Corporate headline from ET

Inflation down at 5-year low of 3.07%
Bajaj Auto Q2 net profit up 6%, sales up 2%
Ambuja Cements Q3 net profit up 11.72%
Saamya Biotech lists at Rs 17.50
Next Plan to have agriculture as focus area: Montek
Rico Auto in JV with unit of Canada's Magna
Himatsingka buys US firm for enterprise value $30 mn
EU permits Blackstone to buy Hilton Hotels
BGR Energy planning Rs 600 cr IPO

Geometric Software's Q2 net dips 10 per cent
Bardhan cautions PM on POSCO project
Wipro Tech signs MoU with OUCOE
Wipro Q2 net profit surges 13.24% to Rs 760.30 cr
Tech Mahindra posts 28 pc rise in PAT at about Rs 181 cr
BoA clears 13 new SEZs
Ballarpur Industries to invest Rs 900 cr on expansion

Rs 1 lakh car not possible; $3000 car in 5 years: Hyundai
RCoM, Shyam, HFCL get DoT nod for offering GSM services
CPI (M) say P-Notes should be prohibited


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Bajaj Auto, Wipro and other Results

Bajaj Auto consolidated net climbs 27.79% in Sep`07 qtr

India`s second biggest two wheeler maker, Bajaj Auto registered (Q, N,C,F)* a growth of 27.79% in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 2007. During the quarter, the company saw a rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,664.6 million, from Rs 2867.7 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The consolidated total income for the quarter climbed 1.75% to Rs 25,833.4 million compared with the corresponding quarter, a year ago.

While on standalone basis, Bajaj Auto reported a marginal growth of 5.93% in net profit (Q-o-Q growth of 48.55%) for the quarter ended September 2007. During the quarter, the company saw a rise in net profit to Rs 3,364.20 million from Rs 3,175.90 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The earnings per share for the quarter climbed 5.73% (Q-o-Q growth of 48.21%) to Rs 33.2 compared with the same quarter, a year ago. The net sales for the quarter declined marginally 3.02% (Q-o-Q growth of 12%) to Rs 23,622.80 million, while the total income for the quarter fell 2.67% (Q-o-Q growth of 13.46%) to Rs 25,095.10 million, when compared with the corresponding quarter, a year ago. Shares of the company gained Rs 77.35, or 3.14%, to trade at Rs 2,538. The total volume of shares traded was 46,226 at the BSE. (2.15 p.m., Friday)


Wipro (consolidated) net up 17.64% in Sep`07 qtr (Update)

Wipro announced a 17.64% rise in consolidated net profit of Rs 8,237 million for the quarter ended September 2007, as compared to Rs 7,002 million, for the quarter ended September 2006. Total Income increased 34.65% to Rs 48,836 million, for the quarter ended September 2007, from Rs 36,270 million for the quarter ended September 2006.

On a standalone basis, the IT major reported 14.30% rise in net profit of Rs 7,603 million, for the quarter ended September 2007, as compared to Rs 6,652 million for the quarter ended September 2006. Net Sales of the company rose 24.96% to Rs 41,500 million in the quarter from Rs 33,211 million in the same quarter, a year ago.

Total Income increased 25.77% to Rs 42,450 million for the quarter ended September 2007, from Rs 33,753 million, a year ago.The diluted earnings per share stood at Rs 5.22 for the quarter ended September 2007.


Garware Offshore net jumps 5.32 times for Sep`07 qtr

Mumbai-based Garware Offshore Services, an offshore vessels owner, registered 5.32 times jump in net profit to Rs 235.3 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2007, as against Rs 44.2 million in the corresponding quarter, last year. The company reported a total income of Rs 440.7 million (including Rs 171.9 million of exchange gain) for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2007, an increase of 3.26 times as compared to total income of Rs 134.9 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2006.

Motilal Oswal net jumps 3 fold in Sep`07 qtr

Mumbai-based brokerage house Motilal Oswal (Q, N,C,F)* Financial Services (MOFSL) reported a three-fold jump, in its net profit to Rs 330 million in the quarter ended September 2007 as compared to Rs 110 million in the corresponding quarter, last year. The company demonstarted a strong top line growth of 2.12 times, to Rs 1,530 million in the quarter as compared to Rs 720 million, in the same quarter, a year ago. This growth has been propelled by various strategic initiatives backed by favorable market conditions, the company said. New businesses have also registered robust growth. Investment banking advisory fees was up 52% to Rs 100 million, from last year`s figure of Rs 66 million; fund based income was up 2.43 times to Rs 65 million, as compared to Rs 27 million in the corresponding quarter last year, while asset management fees saw a 2.36 times rise to Rs 34 million, as compared to Rs 14 million in the corresponding quarter, last year.

