Indian Stock Investments

Panacea Biotec - Panacea expects WHO pre-qualification for vaccine

2008-06-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

The firm was pre-qualified by WHO in January to supply two other combination vaccines for paediatric immunisation

Vaccine and drug maker Panacea Biotec Ltd expects to get World Health Organisation’s (WHO) pre-qualification for its pentavalent combination vaccine in July-Sept quarter, its joint managing director said.
Pre-qualification acts as a guide to help countries and United Nations agencies select suppliers for the drugs.
“With only two players and both not able to meet the market demand, I think there is a huge opportunity lying in front of us,” Rajesh Jain told Reuters.
“It is a market of close to 120 million doses per year and market size of $350-400 million,” he added.
Panacea’s Easyfive is a combination of vaccines for immunising children against Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus etc.
The firm was pre-qualified by WHO in January to supply two other combination vaccines for paediatric immunisation.

Link to the article: http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/27135521/Panacea-expects-WHO-prequalif.html

Alok - Alok Ind may launch IPO for retail biz

2008-06-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Alok Industries, a Rs 2,160-crore textile company, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for its retail business to raise Rs 500-600 crore, sources said.

Alok, which entered the $15-billion organised retail sector in the country in 2006, operates 23 retail stores called ‘H&A’, short for Home & Apparel, in Mumbai, Bangalore, Vapi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Silvassa and others.

A few days ago, chief financial officer Sunil Khandelwal had said that Alok would set up 100 new stores in FY09 with an investment of Rs 40 lakh per store. So the total investment marked is Rs 40 crore.

The expansion would be funded through a mix of internal accruals and debt. By 2010-11, the company hopes to take the number of stores to 400. The retail business presently contributes 1% to the company’s turnover.

In April, Alok’s board had approved the spin-off of the H&A business into a separate subsidiary called Alok Homes & Apparels.

“The fact that Alok is heavily increasing the number of stores means it wants to generate awareness about its retail presence and list the business as a separate entity,” said a source.

The retail division, however, is not doing too well. An H&A store in Pune shut down recently and a few in Mumbai too may shut shop soon.

Link to the article: http://finance.indiainfo.com/2008/06/26/0806261607_alok_ind_may_launch_ipo_for_retail_biz.html

Alok - Alok Ind may launch IPO for retail biz

2008-06-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Alok Industries announces its IPO. The details of the issue are as follows:

This report is provided as part of IIR Group Ltd.’s GEO (Global Equity Offerings) Monitor service, which tracks global IPO activity. Our GEO Monitor is the only comprehensive research coverage of global IPO’s outside the US available to the market and provides you with three key deliverables:

Weekly IPO Calendar identifying all up-coming global IPO’s (excluding the US) >USD100 mn proceeds in the next 6-months

Daily Newsflash Service, providing up-to-date news flow on all companies in the IPO Calendar as well as identifying any new announcements or withdrawals

Preliminary IPO research reports with subscription recommendations.

Visit us at GEO Monitor for more information or contact us

Link to the article: http://finance.indiainfo.com/2008/06/26/0806261607_alok_ind_may_launch_ipo_for_retail_biz.html

Subex - Press Release

2008-06-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Press Release 26 June 2008
Leading service provider in Romania aims for increased flexibility and
maximum revenues using Subex’s Revenue Assurance solution
Will use Moneta to meet revenue assurance challenges
Bangalore, INDIA: Subex Limited, a leading global provider of Operations and
Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), announced today that one of Romania’s
leading mobile service providers has contracted to implement Moneta™, Subex’s
leading Revenue Assurance system. Moneta will provide the company with increased
flexibility to meet its revenue assurance needs from a strategic as well as an
operational standpoint. The company is already using Subex’s NikiraTM for its Fraud
Management requirements.
Sudeesh Yezhuvath, COO, Subex Ltd, said, “We are very pleased to strengthen our
relationship with this customer. Since we are already well tuned into the service
provider’s operating environment, the upgrade to Moneta will be smooth and it will
meet the provider’s revenue assurance challenges quickly. This additional
implementation is a clear indication of the superiority of our products and the
confidence customers have in our solutions.”
The Moneta implementation will provide the service provider with an integrated
solution to address revenue assurance issues across areas such as service
fulfillment, usage integrity, retail billing, interconnect/wholesale billing and content
settlement.
A key component of the Subex suite of Revenue Maximization solutions, Moneta is
the leading choice for telecom operators looking to improve the health and vitality of
the entire revenue chain. It helps tackle critical Revenue Assurance challenges
across the enterprise and provides unprecedented automated correction capabilities
to improve bottom-line results and provide a quick return-on-investment.
Page 2 of 2
Leading service providers around the world turn to Subex to combat fraud, conduct
revenue assurance, correct configuration and interconnect billing errors, and manage
third-party relationships to maximize margins and adopt lean operations.
-ENDSAbout
Subex Limited
Subex Limited is a leading global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems
(OSS/BSS) that empowers communications service providers to achieve competitive
advantage and deliver new service experiences to subscribers. The company pioneered the
strategic concept of the Revenue Operations Center (ROC) – a centralized framework for
end-to-end control of a service provider's revenue and costs, fostering operational
dexterity for sustained profitability.
Subex's software portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions enable new service
creation, operational transformation, subscriber-centric fulfillment, provisioning automation,
revenue assurance, cost management, data integrity management, fraud management and
interconnect/interparty settlement.
Subex's customers include 32 of the world's 50 largest service providers. The company has
more than 270 installations across 70 countries.
For more information please visit www.subexworld.com.
Forward Looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning Subex’s products, strategy and future growth
prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward–looking
statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not
limited to, market acceptance of Subex’s products and services, Subex’s ability to implement
its growth strategy, competition in Subex’s areas of business and general economic
conditions affecting the telecom industry.
Media Contact:
Harshita Nair
Subex Ltd.
tel +91 80 6659 4157
harshita.nair@subexworld.com
Further information:
In the U.S. please contact Guy Murrel at Catapult PR-IR
tel +1 303-581-7760
gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com
In India please contact Shivaram Lakshminarayan at Genesis Burson-Marsteller PR
tel: +91 9886136796
shivaram.l@bm.com

Alok - Alok Inds to invest 400 mln rupees on retail expansion

2008-06-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Textiles firm Alok Industries Ltd (ALOK.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) is investing 400 million rupees in FY09 to expand its domestic retail network and reduce dependence on the U.S. market and boost growth, a top official told Reuters on Monday.

"As part of our overall strategy, we are exploring other markets such as Europe and the Middle East and the domestic market," Chief Financial Officer Sunil Khandelwal said.

"We plan to add 100 stores and take our total retail stores (in India) to 125 this year," he said over the telephone.

The firm will invest 4 million rupees per store in this current fiscal, taking its total investment to 400 million rupees, Khandelwal added.

The money will be raised through a mix of internal accruals and debt, he said.

Alok Industries is in the process of separating its retail business into Alok Homes & Apparels Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, as part of a larger plan to open over 400 stores in India by 2010/11.

The company is increasing exports to regions like Europe, the Middle East and Latin America to cut dependence on the U.S., which is seeing a slowdown in consumer spending.

Exports, which currently form about 45 percent of Alok's revenue stream, is led by the U.S. which accounts for around 35 percent of total exports.

European and Asian countries account for 15 to 20 percent each of Alok's exports, Khandelwal said.

PE DEAL BY JULY

Alok Industries plans to raise funds by end-July from private equity investors for its realty unit Alok Infrastructure, which develops commercial and residential projects, Khandelwal said.

"It should have been done by now, but the market sentiments went down a bit...but our efforts are on and we hope to close the deal in July," he said.

The firm is in talks with some foreign private equity firms, operating in India to sell part of its stake in the unit and raise funds, he said.

"But it is difficult to say how much we can raise, as the deal for our realty venture will be done on a project by project basis. Investors are selecting projects which they would like to enter," he said.

Axis Bank, Motilal Oswal and IL&FS are advising the firm on the deal, while Ernst and Young is valuing the properties.

