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Thursday, January 24, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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British
Gas buys Enron equity in oilfields CORPORATE NEWS
ANALYST’S DIARY ROUND-UP
Millers cry foul over
wheat price |
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Telephone
users want transparent billing Bharti
fixes floor price Corpn
Bank net spurts 21.35 pc
Chief
Secy’s plea to banks
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British Gas buys Enron equity in oilfields New Delhi, January 23 British Gas’s earlier attempts to buy Enron’s stake did not materialise as the British firm insisted that Enron’s operatorship be transferred to it. The other partners in the project, ONGC which has a 40 per cent stake in the oil and gas field and Reliance Industries the remaining 30 per cent, objected to the transfer of operatorship saying they have the right over it after Enron moved out of the project. Operatorship was introduced by the Government to lure foreign companies to invest in oil projects and it involves incremental revenues with progress in operations. Against the earlier offer, BG today did not make operatorship of the fields a pre-condition to acquire Enron’s 30 per cent equity in the joint venture. BG said in a statement that “the revised agreement has been reviewed by Enron’s Creditors Committee and is subject to a number of conditions including the approval of the Bankruptcy Court. Enron is expected to file a motion with the court shortly seeking such approval.” Stating that transaction was expected to take place by mid-February, BG’s India Chief Nigel Shaw said “the original Sale and Purchase Agreement announced on October 3 terminated in December 2001 following slower than anticipated progress to close the transaction and Enron’s Bankruptcy case in the USA.” Mr Shaw, however, said that his company would continue discussions with ONGC and Reliance to reach a “mutually” satisfactory outcome on operatorship. |
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CORPORATE NEWS Mumbai, January 23 Total income for Q3 was at Rs 3,812.20 million as against Rs 3,190.20 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2000. Apollo Hospitals Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 52 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 64 million for the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Colgate Palmolive Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs 159 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 122 million for the same period last fiscal. Infotech Enterprises Infotech Enterprises Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs 83.20 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 48.60 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2000. Cadila Healthcare Cadila Healthcare Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 147.02 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 174.50 million for the same quarter last fiscal. DCM Shriram DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd (DSCL) today reported a 11 per cent jump in sales turnover at Rs 323.43 crore even as its net profit fell to Rs 28 crore during the third quarter ended December 2001. Indian Hotels Indian Hotels Company Ltd’s (IHCL) net profit plunged to Rs 6.01 crore in third quarter ending December 2001 compared to Rs 36.15 crore in the corresponding period in Q3 of 2000. Dabur India Dabur India Limited recorded a growth of 8.4 per cent in net profit in nine months completed on December 31, 2001. The net profit grew to Rs 55.6 crore as compared to Rs 51.3 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Agencies
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ANALYST’S DIARY THE FIIs made highest ever net investment of Rs 13,116 crore in 2001. Most of these funds moved into frontline stocks such as Infosys, Hindustan Lever, Reliance, HDFC and ITC. Contrary to what some of our protectionist politicians, who tend to blame the FIIs for our markets ills think (if they actually can), the fact is, the emerging line of thought at the bourses is that the FIIs would refrain from withdrawing investments even if political uncertainties were to persist. Obviously, this optimism stems from the fact that the FIIs had continued to remain invested in the domestic markets even when our valiant armed forces were repulsing the ‘Paki’ intrusion into Kargil. In fact, they had lent support to the market by buying, even when the domestic funds sold anticipating political upheaval as a fallout. So much so for the FIIs and hot money scare theory! It should be fairly evident by now that from the FIIs point of view, India, along with China, offers great investment potential, being among the fastest growing developing economies in the world. While the US economy has almost ground to a halt, India and China have been posting a GDP growth rate in excess of 5 per cent. Besides, India also scores in terms of being relatively isolated from the depression of the US economy. It is expected that FIIs will invest at least 10 per cent more this year over and above its threshold limit for 2001. In fact, some optimistic fund managers expect a 50 to 60 per cent increase in net fund inflows. Perhaps that is a trifle too optimistic, but mind you, the reasons are all there. For good stock valuations, a stable currency, low inflation rate, low interest rates and abundant liquidity. Also, the government has already initiated divestment plans and has also embarked on tax and labour reforms. This proves its commitment to such reforms. More importantly, the expectation of a recovery in India leading to higher corporate earnings and better understanding of the Indian markets will keep fund managers evenly spaced. Finally, history is on the side of investors too at this stage. Historical evidence suggests the market indices tend to rebound strongly after two consecutive years of losses and therefore the probability that the Sensex, which has seen two consecutive years of decline, could stage a rally during the current calendar year based on historical trends, is fairly high. The Sensex fell 20.7 per cent in 2000, as compared to the previous year, and another 17.9 per cent during 2001. This compounded fall of 38.5 per cent from the close of 1999 has been the steepest fall for two consecutive years in the last 17 years. The BSE Sensex, which is a key Indian market indice has posted negative returns for two consecutive years only 3 times in the last 17 years. In 1986 and 1987, the index posted losses of 0.6 per cent and 15.7 per cent respectively. The index rebounded 50.7 per cent in 1988, the third largest gain in the last 17 years. Again in 1995 and 1996, the index posted losses of 20.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. The index rebounded in 1997 by 18.6 per cent. |
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ROUND-UP
New York, January 23 J&J, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, posted earnings of $ 1.1 billion, or 36 cents per diluted share, compared with $ 936 billion, or 30 cents per share a year earlier. The higher results come on the heels of J&Js 16 per cent rise in third-quarter profits. Before items, it earned 39 per share in the period. Analysts’ earnings estimates ranged from 38 cents to 43 cents per share, with a mean forecast of 39 cents, according to data compiled by research firm Thomson Financial/First Call. Reuters Zigma ties up with Anna varsity
Chennai Paramjit S Bhorjee, CEO of the company, told reporters here today that Zigma would invest Rs 105 crore in the next two years for expanding its operations. He said that out of this outlay, Rs 50 crore had been set apart for setting up Zigma branches in at least 50 colleges in phase one and Rs 50 crore for setting up software development and training centres in various cities.
