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| Wednesday, February
7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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It’s Star vs Siti Govt invites bids for
CMC privatisation
Software exports up 65 pc despite US slowdown
Hewlett Packard to cut PC
prices |
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SBI VRS for 55 & above Go short at
Silverline HLL denies links with
mercury cargo
Hefner, aged 75, enjoys
life Einstein, Freud on Holocaust list Petrol-bombs ex-lover’s son
Pfizer clocks 27.6 pc growth in net
profit
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NEW DELHI, Feb 6 — Siti Cable is likely to consider legal recourse in case Star continued to block the feed of its channel bouquet to Siti cable operators. “Star has switched off its feed citing non-payment of dues to Siti Cable operators. If this continues for long, it will be tantamount to restrictive trade practice and we may then have to move court”, Siti sources told PTI here. The sources said Star was asked to negotiate the non-payment issue with the head office, but the Murdoch controlled channel is yet to come to the negotiating table. On its part Star admitted that it had switched off feed for its entire bouquet to some Siti Cable operators due to non-payment of one-month old dues, despite repeated reminders. “We have switched off feed for Star channels to certain Siti Cable operators for non-payment of dues despite repeated reminders,” Star spokesperson Rash Khanna said over the telephone from Mumbai. While declining to disclose the amount Siti cable operators owed Star, Khanna said this was ‘substantial’ and Star has resorted to stopping the feed after written communication was sent to the cable operators in advance. When contacted, Chief Exectuive Officer of Zee TV-owned Siti Cable network Raveesh Awasthi said: “We have asked Star to come to us to negotiate rates as well as connectivity for all of our 77 joint venture partners. But Star has not responded to the offer”. Since January 24 last, Siti Cable networks in Delhi and some other states have not been beaming the Star, including Star Plus, Star News, Star Gold, Star Movies, Star Sports,
ESPN, National Geographic, Channel v and Star World. — PTI Govt invites bids for CMC privatisation NEW DELHI, Feb 6 — The government today invited bids for privatisation of computer hardware major CMC Ltd. As per the preliminary information memorandum (PIM), companies interested in participating in the disinvestment should have a networth of not less than Rs 300 crore. The government proposes to disinvest up to 57.31 per cent stake in the company through strategic sale, employees stock options (ESOPs) and other means. It currently holds 83.31 per cent stake in the company which will come down to 26 per cent after the sale. In the case of consortiums and joint ventures formed or proposed to be formed for the purpose of participating in the sale, the networth criteria will apply to the group as a whole. The
government has set March 15, 2001, as the last date for submission of expression of interest (EoI). It has also incorporated a clause requiring strategic partner to make a public offer for acquiring further shares in accordance with SEBI guidelines. However, the PIM doesn’t specify the quantum for which the open offer has to be made. The manner and extent of sale to the strategic partner and others is to be decided in consultations with prospective buyers after the shortlisting. The government has simultaneously invited an expression of interest for appointment of global advisers for the disinvestment the last date for which comes to close on February 15, 2001. The shortlisted bidders will be required to make a presentation before the inter-ministerial group set up for the
disinvestment purpose on February 19, 2001. In a bid to carve out niche areas, CMC has set up five
strategic business units for customer services, systems integrations, international operations, education and training and Indonet. CMC also set up a wholly-owned subsidiary — Beton Rouge International which acts as afront-end for its US operations.
— PTI
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Software exports up 65 pc despite US slowdown MUMBAI, Feb 6 — Dispelling adverse effects of a slowdown in the US economy, Indian software exports have grown by 65 per cent in the third quarter at Rs 7,160 crore as compared to Rs 4,345 crore in the corresponding period in 1999-2000. “The US market has over 60 per cent share of Indian software exports and October-December 2000 performance has maintained the growth momentum. We are confident of meeting exports target of Rs 28,500 crore (USD 6.24 billion) for 2000-01,” Dewang Mehta, President of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) said here today. Mehta said: “Member companies, and their clients have conveyed that the slowdown in spending would not affect Indian exports. The trend will be towards outsourcing, providing more business for Indian it companies.” Communication software had emerged as a major opportunity for the IT companies with telecom software exports close to Rs 2,800 crore in nine months of this fiscal, Nasscom Chairman Phiroz Vandrevala said. There was slowdown in the growth of technology spending and according to the latest Merrill Lynch survey of Fortune 500 companies on IT expenditure, “the IT budget bill of US companies will grow only by 5 per cent in 2001 as compared to 11 per cent in 2000.” “However, outsourcing IT requirements will gather momentum in the next two years to reduce the costs, Vandrevala said, adding “this is the best business for Indian IT firms.”