Link to the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINBOM628720080623

IVRCL - News Verification

2008-06-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

Source: BSE - With reference to the news item appearing in a leading financial daily titled "IVRCL near $100m Swedish buyout", IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd has clarified to BSE that the Company deny the issue of the news item appeared in the financial daily. Date: 2008-06-20

Source: NSE - News Verification : The media had reports that IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd. may acquire a Swedish construction equipment manufacturer, for deal valued around $100 million. The Exchange, in order to verify the accuracy or otherwise of the information reported in the media and to inform the market place so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded, had written to the officials of the company. IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd. has vide its letter inter-alia stated, "We would like to deny the issue of the news item that has appeared in the media and we further confirm that we shall intimate the stock exchange as and when any such type of development takes place." Date: 2008-06-20

IVRCL - Buy IVRCL Infra, target of Rs 522: Religare

2008-06-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

Religare Research has recommended a buy rating on IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects with a target price of Rs 522 in its June 16, 2008 research report. "At the current price of Rs 373, IVRCL’s core business (discounting other businesses at 50%) is trading at 12x one-year-forward earnings. Our DCF value for the core business stands at Rs 398 (which is 20x FY09E earnings), with other ventures valued at Rs 124. This gives us a combined target of Rs 522," says Religare's research report.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/recommendations/buy-ivrcl-infra,-target-of-rs-522:-religare/343484

IVRCL - IVRCL near $100m Swedish buyout

2008-06-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects is close to acquiring a Swedish construction equipment manufacturer. The deal, valued upwards of $100 million, will speed up the $1 billion company’s backward integration drive.

The deal is currently going through legal due diligence and should be closed soon if everything goes right, group chairman and managing director E Sudhir Reddy told DNA Money.

The acquisition will play a key role in IVRCL’s goal to be a $2 billion company within the next five years. Apart from meeting its IVRCL’s requirement for construction equipment, it will also help the construction major to foray into neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh and regions like the Middle East and southeast Asia, Reddy added.

He did not name the target company, but said it was a well-know and established brand in the construction equipment business.

Meanwhile, IVRCL is also scouting for smaller acquisitions in the $10-15 million range. These will add to its consulting and services portfolio in the oil and gas sector. “There will be one or two such acquisitions immediately and perhaps two more later,” Reddy added.

These smaller acquisitions will also add to the KPO capabilities of IVRCL’s wholly owned engineering and turnkey solutions subsidiary Hindustan Dorr Oliver (HDO).

IVRCL had acquired an ailing HDO about three years back and turned it around. Subsequent to the acquisition, HDO has emerged as an engineering and turnkey solutions company and IVRCL is looking to leverage its capabilities in the oil and gas business too.

The subsidiary currently has a 150 strong KPO team while another 100 odd engineers should be added to it in the next two months through the acquisitions, the IVRCL chairman said. In two years time, it should a 800-1000-people-strong knowledge provider.

More recently, IVRCL bought privately held oil and gas exploration and production company Alkor Petroo Ltd, including rights in five exploration blocks in Yemen and Egypt.

IVRCL has hitched its wagon to India’s development story. According to the planning commission, the country will need an investment of $103 billion in the 11th Plan period.

IVRCL implements water supply and environment projects in India on an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) basis and has a presence across the value chain, Credit Suisse research analysts Amit Shah and Vinod Chari observed in report. They added that the company will be one of the major beneficiaries of the accelerating capex in the country going forward, given its expertise in executing such projects.

IVRCL has a current order book of Rs 14,000 crore which will be executed over the next 30 months. Significantly, 98% of its orders are government projects of which 55% are related to water projects.

“We should grow at a CAGR of 40-45% over the next three years to be a $2 billion entity within the next five years,” the company CMD said.

Link to the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1172335

IVRCL - HDO rides on high margin projects

2008-06-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

With a current order book of Rs 7.4 bn, two major high-margin projects and and after completion of Uranium Corporation plant in Jharkhand, Hindustan Dor Oliver (HDO) is bidding for another in Andhra Pradesh which could be a $5 bn opportunity.

HDO reported a revenue of Rs 3.05 bn in 2007-08, an increase of 46 percent on a year-on-year basis. In the last quarter margins have shot up to 14.4% mainly because of two projects, one in Nalco in mineral beneficiation and second a fertiliser project with RCF, Mumbai, where HDO margins were better.

Of the current order book, environmental and mineral beneficiation accounts for Rs3bn and Rs3.7bn respectively. Paper, fertiliser and water accounts for another Rs750m. HDO recently won a Rs2.5bn order from Vedanta Aluminium.

Going ahead, the management expects its margin to improve by 1-1.5% from the current levels of 11.5%. At the current market price of Rs100, the stock trades at 10.8 x FY09E and 7.2x FY10E earnings of Rs9.2 and Rs13.8 respectively. “We maintain Outperformer rating on the stock with a price target of Rs138 and an upside of 38.5%,” according to Prabhudas Liladhar.

Company officials have said that around 40% of our revenue should be from minerals business, 35% from environmental and 25% from manufacturing, fertilisers and paper & pulp business.

The Vedanta order: HDO received an order worth Rs2.5bn from Vedanta Aluminium for design, engineering, procurement and other civil works for expansion of Vedanta's alumina refinery project in Orissa. This should be executable over 17 months. In the previous two years HDO completed Rs4bn worth of orders.

HDO intends to spend Rs500m on capital expenditure in FY09 which will be for manufacturing facility in Gujarat, to manufacture heat exchangers, pressure vessels, etc.

Hindustan Dorr Oliver Limited (HDO) is an Indian EPC company and a wholly owned subsidiary of IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects Ltd. It has its core business activities in providing Engineered Solutions, technologies and EPC installations in Liquid-Solid Separation applications.

Link to the article: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/topstory/HDO-rides-on-high-margin-projects-9700-3.html

IVRCL - Hindustan Dorr Oliver

2008-06-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Prabhudas Lilladher has maintained ‘outperformer’ rating on Hindustan Dorr Oliver with a price target of Rs 138, an upside of 38.5 per cent from current level. The company reported revenue of Rs 305 crore in 2007-08, 46 per cent year on year increase.

EBITDA margin for the year improved by 240 basis points to 11.3 per cent, while margin for Jan-Mar 2007-08 shot up to 14.4 per cent from 9.9 per cent in Jan-Mar 2006-07. The margin expansion has been mainly due to two projects with higher margins. The management expects its margin to improve by 1-1.5 per cent from the current levels of 11.5 per cent.

The company’s order book currently stands at Rs 740 crore. Out of this, environmental and mineral beneficiation accounts for Rs 300 crore and Rs 370 crore respectively. Paper, fertiliser and water accounts for another Rs 75 crore. The company recently won a Rs 250 crore order from Vedanta Aluminium. The current order book provides a reliable outlook on the growth targets set by the company management, says the brokerage.

The company intends to spend Rs 50 crore on capital expenditure in 2008-09, mainly for their manufacturing facility in Gujarat.

At the market price of Rs 100, the stock trades at 10.8 x FY09E and 7.2x FY10E earnings of Rs 9.2 and Rs 13.8 respectively.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Prabhudas_picks_Hindustan_Dorr_Oliver_Ashok_Leyland_Suzlon/articleshow/3145241.cms

Panacea Biotec - Emkay recommends a `BUY` on Panacea Biotec

2008-06-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

Emkay recommended a `BUY` on Panacea Biotec (Q, N,C,F)* (CMP: Rs 333) with a target price of Rs 536.

The analysts at Emkay visited the state-of-the-art vaccine facility (Baddi) of Panacea Biotec recently. After detailed discussions with the management they believe that Panacea Biotec has many catalysts going forward in the form of combination vaccines (USD 475 million opportunity), anthrax vaccine for US (USD 100 million opportunity for
Panacea, launch of IPV in domestic market and organ transplant products in Brazilian market and monetizing of innovative products (NDDS based pipeline) in the regulated markets, etc. after a somber FY08.

