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Hughes Soft net zooms 110 pc
MphasiS BFL profit grows
SEBI on high alert as Sensex booms
ONGC shares to be offered in lots of 10 |
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Irregularities alleged in
J&K gets $100 m aid for farm development
Banks to be penalised for stapling notes
Pakistan ready to discuss MFN issue with India GRAPHIC: Foreign Tourist Arrivals, 1993-2003
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Hughes Soft net zooms 110 pc
New Delhi, January 8 The company, bolstered by its improved performance and rise in business environment, once again raised its net profit and sales guidance for the year 2003-04. Its projection of the net profit for 2003-04 is at Rs 78 crore-81 crore, reflecting a growth of 106-114 per cent. Hughes Software had earlier given a net profit guidance for 2003-04 at 80 per cent. The company’s sales guidance for 2003-04 is at Rs 356 crore-361 crore, a growth of 62-64 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Its earlier sales guidance was 55-60 per cent for the current fiscal. The company’s total income during the quarter rose by 67 per cent to Rs 98.8 crore over the same quarter last year, Arun Kumar, president and MD of HSS, told reporters. The total sales rose to Rs 96.5 crore, registering a growth of 69 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The company added 17 new customers in the third quarter. Its basic earning per share stood at Rs 7.10 during the review period, reflecting a 109 per cent growth over the corresponding quarter last year. “Prudent diversification and penetration in telecom domain helped us in achieving revenue and earnings growth,” Pradman Kaul, Chairman, Hughes Software, said. The company is planning to embark on silicon design and testing services to expand its portfolio of services. It currently focuses on next generation networking technology and wireless, he said. During the quarter, the company’s net profit margin improved by 23.5 per cent from the last quarter levels. Hughes Network Systems, HSS’ parent, contributed 22 per cent to the revenue in terms of services, down from 28 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal while products revenue fell down to 16 per cent from the earlier 25 per cent in Q3 of 2002. BPO contributed 4 per cent in the Q3 while it was 1 per cent in the Q3 of the last fiscal. Exports contributed Rs 89 crore to the total sales and domestic sales were to the tune of Rs 7.5 crore in the Q3. The company stepped up its recruitment drive by adding 202 employees in Q3 and over the next 12 months, it plans to add 1000 employees for its software and ITeS business. Its current strength is 2300 and HNS, Lucent and Nokia are the three top customers. |
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MphasiS BFL profit grows
Mumbai, January 8 The net profit for the current quarter also represents an increase of 12 per cent over Rs 25.46 crore posted in the previous sequential quarter ended
September 30. Consolidated revenue at Rs 148.63 crore in the current quarter has increased by 28 per cent over the same quarter last year. On a sequential quarter on quarter basis revenue has grown by 4 per cent. Software service revenue in the current quarter at Rs 100.30 crore have increased by 2.2 per cent on a sequential quarter on quarter basis. The net margins in the software business have remained steady at nearly 21 per cent. There were 204 persons added in the current quarter in the software services business. The group BPO subsidiary, MsourcE, recorded revenue of Rs 48.32 crore in the quarter ended December 31, as against Rs 26.22 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, representing a reveue growth of 84 per cent. On a sequential quarter on quarter basis this represents a revenue growth of 8 per cent. During this quarter MsourcE registered a net profit of Rs 7.55 crore. MsourcE currently has 18 active clients and 3418 staff. Commenting on results MphasiS Chairman and CEO Jerry Rao said, “the group has had a very good quarter with profits at our BPO subsidiary showing remarkable growth. Clients additions in the software business have been particularly encouraging and the expectations are that this trend will continue in the immediate future. At the same time, we have consciously invested and added development staff to meet the strong pipeline of business for the next quarter. We have also been successful in controlling our overhead costs across the Group.’’ A significant improvement in the net profit this quarter is due to lower selling, general and administrative costs and foreign exchange gains. Selling, general and administrative expenses have reduced from 17.7 per cent as percentage of revenue in the same quarter last year to 14.1 per cent of revenues in the current quarter. During the quarter, the group has added 10 new clients including one in BPO. These include four each in the financial and retail logistics verticals and a large technology company. Software manpower utilisation rates were at 71 per cent this quarter, while BPO utilisation rates were maintained at 67 per cent. Onsite billing rates increased marginally and the offshore rates were kept at last quarter levels. Total cash balances as on December 31
