Net profit up on higher power generation
* To add 3,300 MW capacity this FY
* To appoint merchant bankers for buying coal mines abroad
(Adds details, quotes)
NEW DELHI, July 27 (Reuters) - India's NTPC Ltd (NTPC.BO) on Monday said its net profit rose by more than a quarter on higher electricity sales and it planned to increase generation capacity by a tenth in the current fiscal year.
Chairman R.S. Sharma said NTPC, India's largest power producer, would spend 170 billion rupees ($3.5 billion) during the year to March 2010 to add 3,300 megawatts (MW) more to its capacity of about 31,000 MW at the end of March 2009.
NTPC has been scouting for coal mines abroad to feed its plants and is in the process of appointing merchant bankers for buying coal blocks in Indonesia, Mozambique and Australia, Sharma said. Merchant bankers and technical consultants for two coal blocks in Indonesia would be appointed within a week, he said.
The state-run firm said its net profit rose to 21.9 billion rupees for its fiscal first-quarter ended June from 17.3 billion a year earlier.
Net sales rose to 120 billion rupees from 95.4 billion rupees.
"Primarily it's on generation growth," Sharma told reporters of the rise in net profit.
NTPC generated 11 percent more power at 52.14 billion units in the April-June quarter, from 46.97 billion units during the year-ago period, he said.
Coal shortages in India are plaguing growth in power generation and the government earlier this month said the country would be able to add only 70 percent of its planned target of 14.5 gigawatts capacity for the year to March 2010.
But NTPC has not suffered any generation loss due to coal shortage, Sharma said and was confident about the future.
"I must be able to maintain generation level at (more than) 90 percent," he said.
NTPC plans to import 12.5 million tonnes of coal this fiscal, higher than 8.5 million tonnes it imported last fiscal, Sharma said. ($1=48.2 rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Mariam Karouny)
NTPC Q1 net up 27 pct, to add more capacity
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GVK Power Q1 profit falls to INR 1.85 crore
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GVK Power & Infrastructure Limited has announced the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30th 2009. It has posted a net profit of INR 18.50 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2009 as compared to INR 90.00 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2008. Total income has decreased from INR 136.20 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2008 to INR 98.80 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2009.
The Group has posted consolidated net profit after tax minority interest of INR 327.30 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2009 as compared to INR 405.50 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2008. Total income has increased from INR 1413.70 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2008 to INR 3359.90 million for the quarter ended June 30th 2009.
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ABOUT GVK
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GVK Power & Infrastructure Limited is an India-based company.
The Company is focusing on power generation assets (gas, hydel and thermal), roads, airports, coal mines and oil and gas. On May 9, 2008, the Company acquired GVK Developmental Projects Private Limited.
On November 27, 2008, the Company acquired GVK Energy Limited.
The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary GVK Aviation Private Limited ceased to be a subsidiary with effect from September 30, 2008.
Maoists threaten to attack NALCO mine
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BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Security was tightened at the National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) bauxite mine, after the company received a letter from suspected Maoists threatening to attack the site, a top official said on Wednesday.
"The letter came to us by post few days ago and we have beefed up security," P.K. Mohapatra, executive director (mines and refinery) told Reuters.
In April, Maoist rebels attacked the mine in Orissa and killed 10 police before fleeing with explosives.
The mine which has a capacity to produce 4.8 million tonnes of bauxite a year for the company's refinery nearby, had seen a temporary fall in output after the attack in April.
In the letter, the rebels asked NALCO to provide 2,000 contract labourers with permanent jobs within a month.
The rebels regularly carry out similar raids in other factories in eastern and central India as well, officials said.
The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers operate in several parts of the country, mostly attacking government personnel and property.
Orbit Corp starts $30 mln QIP issue
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MUMBAI (Reuters) - Real estate firm Orbit Corp Ltd opened up to $30 million share placement to institutional investors on Wednesday, two sources told Reuters.
The company will sell the shares at around 185 rupees each, the sources said.
