e.f today.

The company also hiked lead prices by Rs 3,100 per tonne to Rs 84,600 per tonne, an official statement said.

GNFC Accident. November 2, 2006

The incident took place at its Bharuch plant due to disturbances in Ammonia Synthesis Reactor, resulting into shut down of some other units

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co. Ltd. (GNFC) said on Thursday that the Ammonia unit operations at its Bharuch plant were disrupted due to disturbances in Ammonia Synthesis Reactor. As a result, normal operating conditions could not be sustained.

To investigate the cause and to take remedial action, the Ammonia unit was shut down, resulting into shut down of some other units, such as Urea, Ammonium Nitrophosphate, Formic Acid, Acetic Acid and Methanol III – whereas other units such as Methanol I & II, Weak Nitric Acid, Concentrated Nitric Acid I & II, Calcium Ammonium Nitrate, two boilers and Power Generation Unit continued to operate.

There has been no incident of human injury, GNFC said. The plant operations are expected to be normalized around November 27, it added.

The company has taken the Mega Insurance Policy Cover, including cover for fire, machinery break down, loss in transit and business interruption arising out of the same, GNFC said.

This shut down of some units will impact the business operations and financial results for the current quarter, GNFC said. At the same time, the company is taking adequate steps to ensure that such impact is minimized, it added.

MTNL Rings. October 17, 2006

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and IOL Broadband have rolled-out India’s first IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service. IOL Broadband has entered into a strategic partnership with MTNL for providing Content Delivery Network.

IPTV is a system wherein digital quality television service is delivered to consumers using Broadband connection. According to IOL sources, IPTV services are gaining tremendous momentum world-wide, since the beginning of 2006, and this roll-out is poised to bring India into the bracket of technically advanced countries, while making next generation entertainment services available in the country.

It is estimated that already 2 million IPTV connections have been booked world-wide. The subscriber base is expected to reach 10 million by year 2007. MTNL will offer IPTV services to its existing 2.2 million subscribers in Mumbai in the first phase.

With IPTV, subscribers can control and choose hundreds of TV channels, Real Time Interactive TV, Video on Demand, Music on Demand, Pause and Play, Time Shifted Television Viewing, and e-Learning, along with excellent picture quality and superior sound effects.

A S Oberai, director, IOL Broadband, said, “IPTV is the technology where the consumers can access phone, Internet, and television services through a single cable. With this paradigm shift, the focus will be shifted from conventional driven entertainment to consumer demand entertainment. IPTV is going to replace traditional methods of viewing television soon. MTNL has 2.2 million customers already, and we are privileged to work hand in hand with them. We are also looking at other cities soon.”

From October 21, MTNL is launching IPTV for its broadband customers, who have to pay Rs 199 a month to get 25 free-to-air channels. MTNL plans to increase the number of channels to over 200 later. Users have to buy a separate set top box (STB) to get IPTV, which would cost them in the region of Rs 6,000.

IOL Broadband is India’s first IPTV service provider to demonstrate a fully workable IPTV solution. IOL Broadband has advanced IP based Next Generation Network (IP-NGN). With enriched content, comprising the best of television, movies from Bollywood, from Hollywood, from Warner Bros, MGM, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, etc, this content will be compressed by the world s best and latest technology standard MPEG-4 H.264 (Part 10), and will be streamed to customers on 1.8 to 2.5 Mbps bandwidth.

Adlabs Radio 92.7 October 2, 2006

Just 31 year old, Tarun Katial — Chief Operating Officer, BIG 92.7 FM (Adlabs Radio) — projects a serene front in this highly-competitive arena. Inspired by the Buddha, he does not wear leather or eat meat and has done a course in meditation (Vipassana) — he believes in “increasing the number of FM category listeners rather than fretting about the competition”.

Katial’s meditation should hold him in good stead for he has quite a task at hand, especially being a late entrant. The government issued 338 licences for 91 cities and the major players include AIR, Radio One, Radio Mirchi and Suryan FM, who already boast of millions of listeners.

However, BIG 92.7 comes from the Anil Dhirubai Ambani Enterprises stable that is known for its huge footprints. Keeping with the tradition, the radio station bagged licences to roll out in 45 centres across India. It has already launched in Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad, and will tune in to Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata in a couple of weeks, besides the Jammu, Srinagar and Aligarh territories a little later. The radio station plans to cover 1,000 towns and 50,000 villages and reach 200 million Indians by March-April 2007. By then, it hopes to cover 54 cities with nine alliances.

It has already invested Rs 400 crore in transmission equipment, infrastructure and licensing. BIG 92.7 FM will also be the first radio network in the country to rope a star like Abhishek Bachchan to be its brand ambassador. And its key shows will be hosted by the likes of Pallavi Joshi, Mona “Jassi” Singh and Sunil Pal (to tickle the funny bone).

The strategy may work. Radio may be a new medium for him, but Katial has a string of successes behind him — his earlier stints as senior vice-president of programming at STAR India and executive VP, business head at Sony Entertainment Television (India) related to TV. “TV is more a one-shoe-fits-all medium. Radio, on the other hand, is more about local tastes and preferences,” explains Katial who is excited about the new medium.

“While other stations have adopted the contemporary hit radio (CHR) model — they play only the latest songs — we are pioneering the adult contemporary positioning (ACP) route. This means we’ll play the consumer’s favourite song which is not necessarily the latest. I see this working for us,” asserts Katial.