PTI Can Fin Homes loan approvals up 43 pc
BANGALORE: Can Fin Homes, a housing loan subsidiary of the Canara Bank has recorded a net profit of Rs14.27 crores during the first nine months of the current fiscal registering a 10.2 per cent growth over Rs.12.94 crore achieved during the same period last year despite competition scaling new heights. Can Fin Homes Managing Director in a release here today said that the loan approvals during the period touched Rs 300.35 crore. This was 43 per cent more than Rs 210.46 crore achieved during the first nine months of last fiscal year. The disbursements rose by 34 per cent to touch Rs 210.46 crore. The cumulative loan sanctions of the company rose to Rs 266.08 crore and disbursements Rs 1821.14 crore during the period.
UNI
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Millers cry foul over wheat price New Delhi, January 23 Roller Flour Millers Federation of India president, Ram Avtar Agarwal questioned the rationale behind allowing the wheat for millers at Rs 4,750 per tonne whereas wheat was being sold at Rs 4,250 per tonne to the wheat exporters. Mr Agarwal said though the targeted export destinations were the same, the wheat made available to foreign mills at cheaper prices meant that the government was giving them direct subsidy of Rs 500 per tonne. As a result of this, the Indian milling industry was finding it uncompetitive to export wheat products with the basic cost price of Rs 4,750 on cost insurance freight (CIF) basis whereas the wheat exporters enjoyed the advantage of freight on board (FOB). He asked the government to bring parity in the issue price of wheat for wheat exporters and exporters of wheat products. He said this would not only help the industry revive but also help it competitive in the international market. |
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Telephone users want transparent billing New Delhi, January 23 “The cost components of telephone bill are not understood by the users and there is a need to make the whole billing break-up apparent as well as simple,” the findings of the survey observed, noticing that commercial and official users were highly insensitive to the cost of the telephone services. In the opinion of the survey, the major reason for satisfaction with telecom services was the prevalence of the telecom services at the village level (35 per cent) followed by better service (26 per cent). The telecom operators are needed to address these issues and strive continuously for making accessibility and quality of telecom service better. Fifty-one per cent of the respondents to the survey felt that the major reason for dissatisfaction was the high cost of service and taxation. The industry had to work together to address these concerns to the users, the survey said. Moreover, according to the survey more than two-third of the users were not aware of the fact that the government takes part of their bill payment as revenue sharing. “This has an implication in terms of transparency that should be the foundation of any democratic polity. It is in the fitness of the things that the industry should ensure that all consumers know where each rupee of their payment is going,” the survey noted in its executive summary. |
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Bharti fixes floor price New Delhi, January 23 The company has kept a “green-shoe” option of retaining the oversubscription up to 15 per cent of 18.53 crore shares, Rajan Mittal, Joint
Managing Director of Bharti Group, said here. Going by the floor price, Bharti would mop up at least Rs 833.85 crore. The 100 per cent book-building issue would open on
January 28, the books would be closed February 2 and the listing of Bharti Televentures (service arm of Bharti Group) would take place within three weeks of book closing. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on Delhi, Mumbai and National Stock Exchanges.
PTI
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Corpn Bank net spurts 21.35 pc Chandigarh, January 23 LIC has invested Rs 459.42 crore in the equity capital of the bank raising LIC’s stake to 27 per cent. The bank has also recently entered into an agreement with New India Assurance Company for marketing of non-life insurance products. Disclosing the results for nine months ending December 31, 2001, Mr Verghese said the bank has registered 22.4 per cent increase in it’s gross profits at Rs 482.21 crore for the nine months ending December 31, 2001, over last year. The net profits of the bank increased from Rs 216.51crore to Rs 262.73 crore (21.35 per cent increase), during this period.
Andhra Bank
The Andhra Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 467.80 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 as compared to Rs 337.60 million for the corresponding period last fiscal.
UNI
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Chief Secy’s plea to banks Shimla, January 23 Mr Gupta, who was inaugurating a state-level bankers committee meeting here today, stressed the need for concerted efforts of bankers to develop the human resources through liberal credit training and skill development. Mr S.K. Sood, Financial Commissioner, urged the banks to provide housing loans to government employees as their recovery was ensured. Mr V.P. Shetty, Chairman and Managing Director of the United Commercial Bank, said the banks had disbursed Rs 418.83 crore under various credit schemes in the state. He called upon the banks to make efforts to make the recovery of loans more effective.
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Bharti service
Sundaram Fin Ashok Leyland Panalpina |
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