Kotak (KOTAKBANK.NS : 714.65 -11.45) Mahindra Capital, Macquarie Capital and Edelweiss Capital are the arrangers to the issue.
NHPC IPO generates investor demand for Rs 1.42 lakh cr shares
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NEW DELHI: Signaling the revival of investor interest in the primary market, the initial public offering of state-run NHPC has generated demand for shares worth Rs 1.42 lakh crore, an amount nearly 23 times the value of scrips on offer.
Analysts believe that the overwhelming investor response in the NHPC IPO is expected to encourage other public sector firms to tap the primary market route to raise funds.
Adani Power, the initial public offer of which closed early this month, also witnessed a stupendous response, with the IPO getting subscribed over 20 times the shares on offer.
While Adani Power issue had generated a demand for shares worth over Rs 53,841.80 crore, NHPC was subscribed nearly 24 times and garnered a demand for Rs 1.42 lakh crore shares.
Analysts believe that with stellar response in both the IPOs, the primary market is back on track and more companies which are waiting on the sidelines would think of hitting the capital market now.
The NHPC issue, which closed today, received bids for over 3,946.85 crore shares against 167.73 crore on offer, garnering a demand of 23.68 times the shares on offer, as per data available on the National Stock Exchange.
Investment banking sources said most of the bids came in at Rs 36, thereby signaling that the issue price would be fixed at the higher end of the price band. The company would be listed in the first week of September.
ADAG firm Adlabs Films plans rights issue of up to Rs 600 cr
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MUMBAI: Anil Dhribhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company Adlabs Films on Wednesday said it planned to raise up to Rs 600 crore by way of a rights issue.
The price and share ratio would be announced in due course, the company said in a release here.
The proceeds of the rights issue would be used for expansion and growth opportunities including investment in various projects in India as well as abroad, it said.
The film and entertainment services company, which earned revenues of Rs 733 crore in FY 09, plans to expand its worldwide exhibition screen-count from 428 screens in April to over 570 screens in the next one-year.
It plans to set up a 2,00,000 sq.ft state-of-the-art studio and sound stages at Film City, Mumbai, and enhance the inventory of film and broadcast cameras, lights and post- production infrastructure, the release said.
Adlabs is also setting up a 1,200-member media BPO, specialising in content processing, image enhancement and restoration services.
Maytas gets nod to exit biotech SEZ
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NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday allowed Maytas Ventures — promoted by relatives of scam-tainted former CEO of Satyam B Ramalinga Raju — to give up its bio-tech SEZ in Hyderabad. No decision, however, was taken on RIL’s request of getting a two-year extension for completing the process of acquiring land for its multi-product zone at Gurgaon.
The board of approval (BoA) for SEZs — a group of senior government officials which approves new SEZ proposals and various related activities — also gave its approval to three new proposals that includes Brooke Bond real estate’s proposal of setting up an IT/ITES SEZ in Karnataka. The other two approved proposals are for setting up an electronics hardware & ITES SEZ by Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation and a solar SEZ in Orissa to be developed by Lanco Solar at Ramdaspur in Cuttak.
The board decided to enlarge the list of default operations — activities for which developers are allowed to get approvals from their zonal authorities and skip the long-drawn process of getting it vetted from the BoA. The additional activities for which the relaxation is being considered include setting up of play zones, bus bays, effluent treatment plants and pipelines and Wi-Fi, Wi-Max services
While the BoA decided to allow Maytas Ventures to withdraw its bio-tech SEZ as the company had pleaded that it did not have enough resources to go ahead with the project, it did not agree to the request that the sales tax enjoyed by the developer while executing the project be waived off. The board directed that “denotification” of the SEZ will be allowed provided the company paid back Rs 31 lakh worth of service tax exemption it had availed of, a commerce department official said.