As for the competition, India currently has around 25 FM stations that generate Rs 350 crore in advertising revenue with nearly 14 crore listeners. Advertising worth over Rs 1,500 crore should be generated when the 300-plus stations are launched. Till then, Katial hopes to go along with the tag line — “Suno, Sunao, aur Life Banao”.

Visual Soft, Mega Soft Merger. October 1, 2006

The Hyderabad-based software services company, VisualSoft Technologies Ltd, and Megasoft Ltd, have agreed in principle to merge.

The board of directors of VisualSoft Technologies, at a meeting held here on Saturday, agreed to merge it with Megasoft, an IT and telecom solutions provider.

The merger proposal is subject to the approval of the board of Megasoft Ltd and satisfactory completion of due diligence and acceptance by both the companies of the swap ratio recommended by the independent valuer.

This would be further subject to shareholder’s nod and statutory and regulatory approvals.

The VisualSoft board has authorised the company’s Managing Director, Mr Sudhakar Gunturu, to initiate necessary steps including the appointment of an independent valuer and a legal counsel.

According to sources, the process of appointment of a valuer has been initiated and the entire process of merger could potentially take about four to six months.

Over the last 12 months, the VisualSoft scrip has witnessed volatility with a low of Rs 58 and a high of Rs 266.

The scrip was last traded at Rs 86.10.

Stocks In News. September 29, 2006

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL) on Wednesday announced that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Ranbaxy Malaysia Sdn Bhd. (RMSB), has launched the first generic Atorvastatin under the brand name, `Storvas’, in Malaysia.

The shareholders of Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd at the annual general meeting on Wednesday have approved the proposal to raise funds of $100 million by issue of global depository receipts (GDR) or American depository receipts (ADR).

Achieves record sales of Rs 5,324.16 crore, Net Up and announces 50% dividend.

Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd (NCC) has announced that it has secured new orders aggregating Rs 200 crore from various clients.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IndianOil) has liquidated Rs 1,450-crore worth of oil bonds of six years and nine years maturities in the secondary market trade.

ICI Paints to create Rs 1,500-cr corpus for acquisition,Plans to rapidly increase market share.

M&M to acquire 67.9% stake in German co Jeco Holding, Deal worth around Rs 830 cr; Jeco focused on truck, bus, trailer market.

According to sources, Omax Auto is seriously considering a proposal to set up a plant in the State, which would primarily cater to Hero Honda’s upcoming unit in Uttaranchal.

Sical Logistics buys Bergen Offshore for $96.9 m
`First step towards achieving global presence in offshore logistics’

BHEL looking at equity option in power projects. To bid with NTPC for Sasan ultra mega project.

Shell offers business model on profit-sharing to ONGC. ONGC might well consider it.

Khaitan Electricals aims at Rs 1,000-cr topline by 2009

Shetron targets Rs 500-cr turnover. To cash in on packaged food cans sector’s potential.

HPCL making marginal profit on sale of petrol. `Q2 crude sales subsidies likely to be around Rs 5,100 cr’.

Some News. September 28, 2006

Volvo Bus Corporation and Jaico Automobiles, an Azad Group company, have reached an agreement to start a joint venture company in India for production of bus bodies based on the Volvo bus body technology.

The MahindraRenault joint venture may manufacture more models besides Logan. Renault will increase its component outsourcing from India as well.

The bulls are likely to support values at lower levels but are not displaying strong buying conviction just as yet. Short sales are not advocated as of now.

The support for the Sensex is at 12250 and the resistance to the up move at 12599.

IndianOil on Wednesday entered into an agreement (MoA) with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to be the anchor investor in the proposed chemicals hub in Haldia, set to come up in an area of 10,000 acres.

There is a buzz that Bofors is headed for Bangalore. There have been reports of the Swedish arms maker tieing up with Bharat Earth Movers to produce Bofors guns in India,

Brokerage houses are bullish on Orient Paper, Ranbaxy and IVRCL.

BIG 92.7 FM, the FM radio venture of Adlabs Films Ltd, backed by an investment of Rs 400 crore, will roll out 45 radio stations by March 2007, according to Mr Tarun Katial, its Chief Operating Officer.

Wall Street advanced for a third straight session yesterday, although the Dow Jones industrial average fell just short of touching its record high close after a jump in oil prices stifled investors\’ enthusiasm.

Indian ADRs: Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank gained while VSNL and MTNL ended down.

Having come up with the world\’s first low tobacco cigarette and patented it, GTC Industries Ltd, formerly Golden Tobacco Company, is now eyeing a share of around 10 per cent in the Rs 25,000crore Indian cigarette market by 2008 for its 25 per cent low tobacco product.

Pantaloon Retail. September 25, 2006

Pantaloon Retail India has authorized the board to issue, offer and allot equity shares or convertible securities with or without detachable warrants or fully convertible debentures for an aggregate issue size not exceeding Rs 2600 million to prospective investors whether institutions, incorporated bodies, mutual funds through public issues, rights issues, subject to necessary provisions and approvals.

Further, the board has given the authority to issue and allot 12,12,480 warrants with an option to the warrant holder to acquire, for every warrant, one fully paid up equity share for Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 1635 per warrant aggregating an issue price of Rs 1,98,24,04,800 to the promoter group on a preferential allotment basis, on such terms and conditions, subject to necessary provisions and approvals.

The members at the extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) of the company held on September 22, 2006 approved the above mentioned issues.