The analsyts firmly believe that Panacea is currently at an inflexion point and will have strong tractions of growth from FY10E onwards. On the back of muted performance in
FY08 & delay in the approval of combination vaccines, they have revised their FY09 numbers downwards. Their revised EPS estimate for FY09E is Rs 21.7.

Link to the article: http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/newsPopup.php?fileR=20080618161607094&dir=2008/06/18&secID=livenews

IVRCL - IVR Prime plans Re-Sorts, eyes MICE pie

2008-06-18T18:44:00.001-07:00

IVRCL arm to invest close to Rs 750 cr to set up 10-15 resorts

HYDERABAD: IVR Prime Urban Developers, the urban development arm of the $625-million realty giant IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects, will build holiday resorts and conference centres across India to cash in on the fast-growing meetings, incentives, conventions and events (MICE) market here.

Under the brand IVR Re-Sorts, the company will add 1,000 keys over the next 2-3 years, group chairman and managing director E Sudhir Reddy told DNA Money. IVR Prime will invest up to Rs 750 crore to set up 10-15 resorts, including six in North India and one 25-acre project in Panvel near Mumbai.

Other cities on its radar are Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.

Work on the first of the resorts will begin soon at Rewari near Delhi, followed by Sultanpur, Reddy said, adding that a total of 110 rooms each will come up in phase I and II. Spread over 10 acres, these new resorts will be four storeyed to make optimum use of floor space index (FSI).

With a total land bank of 3,000 acre, IVR Prime is into development of integrated townships and residential and commercial projects including hotels, malls and IT parks across seven Indian cities.

The company’s diversification into resorts comes at a time when the real estate market for residential and commercial space is seeing a slowdown. An analyst said that instead of building residential and commercial properties, the company could monetise big chunks of its land bank by developing such resorts. This would also increase the valuation for IVR Prime’s assets, the analyst added.

Thanks to the economic boom, the MICE segment, estimated at $300 billion globally, is growing at a healthy 15-20% per annum in India, show estimates. This segment contributes as much as 30% to the overall travel volume.

According to the International Congress and Convention Association, India has just 1% share in the global meetings business. Though small, this figure provides ample opportunities for India, which can claim a sizeable chunk of the Asian MICE business. Nearly 70% of MICE meetings are held in city hotels, with 21% being in resorts.

The management contract for all the IVR Prime resorts will go to Ellaa Compass Suites, a hospitality company that IVRCL owns with Malaysia’s Compass Hospitality. Ellaa currently runs a 123-room hotel and spa at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.

Link to the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1172098

Biocon - Pharma major Biocon plans unit to make tablets

2008-06-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Biopharma major Biocon is planning to set up a dedicated greenfield facility to manufacture tablet formulations.

The Bangalore-based company currently outsources this activity. Biocon is in the tablet formulation market in a small way now across the nephrology, diabetology, cardiology and oncology verticals.

This segment accounts for about 10% of Biocons revenues, which it hopes to more than double to 25% in the next three to four years with its own manufacturing facility. Biocon manufactures its own injectable formulations across all bio-pharma verticals that it operates in.

TOI had reported in April that Biocon was looking at manufacturing tablet formulations at its upcoming facility in Visakhapatnam.

Speaking to TOI this week, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD of Biocon, said, “We are looking at manufacturing our own tablet formulations, but it definitely won't happen at the new facility in Andhra Pradesh. We are planning to set up a greenfield facility for this purpose which will be finalized only in the next fiscal.”

According to analysts, this move will widen the company's base in the branded formulations market. Mazumdar said the facility would require an investment of a few hundred crore.

Link to the article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Pharma_major_Biocon_plans_unit_to_make_tablets/articleshow/3139146.cms

Subex - Buy Subex at current level: Baliga

2008-06-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking is of the view that one can buy Subex at the current level of Rs 125-126.

Baliga told CNBC-TV18, "We have been buying Sasken. We bought that stock closer to around Rs 110-115 levels because we had a target price of closer to around Rs 175-180. The levels were reached some time back when they had announced the buyback. But then on a day like this, when we have got a return of close to around Rs 40-50 on this stock, we have started booking profits."

He further added, "At the same time, we are continuing to buy a stock like Subex, which we were buying at Rs 110-115 levels. Even at the current levels of around Rs 125-126, we continue buying this stock."

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/stocks-views/buy-subex-at-current-level-baliga/16/21/342929

Dwarikesh - Dwarikesh Sugar pays Rs 21 cr cane dues to farmers

2008-06-17T04:03:00.001-07:00

Uttar Pradesh-based Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd today said it has cleared all cane price dues worth over Rs 21 crore for 2007-08, even as another leading firm Bajaj Hindusthan is embroiled in a controversy over default in payment.

"This was in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court. It has thus become one of the few companies in the state to have done so," Dwarikesh Sugar said in a statement.

It had also paid Rs 21.15 crore as cane price dues in 2006-07, a company spokesperson said.

The company has three units -- two in Bijnor and one in Bareli -- with a total capacity of 21,500 tons crushing per day (TCPD).

It has crushed around 19.40 lakh tons of sugarcane and produced 2.02 lakh tons of sugar in the current season that would come to end in September 2008.

The company has also embarked upon projects to generate additional power and targets to supply 56 MW to the state grid. It also runs a distillery with a capacity of 30 kilo liter per day (KLPD) to manufacture ethanol and has contracts to supply it to oil marketing companies.

Bajaj Hindusthan on June 11 had to pay Rs 19 crore and promised to pay the balance in a week time as part of a solution to the strike at its Kinanuni sugar mill, which was locked by farmers over cane dues.

Earlier, the company had said it has paid Rs 1,283.87 crore to farmers for their sugarcane during the current season while only Rs 66.31 crore remains to be paid.

Link to the article: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1689374/

Dwarikesh - Dwarikesh Sugar Industries clears cane price dues

2008-06-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has cleared all cane price dues for all its units for the crushing season 2007-08.

This was in compliance of the order of the honorable Supreme Court. It has thus become one of the few companies in the state of UP to have done so.

Further the company has informed that it was amongst the first to clear the cane dues for the season 2006-07.

As of now, the company has no arrears of cane dues in its books of accounts.

Most recently, Bajaj Hindusthan, one of the largest sugar producers in the country has been in the eye of storm for not honouring farmer's commitments.

Link to the article: http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=40021

Subex - Subex can bounce back to Rs 200-225: Baliga

2008-06-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking is of the view that Subex can bounce back to Rs 200-225 in the next couple of months.

Baliga told CNBC-TV18, "At the small and midcap space, I don’t think you can really be sector specific and you need to have a bottom up approach and we have been tracking a couple of stocks, which are actually quoting at major discounts to its intense value and in fact we have been buying those on dips. We have few in the IT space, which we will buy. Allsec Technologies which is basically in to BPO space, which has cash in books of around Rs 85-90 which is quoting at closer to Rs 60, so its quoting to even a discount to which the cash which it has in its books. Subex has moved from levels of Rs 600 odd to levels closer Rs 100-112, an at least today its quoting at around Rs 123-124, here we see it again bouncing back at least around to Rs 200-225 levels in the next couple of months."

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/stocks-views/subex-can-bounce-back-to-rs-200-225:-baliga/342707

Biocon - Buy Biocon: Bose

2008-06-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

Technical Analyst, Rajat K Bose is of the view that one can buy Biocon.

Bose told CNBC-TV18, "One can buy into Biocon. This is another Indian pharma company and it is likely to move up to something like Rs 556 levels. If it crosses that then it can even move up further. But for now one can go long in it because its performance seems to be pretty good technically speaking."

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/stocks-views/buy-biocon:-bose/342653

Next leg of the bull run likely to begin soon

2008-06-16T04:17:00.000-07:00

What the Sensex started in May 2003 at 2904 was part of a multi-year bull run. It finished a larger third wave up at 21206, but the larger move, which is subdividing into a five-wave pattern called an impulse, seems incomplete, implying that after this correction is over we should resume the last or fifth leg of this bull market. The answer lies in wave personalities and wave equalities.