— PTI Hewlett Packard
to cut PC prices CHANDIGARH, Feb 6
— Hewlett Packard will now provide software solutions also. The company, which has already tied up with software giants like Intel and Novel Solutions is looking forward to more such ventures by which it expects an increase of more than 15 per cent in its turnover. The software solutions provided by Indian companies, if proven effective, would be exported to other countries, including Singapore and Malaysia. “With this, consumers, a major portion of which includes SMEs, will be able to get complete package (hardware as well as software) under one roof and that too at almost the same cost”, said Mr. Raj Kumar Rishi, Country Sales Manager, Small and Medium Business (SMB), Hewlett Packard (HP) while talking to The Tribune, here today. While stating that the PC market did witness a slowdown in the last two months and the decision to provide software solutions along with the hardware will help the company strengthen its position, he said the PC market is expected to pick up again”, he added. In the coming days. MNCs are likely to capture a larger market segment for PCs as compared to the local brands and the assembled ones which are unorganised. To meet the competition, HP is also in the process of reducing costs of the PCs. We will mainly concentrate on value additions at same cost “, Mr. Rishi added. He said that the company has started local manufacturing and a further drop in the prices of PCs in the market is expected. While the company has already started these services in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, the same would be now started in Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata and dealers in these places would be provided training for the purpose. Hewlett Packard is concentrating on Punjab as a major market, since the state is one of the fastest growing in terms of demand for computers, Mr Rishi said. |
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SBI VRS for 55 & above CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 — The SBI today clarified that the applications of officers aged 55 and above seeking voluntary retirement will be accepted. A senior SBI official told The Tribune that the bank had fixed January 31 as the last date for VRS applications. Now the bank has allowed withdrawal of the applications up to February 15. In case of large withdrawals, the SBI can also consider lowering the VRS age for officers. However, there is no age bar in case of the clerical staff, he said. Meanwhile the SBI Officers’ Association has appealed to its 4,000 officers to make voluntary contributions for earthquake victims, apart from one day’s salary. It sent Rs 1 lakh draft for the Gujarat Relief Fund. Go short at
Silverline Notwithstanding the Finance Minister’s assurances that there would be no knee-jerk reaction to the Gujarat tragedy in the form of a heavy tax dose, the contrary statements emanating from the PMO has dampened investor sentiment. Inspite of the same, there is still some hope that in spite of everything, the coming Budget will be a fairly market-friendly one. The Nasdaq slip-up has hampered the tech take-off and with the media sector still being out of favour on account of the legal shadow that looms large over some of the players, it is some of the old economy stocks that have held recently. Bull operators can consider taking up positions at the counters of Colgate at Rs 186 (square up at Rs 199) and Kodak at Rs 521 (square up at Rs 586). Bear operators could consider taking up short positions at the counters of Silverline at Rs 270 (cover up at Rs 236) and Gujarat Ambuja Cement at Rs 219 (cover up at Rs 198). The portfolio pick of the week for discerning investors is Hughes Software whose share price made a smart move back into the four figure category. |
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HLL denies links with mercury cargo NEW DELHI, Feb 6 — Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever of the United Kingdom, has dismissed outright reports of a connection with a 20 -tonne mercury cargo removed from a polluting chemical plant in the USA. Environmentalists, concerned at the shipping of mercury and other highly toxic products to Third World countries, had expressed suspicion that the shipment was bound for the Cheseborough Ponds plant of the company in Kodaikanal, a hill resort in Tamil Nadu. Hindustan Lever stated it has no connection with the Illinois-based Goldsmith and Metal Corporation and has not ordered for any imports of mercury, nor does it need to. The company said it manufactures mercury-in-glass clinical thermometers, with 99.999 per cent triple-distilled ultra pure mercury.
— UNI
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Hefner, aged 75, enjoys life LOS ANGELES: More than a decade after he suffered a stroke and appeared to be finally settling down, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is back in the swing of things, trading in his last set of four girlfriends for seven new buxom blonds to share his bathtub and his bed. In an interview published in the latest edition of Vanity Fair magazine, Hefner, who turns 75 in April, said the main difference between his forays in the 1960s and his multiple partners today is that he has an “ongoing relationship” with his girlfriends. Call it a new definition of commitment for the 21st century. “We do all kinds of wonderful things together. We go to Disneyland together. We do out to the movies, and we go out to the clubs and are always the very center of whatever’s going on, wherever we are,” said the man who prides himself as being the granddaddy of the sexual revolution. And thanks to the wonders of Viagra, Hefner insists that he and his seven new companions — Tiffany, Stephanie, Cathi, Katie, Buffy, Tina and Regina, ranging in age from 19 to 28 — are together “most every night.” That may be, but life with Hef may not always be as glamorous as it’s cracked up to be. One of the seven, Cathi O’Malley, told Vanity Fair that despite the active night life they all share, daytime at the Playboy Mansion is “mostly like being at your grandma’s house.” Hefner’s last set a girlfriends, a quartet that included identical twins Sandy and Mandy, moved out of the Playboy Mansion last August, Vanity Fair reported. Their reign at the mansion followed Hefner’s separation two years ago from his second wife, Kimberly Conrad Hefner. The two married on the lawn of the Playboy Mansion in 1989, four years after he had suffered a stroke, in what appeared then to be the Playboy founder’s conversion to monogamy.