A decision on RIL’s request of a two-year extension in the time allowed to launch its multi-product SEZ in Gurgaon was deferred by the BoA. The BoA has already given two extensions to the ambitious project, originally planned over an area of 25,000 acres, but later reduced it to 12,000 acres. The developers have managed to acquire a small portion of the land so far.
During the first quarter of current financial year, total export of Rs 39,411 crore was made from SEZs marking an increase of 25% over exports in the first quarter of the previous year.
Sun Pharma gets US nod for two generic drugs
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BANGALORE: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has got the US Food and Drug Administration's approval to launch its generic version of
GlaxoSmithKline's Imitrex tablets to treat migraine, the Indian drugmaker said.
Sun Pharma, India's largest drugmaker by market value, has also received US regulatory approval to launch oxaliplatin injections, the copycat version of Sanofi-Aventis' Eloxatin that is used to treat colon and rectal cancer, it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Sun Pharma will share a 180-day marketing exclusivity for oxaliplatin with three other generic makers, the Indian firm said.
Oxaliplatin injections have annual sales of about $2.3 billion in the United States.
Sterlite sweetens offer price for Asarco assets
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MUMBAI: The battle for US copper mining firm Asarco is expected to be over by the end of this month with the bidders, Sterlite Industries and Grupo Mexico, revising their offers.
India’s largest copper maker Sterlite Industries on Tuesday announced that it had revised its bid for acquiring the assets of Asarco, which is attempting to emerge from court-supervised bankruptcy, for a cash payment of $1.58 billion and a deferred payment of $208 million through participatory notes after its rival sweetened its offer by increasing the cash portion by $260 million and revised the total value of its bid to $2 billion. Earlier, Sterlite, a part of London-listed Vedanta, had offered to pay $1.1 billion in cash and $770 million by way of participatory notes.
A person at Sterlite told ET: “The consideration was changed to reflect a rise in copper prices and to meet the expectations of creditors.” Asarco’s creditors will choose from these two offers next week and will then approach the US bankruptcy court for its nod. The successful bid needs to be supported by three-fourths of creditors. Asarco is undergoing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, under which a company enjoys some protection from its creditors, while it tries to restructure under court supervision.
Asarco, founded in 1899 as the American Smelting and Refining company and whose owners have included members of the Rockefeller and the Guggenheim business dynasties, has around five million tonne of copper reserves and produced 235,000 tonne of refined copper in 2007.
In fiscal 2008, Asarco had revenues of nearly $1.9 billion and $393 million in profit before tax. Asarco is a 110-year-old company and is the third largest copper producer in the US. It filed for bankruptcy in 2005 after running up more than $1 billion in environmental claims.
Sterlite chairman Anil Agarwal had said that the acquisition was in line with the Vedanta’s “strategy of leveraging its existing skills to become a diversified global copper producer and creating long-term value for shareholders.” Vedanta, in addition to its Indian assets, has equity ownership in Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines.
The rival offers are not strictly comparable as Sterlite wants to buy Asarco’s assets while Grupo Mexico is interested in buying the company in its entirety. “The US bankruptcy court is expected to announce the winning bidder by end of this month,” said the person quoted earlier.
In April, a federal judge in Texas awarded a judgement against Americas Mining Corp, a unit of Grupo Mexico, accusing it of fraudulently transferring to itself Asarco’s erstwhile controlling interest in Southern Copper. The court award includes about 260 million shares of Southern Copper Corp and about $1.4 million in cash.
Jaypee Group, L&T ink Rs 4,000-cr deal for equipment supply
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Jaiprakaskh Power Venture promoted Jaypee Group and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Wednesday signed Rs 4,000-crore agreement for the supply of boiler and steam turbine generator.
"As per the agreement, L&T will supply super critical units for the 2x660 MW thermal power project for Jaiprakash Power Venture," the company said in a statement.
Market Today
0 commentsIndian equities potrayed a good recovery show at the fag end of the session, though it closed marginally lower. Buying was seen in realty and health care stocks. On the other hand, IT and Metal stocks witnessed selling spree.