We have had one major panic low on the chart at 2594, post 9/11, which is characteristic of the start of any bull run. We then started a larger wave-III move from the lows of 2904, which itself subdivides into five waves. The break-up of the move: ‘Wave I’ started at 2904 (2003) and ended near the election time at 6249 (January 2004). From there a ‘wave II’ started and ended precariously after the BJP rule at 4227 (May 2004) after completing a 61.8% retracement of the previous ‘wave I’.

The rally that started afterwards was the mother of all bull runs to date and saw the index going from 4227 to 14723 (February 2007) in three years, with the ‘wave III of 3’ extending as much as 200% of ‘wave I’ on log scale charts.

The ‘wave IV’ then played out between February-March 2007 made a significant bottom at 12316. The ‘wave V’ then scorched its way till 21206 and completed wave III.

Then came the spanner in the India story and investors were ‘surprisingly disappointed’ (wave personality), suffering a rude awakening when a larger wave IV, which has already retraced more than 35% of wave III played out from the upper channel resistances at 21206.

This leaves us with one pending move-up and investors could have one last but risky chance at making some moolah. Risky, as this would be the last leg after which a 1-2 year bear market is in store. The wave IVcould extend worst case till 13800.

The pending wave V should target, at least, 18350, which is 61.8% retracement levels for the fall from 21206-13800. The wave equality target would leave us near to 20000 levels and that’s the second alternative target level for the Sensex, going forward. But investors should start booking some profits from 18000 levels on long positions, as 18350 looks a better bet meaning that the wave V is likely to truncate.

Heavy weight RIL holds the key to this view and should not break 2050-2100 levels. The stock looks good till 2800-2900 levels. Couple of banking stocks like SBI, too, have completed corrections. So, bargain hunting at 13800-14000 levels could be a good bet for the next six months.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Next_leg_of_the_bull_run_likely_to_begin_soon/articleshow/3132137.cms

Alok - Alok Ind resumes talks to sell 20% in realty arm to PEs

2008-06-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: Alok Industries, the Rs 2,200-crore Mumbai-based textile firm, has resumed talks with private equity players to dilute about 20% equity it owns in its unlisted unit, Alok Infrastructure. A realty company, Alok Infrastructure has been looking at options to raise around Rs 600 crore for developing its large land bank, said sources.

Alok Industries plans to sell part of its stake in its realty unit to 3-4 private equity firms by August end. The company’s chief financial officer Sunil Khandelwal is currently in the UK for negotiations on this issue.
“We are working out different options and strategies for our realty venture and something will happen before August. I am not in a position to divulge anything more now,” he told ET from London. Ernst & Young is advising Alok Industries on the equity dilution in Alok Infrastructure.

Alok Industries had initiated talks with private equity firms in October last year, but had to discontinue after crashes in the stock markets led to a steep correction in valuations. According to analysts, Alok could be looking at increasing the valuation of the realty company through a private equity deal and subsequently list it.

Alok Infrastructure plans to invest large amounts in real estate development and is also developing over 180 acres in its textile SEZ in Silvassa. It has already acquired 220 acres at Silvassa. The company has also acquired 130 acres at Panvel at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per acre in a 50-50 joint venture.

Earlier, Alok had acquired office premises of around 575,000 sq ft at Lower Parel in Mumbai, in the Peninsula Business Park office complex, which is currently being developed by Peninsula Land Holdings. The company had also bought about 57,000 sq ft of office premises at Ashford Centre in Lower Parel, for Rs 18,000 per sq ft.

According to India Real Estate sector report Global Research, the Indian real estate market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20%, driven by an 18-19% growth in residential real estate, 55-60% in retail real estate, and 20-22% in commercial real estate, over the next five years.

The size in terms of total economic value of real estate development activity of the Indian real estate market is $40-45 billion (5-6% of the GDP), of which residential forms 90-95% of the market, commercial segment is a distant second with 4-5% of the market, and organised retail 1% of the market.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Garments__Textiles/Alok_Ind_resumes_talks_to_sell_20_in_realty_arm_to_PEs_/articleshow/3107614.cms

Biocon - Biocon eyeing top slot in nephrology space

2008-06-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

Over a year after its nephrology foray, Biocon Ltd says it is eyeing to be the top domestic player in the growing segment in the next 4-5 years.

Its erythropoietin (EPO) brand to treat anaemia in renal failure patients is alone targeted to be number one in 3-5 years with 30 per cent market share, according to Biocon’s CEO, Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. The red blood cell enriching product is among 18 competing brands, among them nine pre-filled syringes (PFSs). It is also the largest EPO producer in the country.

The nephrology range with six branded products was launched in March 2007 and at least as many as said to be coming out over the next three years. These formulations, currently contributing about 8 per cent of the company’s revenues, are expected to grow to 15 per cent next year. The portfolio includes Renodapt - S (mycophenolate sodium); Renodapt (mycophenolate mofetil); Cyclophil ME (cyclosporine) Tacrograf (Tacrolimus) and Erypro Safe.

Ms Shaw earlier announced the launch of two non-reusable life-saving PFS products – Erypro Safe for kidney failure patients and Nufil Safe containing a growth hormone or GCSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) to treat chemotherapy patients.

These are said to be the first such products in the country and “We will look at making other products available in this format,” both in the country and in other markets, Ms Shaw said. Biocon has tied up with Safety Syringes Inc., US, to present its products in novel PFS drug delivery versions. “The [PFS] allows product differentiation and means simplified drug administration” for self-injecting patients, Ms Mazumdar Shaw said.

Mr Raghava Vempati, Head-Nephrology, said the division ranked fourth for the company after diabetology, oncology and cardio-vascular formulations.

The EPO market is worth Rs 75 crore and growing at 20 per cent a year. Biocon aims to first make it a Rs 25-crore, top EPO brand in the country in three years, said Mr Rakesh Bamzai, President, Marketing. The product is to hit other markets in the coming months.

Four quantities of Erypro Safe are available in the range of Rs 975 for 2000 IU and Rs 2995 for 10,000 IU; Nufil is priced Rs 1975.

According to Biocon, PFS which is replacing the vials is the current best form in injectable drugs. The syringe breaks after use and cannot be repeated. The pre-filled syringes segment has seen growing demand in the last ten years. With India having the largest number of USFDA-approved plants outside the US, PFS adds another edge to the country’s low-cost biotech manufacturing advantage.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/biocon-eyeing-top-slot-in-nephrology-space-/341149

Jaiprakash - Heard on the Street

2008-06-05T06:05:00.001-07:00

Another stake sale in the offing?

Grapevine has it that Noida-based infrastructure developer Jaiprakash Associates is considering a dilution of its equity to fund the initial expenses of the Rs 40,000-crore Ganga Expressway Project. If market sources are to be believed, the company is in talks with a handful of foreign investors.

However, company sources denied any such development. An email query to the company also elicited no response. Jaiprakash Associates had outbid Reliance Energy, Unitech India and Gammon India to bag the 1,047-km expressway project.

This is not the first time Jaiprakash Associates is offloading stake to fund a project. The company had raised Rs 1,150 crore by selling 1% stake to ICICI Bank. The dilution was effected to capitalise Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary company formed to develop, construct and operate Taj Expressway, a 165-km, six-lane access controlled toll expressway between Noida and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. The stock has been under pressure ever since corporate governance issues cropped in February relating to its stake in a subsidiary company. On Wednesday, the stock ended nearly 4% lower at Rs 198 on the BSE. It has shed over 13% during the past one week, and more than 30% over the past one month.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Market_News/Heard_on_the_Street/articleshow/3101299.cms

JaiPrakash - UP drive to finish Taj Expressway by ‘10

2008-06-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Setting itself a stiff target, the Uttar Pradesh government has thrown itself head-long into getting the 165 km-long, 6-lane Taj Expressway project completed before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The state government, late on Tuesday, called a meeting of district magistrates of all the districts through which the Taj Expressway is expected to cross, in order to sensitise them about the need for “launching a drive” and facilitate the acquisition of land for the Rs 2,250-crore project.