— Reuters Einstein, Freud on Holocaust list ZURICH: Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud the appeared on a list of some 21,000 dormant accounts judged most likely to have belonged to Holocaust victims that was published by Swiss banks. Officials were unable to say yesterday whether the account holders were actually the famed German-born physicist and the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis or if the names were just coincidence. “If you look into the Swiss phone book for Slobodan Milosevic, you get four,” a spokesman for the Swiss Bankers Association noted. Einstein, a German-born Jew, generated some of his most startling insights into the nature of the universe while working as a Swiss Patent clerk. He died in America in 1955. Freud never lived in Switzerland, but had ties to the psychiatric community there. A Jew, he escaped with his family to England when Germany annexed Austria and died in 1939. The 600-page list posted on the Internet website (www.dormantaccounts.ch) was the third to be released as banks try to counter allegations by victims and Jewish groups that they have wrongfully withheld funds of people exterminated by the Nazis during World War II.
— Reuters Petrol-bombs ex-lover’s son SINGAPORE: A Singapore man was sentenced to nine years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for attacking his ex-lover’s young son with petrol bombs, local media reported on Tuesday. Former gas delivery man See Chai Seng ambushed and threw two home-made Molotov cocktails at seven-year-old Aufa Daniel Roos in October. The boy, who suffered 27 percent burns to his face and limbs, has undergone 11 operations to date. “He perpetrated a planned attack of the utmost savagery and wickedness upon a vulnerable, harmless and helpless, innocent young child,” The Straits Times reported Judge Richard Magnus as saying in court on Monday. See had been spurned by the boy’s mother, Hanis Hussin, and was furious she had taken a new boyfriend. “My son is scarred for life,” the boy’s mother told the paper. “Nothing can bring back my son’s joy.” See also set fire to the woman’s front door three days before the attack on her son.
— Reuters |
cr
Pfizer clocks 27.6 pc growth in net profit Pfizer on Tuesday reported a 27.6 per cent rise in the net profit for the year ended November 30, 2000, at Rs 39.47 crore over Rs 30.93 crore in the previous year. Net sales were higher by 13.66 per cent at Rs 287.79 crore in the fiscal year 2000 as against Rs 253.19 crore in the previous fiscal. Other income stood at Rs 51.62 crore in the fiscal year 2000 as compared to Rs 51.07 crore in the last fiscal, Pfizer informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Net sales of the wholly owned subsidiary, Duchem Laboratories were Rs 111.61 crore, up 3.36 per cent as against Rs 107.98 crore in the year before. Reliance Petro Reliance Petroleum (RPL) on Tuesday said its Jamnagar refinery was running over its rated throughput of 27 million tonnes and diesel production was continuing at a normal pace. The refinery had a safe shutdown at the time of the earthquake on
January 26 and two days later restarted operations in phases. Radico Khaitan Radico Khaitan on Tuesday announced the launch of 8 pm apple juice, as part of its plans to foray into food products and non-alcoholic beverages. The company, which is mainly into liquor and has “8 pm” whisky as one of its premier brands, decided to extend the brand name to juices to encash the brand equity already earned from whisky sales. Samtel Color The net profit of Samtel Color has grown 40 per cent to Rs 17.75 crore for the third quarter ended December 2000 over Rs 12.72 recorded in the corresponding period last year. Total turnover for the quarter was Rs 174.46 crore representing a growth of 14 per cent over Rs 152.5 crore recorded last year. For the nine months ended December 2000, net profit grew 23 per cent to Rs 37.92 crore over Rs 30.71 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year. Total turnover for the nine months ended December 2000 was Rs 469.34 crore as compared to Rs 443.47 crore in the corresponding period last year. Denim Enterprise Denim Enterprise has posted a net profit of Rs 1.02 crore and a gross profit of Rs 1.15 crore during the quarter ended December, 2000, compared to Rs 1.08 crore in the same period last year. During the period, net sales of the company rose to Rs 6.55 crore as against Rs 4.35 crore for the same period. Monnet Ispat Monnet Ispat has posted a 48 per cent rise in the net profit for the first nine months period ended December 31, 2000, at Rs 6.31 crore over Rs 4.26 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. The company achieved a turnover of Rs 75.63 crore and Rs 8.66 crore cash profit during the period.
— PTI, UNI & TNS
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Dirty money flowing through US banks Computer chips sales to fall Microsoft to rebrand products |
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HFCL chief awarded NHPC quake relief Glenmark pharma Globsyn IPO CII- Energy cell Andhra Bank meet New magazine |
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