Megasoft consolidated net up 73% for Sep`07 qtr

Godavari Fertilisers net up 47.56% in Sep`07 qtr

Godavari Fertilisers & Chemicals registered a growth of 47.56% in net profit to Rs 487.13 million for the quarter ended September 2007 from a profit of Rs 330.12 million during the same quarter, last year.Net Sales declined 24.03% to Rs 9,049.92 million for the quarter ended September 2007 from Rs 7,296.81 million during the same quarter, a year ago.Total income rose 24.16 times to Rs 9,065.88 million for the quarter ended September 2007, from Rs 7,301.95 million during the corresponding quarter, last year.

Ambuja Cements Q3 net rises 19.53% (Update)

Leading cement maker, Ambuja Cement (Q, N,C,F)* registered a growth of 19.53% in net profit for the quarter ended September 2007. During the quarter, the company saw a rise in net profit to Rs 2,924.40 million from Rs 2,446.60 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The company has posted diluted earnings per share of Rs 1.92 in the quarter.The net sales for the quarter climbed 32.09% to Rs 12,999.30 million, while the total income for the quarter rose 30.53% to Rs 13,183.20 million, when compared with the corresponding quarter, a year ago. During the quarter, the company commissioned a new 1 million ton cement grinding unit at Roorkee in Uttaranchal. An upgradation project in the clinkerisation unit at Rabriyawas, Rajasthan, was also completed, increasing the clinker capacity from 1.6 to 2.0 million tons, the company said.

Tech Mahindra net rises 3.37% for Sep`07 qtr

Uttam Galva net rises 10.84% for Sep`07 qtr

Asian Paints Q2 consolidated net climbs 37.63%

Aztecsoft net up 10.83% in Sep`07 qtr

Bannari Amman net down 87.23% in Sep`07 qtr




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ICICI's Q2 net jumps 33% on higher interest income

MUMBAI: ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest lender, has reported a 32.8% rise in net profit on the back of higher interest income, although the bank’s portfolio of bad loans swelled considerably during the second quarter of this fiscal. Net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 rose to Rs 1,002.6 crore from Rs 755 crore compared with a year ago.

For the first half of this fiscal, ICICI Bank has reported a 29.3% rise in net profit at Rs 1,777.7 crore from Rs 1,375 crore. The gross non-performing assets of the bank have doubled to Rs 5,931.5 crore while net non-performing assets rose by 96% to Rs 2,970.9 crore. Incidentally, the bad loans are more than the gross and net non-performing assets figure for the last fiscal, which were at Rs 4,126 crore and Rs 1,992 crore, respectively. The rise in bad loans has been on account of delinquencies in the loan portfolio of the bank, especially in personal loans and credit cards, where there is no recourse to any collateral. ICICI Bank had forayed into this segment aggressively given the high margins. But typically, such business segments pose severe risks which seem to have impacted the bank now.

On a percentage basis, gross NPAs rose to 2.8% from 1.9%, while net NPAs have risen to 1.4% from 1% the previous fiscal. According to ICICI Bank CFO Vishakha Mulye, the bank has seen a rise in its lending on non-collateralised loans. This has increased from sub-10% of the retail portfolio to 15% of the portfolio. Even though interest rates on these products are high, the delinquencies are also higher. However, compared with the first quarter, the net NPAs have risen by Rs 250 crore. The total income rose 41% to Rs 9,588.4 crore from Rs 6,796.8 crore on the back of a rise in interest income. Interest income rose 43.8% to Rs 7,516.5 crore from Rs 5,226.7 crore and other income rose 31.9% to Rs 2,072 crore from Rs 1,570.1 crore. Fee income of the bank rose 25% to Rs 1,486 crore, while lease and other income showed a sharp spurt of 183% to Rs 411 crore. However, treasury income dropped 27% to Rs 175 crore. The bank had a $1.5-billion portfolio of credit linked notes.

Close to 70% of this constituted Indian credit, with the remaining being institutional credit. Because of the subprime crisis, the bank had to make provisioning which resulted in a drop in treasury income. Interest expenses rose 47.2% to Rs 5,730.5 crore. The net interest margins of the bank have risen to 2.3% from 2.1%. The NIM for the first quarter was at 1.9%. Shares of the bank fell marginally by 1.42% to Rs 1,024.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Total advances rose 33% to Rs 2,07,121 crore on September 30, 2007. The advances of the bank’s international branches were up 146% to Rs 36,994 crore. With this the proportion of advances of the bank's international branches in total advances rose to 17.9% from 9.7%. The bank’s retail advances at Rs 1,31,014 crore constituted 63% of total advances. Advances to the small and medium enterprises segment increased 56% to Rs 5,205 crore.