The project, which is being implemented on build-operate-transfer basis by the concessionaire Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, will connect Greater Noida to Agra and is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Agra from the current four hours to around two hours.

Speaking to the FE, senior officials of the industry department said that with the fields now empty of crops, the government has asked its officials to launch a drive for the acquisition of land. “We expect to acquire the land in the next two to three weeks,” he said.

When asked how the government would deal with stiff opposition of farmers from certain districts, the official said that in order to deal with the farmers in a cordial way, without any strife, the DMs are being sensitized to deal with the situation. “Also, it is being impressed upon them that the project is of immense importance and thus, a drive has to be launched for acquiring land at the earliest,” added the official.

It may be mentioned that work on the project was so far moving at a snail’s pace due to the resentment of the farmers in parting with their agricultural land. As a result, a special committee had been constituted under Taj Expressway Authority to sort out the land acquisition tussles in each of the district involved. The 165 kilometer long 2,250 hectare land for the Expressway is to be acquired from five districts - Gautambudh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra. At each district the Authority has been facing opposition from the farmers, as with the proposed Taj International Aviation Hub and Airport all set to get a green signal soon, land prices have suddenly spiralled.

The Taj Expressway Authority has been able to acquire only 7.25 kilometres of land so far and handed it over to the construction agency Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL).

The Rs 2250 crore Taj Expressway will be constructed largely along the Yamuna touching Taj International Aviation Hub and airport. Separate roads leading to Mathura and Vrindavan will branch off from the Expressway. There will be service lanes on both sides besides development at different locations for commercial, amusement, industrial, institutional and residential purposes.

Link to the article: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/UP-drive-to-finish-Taj-Expressway-by--10/318624/

Biocon - Biocon launches ‘ERYPRO Safe™’ and ‘NUFIL Safe™’ Pre-filled Syringes in collaboration with Safety Syringes Inc., USA

2008-06-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: June 4, 2008: Biocon Limited, India’s pioneering biotechnology company has announced the launch of a Safety Device in the form of pre-filled syringes for two of its life saving products, GCSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) and EPO (Erythropoietin). This innovative product has been launched in collaboration with Safety Syringes Inc. and is being introduced for the first time in India. ERYPRO Safe™ and NUFIL Safe™ will be the first two drugs that will marketed using this novel device with other injectable products to follow in the future.

Pre-filled syringes are advantageous for self-injecting patients. This allows patients a high degree of flexibility, independence and simple handling in a home setting. Biocon’s pre-filled syringe device incorporates features that provide for simple and safe handing, a discrete appearance of the injector and a retractable needle that reduces the chances of injuries during injection. The device is tamper proof and ensures that the syringe is non-reusable thus ensuring safety of the highest order. Biocon has decided to launch two of its life saving drugs using this novel device viz. ERYPRO Safe™ and NUFIL Safe™ . These products will be available across the country at the prices listed in the table below.

ERYPRO Safe™
2000IU
MRP – 715 (Incl Tax)

ERYPRO Safe™
3000IU
MRP - 975 (Incl Tax)

ERYPRO Safe™
4000IU
MRP – 1295(Incl Tax)

ERYPRO Safe™
5000IU
MRP – 1465 (Incl Tax)

ERYPRO Safe™
10000IU
MRP – 2995(Incl Tax)

NUFIL Safe™ 0.5ml
MRP -1975 (Incl Tax)

Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Limited said, “In line with our philosophy of differentiation, we are pleased to introduce ERYPRO Safe™ and NUFIL Safe™ as pre-filled syringes with advanced safety features. Safety Syringes Inc. of USA have developed a novel pre-filled device that enhances safety and convenience of use. We are delighted to be able to collaborate with them and introduce this proprietary device to the Indian market for the first time which will greatly benefit Indian patients.”

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Rakesh Bamzai, President, Marketing, Biocon Limited said, “Biocon is committed to cater to the needs of patients across the country and this technology will be advantageous to our patients. The launch of this new drug delivery system is significant as it allows for product differentiation in the market. This also means simplified drug administration and better patient compliance. With this launch, Biocon has placed great emphasis on the safety of patients and the medical fraternity involved in the administration of ERYPRO Safe™ and NUFIL Safe™. We are excited about our collaboration with Safety Syringes Inc. and will look at making other products available in this format.”

“We are very pleased to add Biocon Limited as our newest valued pharma partner. The introduction of the ERYPRO Safe™ and NUFIL Safe™– the UltraSafe Passive® Delivery System – represents a significant advantage for Biocon over other drug delivery devices for prefilled syringe presentations.” added Mr. Mark Hassett, Executive Vice President, Safety Syringes Inc.

Biocon Limited will also look at launching this product in other markets in the coming months.

The pharmaceutical industry has registered an increasing demand in the market segment of pre-filled syringe systems over the past ten years. These systems have the endorsement of healthcare professionals worldwide. There is a growing trend of injectable drugs moving into the pre-fill syringe as a presentation format. Worldwide, prefilled syringe volumes have reached more than two billion units. The opportunity for Indian biotech companies in pre-filled syringes is immense as India is being viewed as a low-cost, high-quality manufacturing base. It has the largest number of USFDA approved plants outside the US.

About Safety Syringes, Inc.

Safety Syringes, Inc., headquartered in Carlsbad, California, develops and manufactures delivery systems for vaccines, low molecular weight heparins, epoetins, and other medicines including many of the newer biotechnology drugs.
Safety Syringes offers proven and preferred drug delivery systems for a full range of prefilled glass syringe presentations ranging from 0.5mL to 2.25mL and for use with staked needle, luer lock and luer slip configurations.
The UltraSafe Passive® Delivery System is overwhelmingly chosen by leading pharmaceutical companies around the world for ease of use and protection against needle stick injuries.

Link to the article: http://www.biocon.com/biocon_inv_press_releases_jun04.asp

Biocon - Accumulate Biocon at Rs 439-463: Manghnani

2008-06-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers is of the view that one can accumulate Biocon at Rs 439-463 with a stoploss below Rs 439.

Manghnani told CNBC-TV18, "Biocon has already started moving up today so maybe wait for the next fall. Somewhere between Rs 463-439 sort of levels is a good accumulation zone with a stoploss below Rs 439. But I think the upside immediately Rs 487 is very close but if you can hold on a little longer through the month even closer to Rs 510 levels and I think this stock is majorly bottomed out in January at Rs 350 or Rs 300 sort of levels and now looking very positive along with the rest of the pharma sector."

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/stocks-views/accumulate-biocon-at-rs-439-463:-manghnani/341032

IVRCL - Prabhudas Target Rs 548

2008-06-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

Prabhudas Lilladher has picked IVRCL, L&T, Mundra Port, Glaxo Smithkline Pharma and Anant Raj Industries.

Prabhudas has maintained ‘outperformer’ on IVRCL and has reduced price target to Rs 548 from Rs 653. During Jan-Mar 2007-08, the company has reported 33 per cent year on year growth in topline to Rs 1,321 crore, higher than the brokerage expectations. EBIDTA margin was at 10.5 per cent as against 11.4 per cent in the previous quarter. Interest cost was higher at Rs 20.8 crore, which also included forex losses of Rs 2.2 crore.

IVRCL continues to avail of 80IA benefits, and so adjusting for prior

period tax of Rs 8.2 crore, IVRCL provided for tax at 25 per cent. Profit after tax for the quarter was flat at Rs73.3 crore. For the full year, revenue grew 59 per cent to Rs 3,660 crore and profit after tax grew 49 per cent to Rs 210 crore.

The company has a strong order book of Rs 12,800 crore and L1 status for Rs1,400-1,500 crore worth of projects, which is expected to materialize over the next few days. Effectively, its order book stands at Rs 14,300 crore, which translates to 3.9x FY08 revenue, thus providing it strong revenue visibility.

Given its strong order book position and stronger than expected revenue growth during the year, Parbhudas has upgraded their revenue estimates for 2008-09 and 2009-10 by 9.4 per cent and 10 per cent to Rs 5,300 crore and Rs 6,980 crore respectively, and consequently profit after tax estimates for 2008-09 and 20069-10 by 9.3 per cent and 9.4 per cent to Rs 295 crore and Rs 398 crore respectively.