increased to Rs 133.3 crore. The group’s consolidated revenue for the nine months ended December 31 have gone up by 37 per cent at Rs 421.78 crore compared to the previous year, whilst net profits have
increased by 52 per cent to Rs 73.45 crore in the same period. — UNI
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SEBI on high alert as Sensex booms
“We are at high-alert situation and keeping a close watch on the markets”, G.N. Bajpai, SEBI Chairman, said. In an interview, Mr Bajpai reiterated that the market regulator would not allow undesirable persons or entities to operate in Indian markets. “We will take action as and when we find people indulging in undesirable activities,” he asserted. In this context, he asked the investing public to gather full information and analyse it before making any investment plan in the capital market. “Analyse the information before getting in and getting out of the markets”, he said. There is always a trade-off between return and risk and investors need to decide at what level of trade-off they would pitch their expectations, he observed. Mr Bajpai, who yesterday announced introduction of margin-trading facility for corporate entities having brokerage activities, said this would provide further liquidity to the market besides deepening the trading on line with the global practices. The domestic capital market came of age when managers of the Indian economy decided to allow portfolio investments into markets and allowed several Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCBs) and FIIs to bring in foreign funds for equity investments. Looking at the current boom scenario of the capital markets, SEBI has already initiated investigations in respect of the origin of funds coming into domestic markets through FIIs and other intermediaries. Asked about this, Mr Bajpai reiterated that “we could always ask the funds managers to reveal the sources of funds and identify of the investors”. SEBI has embarked upon a strategic plan to make itself a model for regulatory developments and develop online monitoring systems to track not only the market developments but also pin-point the irregularities at any point of time. “We are working on developing a technology-driven integrated surveillance system across all segments of the market”, he added. —
UNI
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ONGC shares to be offered in lots of 10
New Delhi, January 8 The draft prospectus for the issue of 84 million equity shares of Gail will be filed with SEBI by January 23. The inter-ministerial group on the ONGC disinvestment, which met here late yesterday, decided to offer the shares in multiples of 10 instead of the normal practice of offering in lots of 100 shares and multiples thereof, sources said. “Deciding against splitting ONGC shares into smaller denominations, the IMG instead decided to reduce the lot of shares on offer from 100 to 10. A smaller lot will enable small and retail investors to participate in the public offer,” they said. The public issue of 14.2 crore shares of the ONGC will hit the market on March 2 and will be open for bidding under the book-building route for seven working days, they said. A draft prospectus for the public issue will be filed with SEBI before the month-end and roadshows will be held in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and a couple of places in the US in the last week of February. Simultaneous roadshows will also be organised in India. The IMG finalised the timetable for the public issue keeping in mind the fact that the receivables from the issue should acrue to the government during this fiscal itself, the sources said. A consortium of Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, DSP Merrill Lynch and JM Morgan Stanley are the book runners for the ONGC issue. The government, last month, decided to sell 10 per cent equity in the ONGC through a public offering in the domestic market to meet the unrealised disinvestment target of Rs 13,200 crore for the current fiscal. —
PTI