Deposits were higher by 20% to Rs 2,28,307 crore. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank is now 16.7%. ICICI Bank UK’s net profit for the half year was at $36 million. Ms Mulye added that the group had invested Rs 600 crore into the insurance ventures in the first quarter of this fiscal. According to a banking analyst at a local brokerage firm, on a quarterly basis, the bank has not lent much. While current tax payments stand at Rs 418 crore, on a tax-adjusted basis, the tax liability has gone down by Rs 178 crore. If this tax-adjustment is taken off, the profit after tax has actually risen only by 9% on a Y-o-Y basis and a mere 6% on a quarterly basis.


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Sensex crashes another 438 points

SENSEX
17559.98
-438.41

NIFTY
5215.30
-135.70

Sensex crashes another 438 points:

MUMBAI: Foreign portfolio managers are frantically trying to put their house in order. The finance minister’s reassurance that FIIs may get more time to unwind P-Notes gave them little comfort. On Friday, FIIs continued to pare P-Note positions held in their sub-accounts, causing the Sensex and the Nifty to drop by over 2%. Both indices closed well above the day’s lows, but the sentiment continues to remain fragile. “The hitch is, unwinding the PN positions may not be as easy as it looks,” said a dealer at a foreign broking firm. “In many instances, FIIs holding the underlying shares have lent them to other players for a fee, or spun off additional products from those shares to earn higher commission. Some FIIs have even been using those shares for trading in their proprietary accounts,” the dealer said.

Meanwhile, at a seminar in Mumbai, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh defended the proposed curbs on PNs on the grounds that a lot of unregulated money was coming in. According to provisional data on BSE, FIIs net sold Rs 1,750 crore worth of shares while mutual funds net bought Rs 186 crore worth of shares. Interestingly, while the exchange websites showed that FIIs had net sold around Rs 1,100 crore worth of shares on Thursday, SEBI data reveals that foreign funds were net buyers of around Rs 125.7 crore.

Dealers said the discrepancy could be due to exchanges taking into consideration only secondary market trades on that day and not purchases through other sources like primary markets, FCCB conversion and preferential allotment. With the liquidity taps in danger of running dry, should the SEBI proposals to curb P-Notes become law, local operators continued to experience withdrawal symptoms for the third successive session on Friday.

Reflecting the jitters among investors, the Sensex plunged to an intra-day low of 17,226.18 before climbing to 17,559.98 at close, down 438.41 points over the previous close. The Nifty bounced from a low of 5,101.75 to end the day at 5,215.30, down 135.70 points. Reliance Energy shares, which had been in the forefront of the recent rally, was the top loser among the Sensex stocks shedding 16%. In the past couple of sessions, the stock has fallen over 25%. Among other prominent losers, ACC, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, BHEL, Hindalco and Maruti Udyog were down between 4% and 7%. The losses in the indices were cushioned to some extent by 1-2% gains in stocks like Infosys, ONGC and Tata Steel. Traded turnover on both exchanges combined was around Rs 1.13 trillion. But dealers said a significant amount of turnover in the cash market was mainly because of the block trades in large-cap stocks. Dealers said any recovery from current levels was likely to be gradual. This is because the hot money flows, which was propelling stock prices till now, could be hard to come by in the near term.


Long-only funds save market from sharp fall

MUMBAI: Market recovered smartly on Friday after indices fell to the lowest levels in the ongoing correction of past two days. Brokers are of the view that ‘long-only funds’ and domestic institutions must have entered to prevent a drastic loss. BSE's Sensex closed 438 points down at 17,559.98, but up from the day’s low of 17,226. NSE's Nifty ended 135 points lower at 5215.3, recovering from the low of 5,102. Market breadth on BSE showed 2,162 declines and 570 advances, while on NSE, 1,023 shares fell and 161 gained.

“It looks like most of the pain is out of the system and the market is offering good opportunities at these levels,” said Manish Sonthalia, vice-president equity strategist at Motilal Oswal. He said investors should remain focused in large cap stocks and at these levels markets look to be somewhere near bottom.


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Day's Quote/Corporate Story

Quote of the Day

" Stay positive, live positive, surround yourself around positive people and positive things and you will succeed."


Corporate/Personality of the Day

Anil Agarwal (billionaire)

Anil Agarwal (b. 1954, India) is the founder-director and executive chairman of the UK-based Vedanta Resources corporation, which owns mining and metal resources in India, Australia and Zambia. Having ranked eighth in 2003,[1] as of November 2006, he is the eleventh-richest Indian, with a personal fortune of US$4.5 billion.[2] According to Forbes Magazine, on 8 March 2007, his net worth was $3.8 billion—making him the 230th-richest person in the world.[citation needed] He lives in London, Europe & Russia, and is married, with two children.[2]
As of 6th October 2007, his net worth was estimated at $12.7 billion, making him the 6th richest Indian. [1].
In 2007, he announced a $3.1 billion expansion of capacities of Vedanta Resources,[citation needed] and donated US$1 billion to establish Vedanta University—India's answer to Stanford—in Orissa, eastern India.[3]

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Agarwal_%28billionaire%29



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