Prabhudas has cut their target multiple for its core business to 17x from 21x FY09 EPS. On account of conservatism, the brokerage has valued IVR Prime at 30 per cent discount to the NAV value.

Subex - AVEA to target revenue leakage with Subex’s Moneta

2008-06-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

AVEA to target revenue leakage with Subex’s Moneta
Enabling innovative billing transformation
Bangalore, INDIA: Subex Limited, a leading global provider of Operations and Business
Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for communications service providers, today announced
that its regional partner in Turkey (GANTEK) has won a contract to implement Subex’s
Moneta™ Revenue Assurance system for Turkish mobile operator AVEA. The
installation of Moneta will help the company tackle critical Revenue Assurance
challenges across the entire business, and identify potential revenue leakages as the
company rolls out several new Business Support Systems (BSS) during 2008.
Founded in 2004 AVEA is Turkey's fastest growing mobile communications company
with a customer base of over 10 million subscribers, representing 16% of the total
market.
Subex’s Moneta solution, a key component of the strategic Revenue Operations Center
(ROC), was chosen by AVEA following a competitive tender. The solution will be jointly
managed by regional partner Gantek. The implementation of the solution will enhance
AVEA’s operational efficiency, enabling the company to preserve its competitive
superiority.
Okan Cengaver, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Manager, at AVEA said, ”During the
selection process, it was clear that the Subex Revenue Assurance system was much
more mature and technically advanced. As our business continues to grow, we wanted
to deploy a flexible system that can handle both current demands as well as scale.
Moneta is ideal for this and working with both Subex and Gantek will enable Avea to
proceed with safe steps in terms of Revenue Assurance as the company expands its
subscriber base and service spectrum.”
Sudeesh Yezhuvath, COO, Subex Ltd, said, “We are extremely pleased to have been
selected by AVEA to manage its Revenue Assurance needs, alongside our regional
partner Gantek. This is an excellent endorsement of the strength of our Revenue
Assurance solution and we are delighted to be helping mobile operators in Europe
reduce potential revenue leakage and improve efficiencies.”
Subex is the trusted partner of communications service providers around the world seeking
to achieve enhanced operational dexterity, offering rapid and flexible delivery of innovative
new services while running lean operations. Subex’s award-winning family of best-of-breed
solutions in Revenue Maximization and Fulfillment and Assurance, is the foundation of the
ROC, enabling operational assurance and, as a result, improved operational dexterity.
Moneta is a comprehensive suite of automated Revenue Assurance tools and
capabilities. It offers a set of pre-configured solution templates to address Revenue
Assurance issues across areas such as service fulfilment, usage integrity, retail billing,
interconnect/ wholesale billing and content settlement.

IVRCL - Accumulate IVRCL Infra, tgt Rs 463: Angel

2008-06-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Angel Broking has recommended an accumulate rating on IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects with a target price of Rs 463 in its May 30, 2008 research report. "IVRCL Infrastructure Projects, one of the leading infrastructure players, reported a 31% yoy growth in Topline to Rs 1326 crore (Rs 1,009 crore) for 4QFY2008, which was in-line with our estimates of Rs 1,330 crore. For FY2008, the company registered a yoy growth of 58% in Topline to Rs 3,698 crore (Rs 2,347 crore). This robust performance came on the back of strong order book and good conversion of order to bill by the company."

"We have valued IVRCL's standalone business at Rs 350 assigning a PE of 14x FY2010E EPS of Rs 25. IVRCL’s BOT projects, majority stake in Hindustan Dorr Oliver (HDO) and IVR Prime Urban Development (IVR PUDL) contribute Rs 32, Rs 15 and Rs 65 to our target price, respectively. We have revised our target price to Rs 463 (Rs 535) on the back of higher then expected debt, slowdown in the Real Estate sector and pressure on margins due to the sharp run up in commodity prices. Thus, we currently recommend an Accumulate on the stock," says Angel's research report.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/recommendations/accumulate-ivrcl-infra,-tgt-rs-463:-angel/340702

IVRCL Infra wins Rs 837 cr order

2008-06-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

The company has bagged order worth Rs 837 crore from ONGC, reports CNBC-TV18.

IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd has announced that the Company bagged the contract of entire scope of work for infrastructure development including accelerated soil stabilization in 532 hectors valued Rs 8376 Million from ONGC PETRO ADDITIONS LTD, a subsidiary of ONGC or its Dahej Petrochemical Complex (in notified SEZ) on lumpsum turnkey.

IVRCL - Target Rs 610 - Merrill Lynch

2008-05-30T04:28:00.000-07:00

Merrill Lynch has kept buy rating on IVRCL Infra; with a target of Rs 610

Hyderabad-based infrastructure IVRCL is the top pick of the broking house in the mid-cap construction space. The company has just recorded a strong performance for financial year 2008-09 with net profit up 49 per cent to Rs 210 crore and the order backlog up 67 per cent to Rs 12,800 crore. Merrill Lynch expects the firm to post an earning per share (EPS) growth of 25 per cent over 2008-10. The triggers for the company are its focus on the water sector, potential wins in infrastructure sector in the BOT (build operate and transfer) space and scaling up of its subsidiaries IVR Prime and Alcor Petroo. Some of the projects where the firm is a developer, including toll roads and the Chennai desalination plant, are set for completion during the current fiscal.

Subex - Press Release

2008-05-28T05:31:00.001-07:00

Bangalore, INDIA: Subex Limited, a leading global provider of Operations and
Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for communications service providers, today
announced the launch of the first edition of The ROC Resource Book, a publication
that provides perspectives on Revenue and Operational Assurance, targeted at
communication service providers.
The book carries articles written by industry experts, analysts and researchers of the
telecom software industry, veteran journalists and leading writers, providing different
perspectives on ideas and opportunities for service providers to transform operations
and business processes to increase revenue.
“The telecom software industry, specifically the OSS/BSS space, is on a fast growth
track with exciting changes on the anvil. This publication is aimed at helping service
providers explore the strategies and best practices to manage the impact of
operations on profit”, said Adam Boone, VP – Marketing of Subex Ltd and the
publisher of the book.
Subex recently unveiled a new, expanded version of the ROC, which brings in the
ability to conduct operational assurance, enabling service providers to monitor and
manage the impact of operations on revenues, costs and profit. Like a service
provider's Network Operations Center (NOC) monitors the health of the network, a
ROC enables a service provider to manage the health of the financial and operational
chains that are critical to sustainable profitability and growth. The ROC Resource
Book explores these issues and discusses strategies for building a ROC that is
aligned to the business objectives of the service provider.

IVRCL - Dividend

2008-05-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

Ivrcl Infrastructures & Projects Ltd. has informed the Exchange that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 28, 2008 has recommended dividend for the year 2007-08 @70% i.e. Rs. 1.40 per equity share of Rs.2/- each.

IVRCL - Interview

2008-05-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

IVRCL sees turnover at Rs 4,800-5,200cr ahead

Sudhir Reddy, CMD, IVRCL, said there was a 31% EBITDA growth over the previous quarter. "The company is looking at a 45-50% growth." He expects a turnover of Rs 4,800-5,200 crore going forward.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Sudhir Reddy:

Q: Your bottomline is lower than our expectations, have your margins slipped quite a bit in Q4 then?

A: No;this is some other revenue. We have taken into account managerial remuneration of Rs 4.4 crore, foreign currency convertible bonds, and notional forex loss of above Rs 6 crore. On a net aggregate basis, there is a 31% growth on EBITDA over the last quarter.

Q: In terms of pure orders that were executed, can you just break up what it stood at between water and road?

A: Water constitutes about 53%, roads would be about 9%, and the balance would be in the power sector.

Q: Can you just walk us through again the figure that you indicated in terms of operating profit margin performance and whether or not you have had some cost pressures because of input cost?