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Irregularities alleged in Weavco accounts Amritsar, January 8 A majority of the 21 showrooms of Weavco, including 16 in Punjab, were incurring heavy losses, revealed Mr Harjinder Devgan, a former Chairman of Weavco, to The Tribune. “Only 30 per cent of the purchase of the material by Weavco was through the Purchase Committee. Reports reveal that a majority of these purchases were illegal”, he claimed. In a special report of Weavco, a senior auditor, Mr M.S. Sidhu, noted “serious irregularities” to the tune of Rs 1.36 crore. The report dated October, 2003 states that losses were caused to Weavco by heavy purchases worth Rs 89 lakh. It further states, “Weavco has made heavy purchases without considering the sale of previous years. The result is that stocks piling up became old, damaged and discoloured and were lying at all stock holding places in a depot in Amritsar. Therefore, stocks were sold at nearly half the rates. Mr Devgan in his tenure had found four bogus societies in August, last year, enlisted with Weavco and had written about these to Mr Lal Singh, Cooperative Minister. Mr Devgan and Mr Ashwani Kumar, Director, Weavco, alleged that an in charge of a local showroom, who had now been transferred to Chandigarh, had allegedly embezzled lakhs by conducting “parallel sales and parallel purchases” in the name of Weavco, allegedly in connivance with Marketing Manager Sham Sharma. However, Mr Sharma denied any involvement in the allegations, when contacted in Chandigarh. The in charge of the showroom, who had been transferred to Chandigarh, could not be contacted despite many attempts. As proof of their contention, the former Chairman and the Director showed a duplicate register maintained by the in charge, besides duplicate bill books. Cash memos, they said, had no dates and misrepresented facts. The tallies of cash memos and register entries have reportedly shown inflated and deflated figures, besides items that too do not correspond. The Purchase Committee, of which Mr Ashwani Kumar was a member, was not informed about the purchases made or the sale of stocks, they alleged. It was revealed that certain government departments were supplied materials from the parallel stock created. The money received through cheque was shown as an input from retail sales over the counter by Weavco showroom. The actual money accrued from retail sales were allegedly pocketed. The stock consisted of supply worth lakhs, of items such as uniform material (winter and summer), bedcovers, bedsheets, blankets etc. It was also found that most of showrooms of Weavco were undergoing heavy losses and failed to meet their annual targets. On scrutiny, it was found that outstanding payments from various concerns amounted to Rs 1 crore, payable to Weavco. However, further investigations revealed that although payments from concerns had been received, it was not recorded in registers. Mr Devgan and Mr Ashwani Kumar demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.
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J&K gets $100 m aid for farm development Jammu, January 8 This was announced by Mr Abdul Aziz Zargar, Minister for Agriculture, here today. A team of consultants of a France-based firm, appointed by the Asian Development Bank, including Mr Viney Chand, Mr Joep Cuijipeis, Mr Ashok Khosla and Mr Giyan Negi, will prepare detailed feasibility studies of the issue. The team informed the Minister that Jammu and Kashmir was one of the five focus states selected by the bank for sanctioning the assistance. It was also revealed that the initial dispensation of $ 100 million assistance could be increased, depending upon the absorption capacity of the state. The minister suggested that before completing the report, the consultants make a presentation report to the Chief Minister, next week.
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Banks to be penalised for stapling notes
Mumbai, January 8 In a circular, the central bank reiterated that stapling of note packets had been banned and no bank or branch should issue or accept note packets in stapled condition. It added that all erring bank or branch would be liable to be penalised under the existing provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The RBI had last year issued a directive under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to all commercial banks, including regional rural banks and local area banks, instructing them to do away with stapling and to secure the packets with paper bands. It had also asked banks to issue only clean notes to the general public and to stop writing of any kind on the watermark of the notes. —
UNI
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Pakistan ready to discuss MFN issue with India
Islamabad, January 8 The official, whose name was not disclosed, said it would not threaten the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) issue, which was an agreement between the seven South Asian nations and not a bilateral treaty between India and Pakistan. The MFN issue relates to the WTO which the two sides could discuss at other forums, The News quoted him as saying Wednesday. Conversely, signing of the SAFTA framework agreement does not mean granting the MFN status to India, said the official. This is the second time within a week that Islamabad has expressed willingness to holding of discussions with New Delhi about granting the MFN status. While addressing a press conference on January 6, the concluding day of 12th SAARC Summit, President Pervez Musharraf had said the issue could be discussed between the two countries. —
ANI
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Mumbai, January 8