Major gainers in the sectoral indices were BSE Realty (2.15%), Health Care (1.31%) and Auto (0.36%). Meanwhile, BSE IT (1.78%). Metal (1.63%) and Oil&Gas (0.63%) were major losers in the sectoral indices.
BSE Midcal and Smallcap stocks too moved up smartly gaining 0.28% and 0.47% respectively.
On the global front, Asian stocks fell for the first time in three days and Chinese shares entered a so-called correction, amid concern a rally in equities had outpaced earnings prospects. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei fell 150.46 points, or 1.42%, to end at 10,435 meanwhile Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index declined 638.97 points, or 3.03%, to close at 20,435.24. On the other hand, China`s Shanghai Composite lost 152.01 points, or 4.66% to settle at 3,112.72.
European however traded positive at the time of close, UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 24.26 points, or 0.52%, to trade at 4,695.60 while French benchmark index CAC 40 gained 17.757 points, or 0.51%, to trade at 3,473.93. Germany`s benchmark index DAX climbed 34.76 points, or 0.66% to trade at 5,320.57.
The Sensex ended the day with a loss of 54.43 points, or 0.36% at 15,020.16 after touching a high of 15,043.62 and a low of 14,701.05. The broad-based NSE Nifty declined 13.85 points, or 0.31% at 4,457.50 after hitting a high of 4,473.80 and a low of 4,359.40.
Major gainers in the 30-share index were Bharti Airtel (5.84%), Tata Motors (4.41%), D L F (2.91%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.73%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (2.73%), and H D F C Bank (1.64%).
On the other hand, Tata Steel (4.20%), Tata Consultancy Services (4.11%), Hindustan Unilever (2.32%), Infosys Technologies (1.87%), Hindalco Industries (1.85%), and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.82%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.
Overall market breadth was marginally negative. Out of the total 2,681 shares traded at BSE, 1,214 advanced, 1,368 declined while 99 remained unchanged
Graphite India Q1 net profit up by 35.43pct
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Sunday, 09 Aug 2009
Graphite India reported a 35.43 % rise in net profit at INR 45.18 crore for the Q1 ended June 30th 2009 as compared to a INR 33.36 crore net in the previous year. The growth in profit comes despite a 14.53 % drop in Graphite India’s April to June gross sales revenue at INR 244.51 crore,
Graphite India’s net sales for the quarter under review too dipped by 13.99 % to INR 234.44 crore and interest outgo to INR 3.87 crore. Depreciation costs, however was marginally up at INR 9.81 crore. Incidentally, the company’s quarter results include the numbers of Powmex Steel division consequent to its merger with the company with effect from February 1st 2009.
Mr A KK Bangur group flagship with interests in graphite electrodes, Graphite India produces 60,000 tonnes of graphite electrodes in India and another 18,000 tonnes in Germany.
Mr KK Bangur chairman of Graphite India attributed the improved performance to higher sales realization FOREX gains and reduction in operational cost despite lower volume of sales. He added that "The performance of the company’s electrode division during the quarter was affected due to low demand from the steel industry which continues to reel under global recession. Since the economic stimulus announced by various countries is expected to gradually lead to increased consumer demand for steel, especially in the housing, infrastructure, white goods and automobile sectors, demand for graphite electrodes is also expected to pick up from the second half of 2009-10.”
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profile
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Graphite India Limited is an Indian company that operates through three segments: graphite and carbon segment,
power segment and
other segment.
Graphite and carbon segment is engaged in the production of graphite electrodes, anodes, and other miscellaneous carbon and graphite products.
Power segment is engaged in the generation of power.
The other segment is engaged in manufacturing of impervious graphite equipment (IGE) and glass reinforced pipes (GRP).
The Company's coke division in Barauni is engaged in the manufacture of calcined petroleum coke, electrode paste and tamping paste.
Its IGE division manufactures and markets heat exchangers, ejectors, pumps and turnkey plants at its Nashik Works.