A: No, we didn’t. It was not input cost pressures, these were tenders with full price escalations which we were involved in. Close to Rs 10-12 crore is what we had to deduct this Q4 as per suggestions from auditors. In absolute terms there is a growth of almost 31% on EBITDA. For FY08, there is a 58% growth on topline from Rs 2,346 crore to Rs 3,700 crore.

Q: Could you take us through the kind of order flow that you have seen in Q4 and where does your orderbook stand now at the end of FY08?

A: We have Rs 13,000 crore of orders in hand and are L1, or lowest bidders, in another Rs 1,100 crore. We normally get 98-99% of full works. In total, we have orders worth Rs 14,000 crore. Out of which, 53-55% is in water. We have not taken any roads project on the build, operate, and transfer side last year. We are concentrating on completing whatever we have. So, the balance is coming out from the power side.

Q: There has been quite a few execution concerns about the entire space. For FY09, what sort of growth do you think IVRCL can maintain?

A: We are quite confident. I am sure we can do it as we have had 40-45% growth in the last 8-10 years. On a higher base, 45-50% might be a tough asking, which we would attempt to. However, we can execute a turnover of Rs 4,800-5,200 crore going forward.

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=340094

IVRCL Results

2008-05-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

IVRCL Infra Q4 net profit up at Rs 73.3 cr

IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects has announced its fourth quarter results. The company's Q4 net profit was up at Rs 73.3 crore from Rs 73 crore.

Its net sales were up at Rs 1326 versus Rs 992 crore.

Particulars Mar-08 Dec-07 Sep-07 Jun-07
Net Sales / Interest Earned / Operating Income 1321.728 974.857 688.454 677.318
Other Income 1.135 0.786 1.568 1.041
Total Income 1322.863 975.643 690.022 678.359
Expenditure -1182.98 -863.449 -633.147 -617.291
Operating Profit 139.883 112.194 56.875 61.068
Interest -20.772 -17.675 -7.599 -5.685
Profit Before Depreciation and Tax 119.111 94.519 49.276 55.383
Depreciation -9.91 -8.659 -7.634 -6.615
Profit before Tax 109.201 85.86 41.642 48.768
Tax -35.898 -21.804 -6.391 -10.808
Net Profit 73.303 64.056 35.251 37.96
Equity Capital 26.698 26.489 25.932 25.932

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=340050

IVR Prime - Results

2008-05-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

IVR Prime Q4 net profit at Rs 42 cr

IVR Prime has announced its Q4 numbers. It has posted net profit of Rs 42 crore as against Rs 116.3 crore and revenue of Rs 240 crore versus Rs 296 crore, QoQ.

Particulars Mar-08 Dec-07 Sep-07
Net Sales / Interest Earned / Operating Income 233.419 295.951 45.613
Other Income 7.1 7.136 4.272
Total Income 240.519 303.087 49.885
Expenditure -170.582 -149.261 -26.798
Interest -5.228 -0.657 -0.97
Profit Before Depreciation and Tax 64.709 153.169 22.117
Depreciation -0.187 -0.215 -0.203
Profit before Tax 64.522 152.954 21.914
Tax -22.481 -36.631 -5.988
Net Profit 42.041 116.323 15.926
Equity Capital 64.15 64.15 64.15

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=340085

Alok - Mr Dilip Jiwrajka, Managing Director, Alok Industries Ltd

2008-05-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

Alok Industries Ltd, established in 1986, is amongst the fastest growing vertically integrated textiles solutions provider in India. A diversified manufacturer of world-class home textiles, apparel fabrics, garments and polyester yarns, Alok has capacities of 82.50 mn meters of sheeting fabric and 6700 tons of terry towels for its home textiles business, 105.00 mn meters of apparel width woven fabrics, 67200 tons per annum of knitted fabrics and 22 million pieces per annum of garments. With the commencement of spinning of cotton yarn (32000 tons per annum), Alok has achieved complete integration. The company also has a strong presence in the polyester segment with a capacity of 114000 tons per annum of polyester textured yarn supplanted by 182500 tons per annum of POY and 182500 tons of PET. The company has a blue chip international customer base comprising of world renowned retailers, importers and brands.

Dilip Jiwrajka, Managing Director, Alok Industries Ltd, is a science graduate with a diploma in Business Entrepreneurship and Management., Mr Jiwrajka has 25 years experience in the manufacturing and trading of fabric for the garment industry. He is responsible for the weaving and processing divisions and overseeing the strategic planning, administration, finance functions and overall working of the company.

In a detailed reply to Anil Mascarenhas of India Infoline, Dilip Jiwrajka says, Alok’s business model is quite diversified which, while ensuring risk mitigation and stability of earning places it at a distinct competitive advantage.

The rupee did take its toll on many companies such as yours. Brief us about your financial performance.
We had a record export growth in a year when the rupee was in an appreciation mode and generally testing conditions had set in towards the latter half of the year. This proves that if one has the right size, right product, right quality and right price, then most challenges can be surmounted. We will consolidate operations this year and enhance efficiencies and endeavor to surpass expectations.

To briefly sum up, Alok Industries Limited reported net sales of Rs7.24bn for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, which is a jump of 26.25% over the same period last fiscal. Operating Net Profit for Q4 stood at Rs609mn, a growth of 24.45% yoy. The operating margin for Q4 FY08 was at 24.89% as against 23.34% recorded in Q4 FY07.

For the year ended March 31, 2008, net sales grew by 18.34% to Rs21.59bn compared to Rs18.24bn in the previous year. Operating net profit for the year ended March 31, 2008 rose by 23.79% to Rs1.67bn, as against Rs1.35bn posted in the same period of last fiscal. Earnings Per Share (EPS) for FY08 works out to Rs11.51 as compared to Rs9.70 for the same period last fiscal.

You mentioned about your record exports. Could you give the figures?
Export Sales for the fourth quarter stood at Rs3.85bn, a growth of 50.16% as compared to Rs2.56bn posted in the same period of last year. The figure of export sales for 2007-08 rose by 59.87% to Rs10.25bn as compared to Rs6.41bn in FY07.

The fire in one of your units had hit production. To what extend was your margin hit?
A fire broke out at the Sayali texturising unit with 70 machines on August 16, 2007, impacting the unit totally. The other units in the premises (weaving, knitting and POY), however, were not impacted. There was no major impact on the overall operations of the company due to a couple of reasons.

The Company has adequate Insurance Cover for its Building, Plant and Machinery and Stock. The total damage to the fixed assets is estimated at Rs2.25bn (including Rs250mn as loss of profit) and the same has been admitted by the insurance company. We have received an interim settlement of Rs1bn towards loss of assets and Rs100mn towards loss of profit. The balance claim is expected by June 2008.

Secondly, the company has rebuilt the new texturising unit in a record time of 90 days and inaugurated the new unit on 24th November 2007.

What about the impact on sales, margin and market share?
The net impact on sales of texturised yarn was expected to be in the region of Rs500 – 550mn. However, the same has been compensated by higher revenues from other divisions like Apparel fabrics, Home textiles and POY. There has been no impact on margins.

As far as market share is concerned, Alok is amongst the market leader in the texturised yarn segment. About one third of the texturised yarn is exported and the balance is sold in the domestic market. In view of the rebuilding of new texturising unit in 90 days and inauguration of the same on November 24, 2007, there was no impact in the market share.

What impact has the currency had on your performance? What kind of hedge are you doing? How do you read the situation?
The company has adopted a multi prone strategy to improve its overall performance including appreciating rupee.

We made a shift towards value added products:

Alok has tied up for contract farming spread over 140000 acres for exclusive supply of Organic and Fair Trade Cotton (approx 175000 bales) duly certified by SKAL and ECO CERT. Organic products are now getting more popular and fetch extra premium. This would not only give company additional margins but also provide a fair price for the farmers.

Institutional work wear with special finishes like Flame Retardant, Water Repellent, Anti-Bacteria, Vitamin –E finish, Ice Finish fabric, Anti Static, Aroma finish, Mosquito Repellent, etc., which have a distinct market and application such as Defence, Oil exploration, Hospitals, Hotels, Auto Industry, etc..

In Apparel woven fabrics, Alok is focused on manufacturing of Premium Yarn Dyed Fabrics and Bottom Weight fabrics which are always in demand and fetch higher margins.

In Home textiles, Alok is concentrating more on Higher Thread Cont bed sheets (500 TC to 1000 TC). Similarly, it is producing more quantities of quilts and comforters, where realizations and margins are high.

Alok has acquired brands from Mileta International, a Czech based company, like "Daks", "Lord Nelson", "Erba", which are being introduced in India in a gradual manner. It has also entered into licensee arrangement with Peacock Alley, a premium home textile brand of USA for distribution in India.

The second strategy was backward and forward Integration and economies of scale:

Alok has created large scale capacities with state-of-the-art technology to derive the benefits of economies of scale. It has further reduced its cost by going into backward integration into manufacturing of cotton yarn and POY. On the forward integration front, we have gone into manufacturing of finished products i.e. Garments, Bed sheets and Retailing. Further, the proportion of value added products in our overall product offering is also increasing.

The third is systematic approach of hedging:

The company has a systematic policy of hedging. The company has treasury department who take suitable heading measures from time to time and monitory it closely.

All the above strategies helped in improving the overall performance of the company and also mitigate the exchange fluctuation risk.

What is the expected utilization in your new facilities?
Normally, the machines take about 2 years for stabilization from the initial setting up. The capacity utilisation is about 70%, 80%, and 90% in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year onwards. The company’s order booking position is comfortable and expects to achieve capacity utilisation of over 90% from the existing capacities and about 70% from the newly set up capacities i.e. capacities set up in FY2008.

What kind of value addition are you doing? What increase would it bring to your margins?

The company in order to improve its margins is concentrating on three main centers, which are as under:

1) Diversified Product Mix and Markets:

Alok has a diversified product mix and market segments. The business model of the company is briefly tabulated below:

Products Markets % share in revenue
Home Textiles Direct exports to Importers / Retailers 21%
(Sheet sets/Comforters, etc.,)
Apparel Fabrics & Cotton Yarn a) Sale to garment exporters in India / converter countries 50%
(Woven & Knits) b) Sale to domestic garment manufacturer / traders / retailers
Garments Direct export to Retailers / Importers 3%
(Woven & Knits)
Polyester Yarn a) Sale to domestic power loom weavers 25%
(Texturised yarn) b) Direct exports
Retailing Retailing of all products manufactured by company i.e. home textiles, apparel fabrics and garments through retail stores. 1%
(H & A)

Alok’s business model is quite diversified which, while ensuring risk mitigation and stability of earning also places the company at a distinct competitive advantage over other players in the industry. Alok has also ensured that its target market is a diverse mix of the international market, garment export trade and domestic market. The company has established itself both in the international and domestic market and has emerged as a leader in each of the product segment it operates.

The company’s sales comprise about 48% exports and 52% domestic sales. The company exports to more than 50 countries and its markets are well diversified into USA, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East.

Besides what I detailed earlier, on the domestic front, company has adopted multi prone strategy:
a) It supplies fabric to leading domestic and export garment manufacturers.
b) It markets through its distribution network to wholesalers, traders and retailers.
c) It supplies to the private labels of the big retailers.
d) It has started its own retail chain by the name ‘H&A’ and has opened 20 stores in Mumbai, Vapi, Bangalore and other parts of the country. The number of stores would increase to about 150 stores by FY09 and further to about 400 stores by FY10.

All these have started showing results and with the new capacities in place, the EBITDA margin is expected to improve further.

By when would we see the benefits of Alok Infrastructure on the company? Tell us more about your plans here. Two to three years down the line how do you see this business shaping up?

All the projects are expected to be commence from 2010-11. All the infrastructure related companies are subsidiaries of Alok Industries Limited (Alok) and the profits generated by these companies will be reflected in Alok in the form of dividend.

The company is into development of commercial and residential projects. It intends to develop only select projects which have good commercial viability thereby ranking amongst the top 15 developers in India.

The brief details of each of the subsidiaries are as under:

a) Alok Realtors Pvt. Ltd. (Peninsula Business Park)

575,000 sq ft of ultra modern office premises with world-class amenities, large open complex, landscaped gardens and water bodies
The first level starts at a height of 80 feet from the ground, thereby offering a fabulous view of the Arabian Sea and Mahalaxmi Race Course
500 car parking for occupants and visitors
8 high speed intelligent elevators
Club House with facilities for Gymnasium, Steam, Sauna and shower, exclusive designed lounge for CEOs, food court, coffee shop, indoor sports
High end security systems, advanced fire detection and fire fighting systems and power back up
Property would be professionally managed by Peninsula Facility
Proximity to Lower Parel and Currey Road station; 5 star hotel ITC;
Possession by March 2010
b) Ashford Infotech Pvt. Ltd (at Lower Parel & Nahur)

64,800 square feet of prime office space in Lower Parel
8 storey with floor plate of 8,100 sq. ft
40 car parks
Modern architecture with latest amenities
Proximity to Lower Parel and Currey Road station; 5 star hotel ITC
Possession by March 2009
Ashford Investment & Trading Company Pvt. Ltd and Alok Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. proposes to develop an office complex in the CEAT factory compound at Nahur
The project is being developed in 50:50 Joint Venture with Ashford Group
A total area of approximately 7 acres of land has been acquired out of the 30 acres plot of the CEAT factory
Site demography – 3 min from Nahur and 5 min from Eastern Express Highway and Goregaon Mulund Link Road
The project to have an approximate saleable area of 10,31,100 Sq. ft.
Multi Level car parks for 1,000 cars
Air-conditioned lobbies on every floor
Air-conditioned atrium entry
Full height glass curtains
The complex would have most modern infrastructure and world class amenities with large open complex, landscaped gardens and water bodies. The complex would be supplemented with a Club house, gymnasium, pool, sauna, steam, banquet hall, business lounge, cafeterias and indoor sports
The project to be operational in 30 months
c) Silvassa Textile Specific Special Economic Zone (STSEZ)

Land fully purchased
Formal approval received for 183 acres. Notifying 145 acres in the first phase
Company would be developing and maintaining the SEZ and would be providing world class supporting infrastructure like power sub-station, Common ETP plant, commercial centre, training centre etc.
Strategically located with proximity to Mumbai Airport (150 Kms) and JNPT port (200 Kms)
To be fully developed by 2011-12
d) Alspun Property, Vapi

The company has acquired a 50% stake in Alspun Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. which in turn is developing an integrated township spread over 100 acres in Balitha, Vapi
The township would comprise of residential, commercial, retail and entertainment area with provision for schools, hospitals, clubhouse etc.
The township would be developed in a phased manner commencing from September 2008 and likely completion by 2012
You also have acquired land in Silvassa and Panvel. What are your plans here?
Alok Infrastructure has acquired 220 acres of land at Velugam, Silvassa for developing townships / SEZ. It is in the process of acquiring 130 acres of land at Panvel in 50% joint venture suitable for developing theme based township. The proposed land is about 15 kms distance from the proposed new airport and 8 km from the railway station. The project is at drawing board stage and the details would be conveyed as soon as they are finalised.

What kind of revenues do you see from the SEZ. What is the business model for the SEZ?
The company acquired 183 acres of land at Silvassa out of which 145 acres of land is being notified for SEZ in the first phase. The company proposes to provide open plots on long-term lease basis (one time lease) as well as constructed factories to textile units (on annual lease basis).

The company shall develop and maintain the SEZ and also provide world-class support infrastructure, viz, power substation, common ETP plant, commercial centre and training centre.

16 acres of open plots have already tied up for long-term lease. The SEZ is expected to be fully operational by March 2011-12.

The SEZ is expected to generate substantial revenue because of the above business model and amenities. However, the forward numbers cannot be disclosed because of SEBI guidelines.

The first tranche of warrants have been converted into equity from 28th April 2008. By when will the second tranche be converted. At what price?
The second tranche is expected to be converted on or before 31 July 2009 at a price of Rs102 (premium of Rs92 and face value of Rs10)

What is your outlook on branded retail. What is the progress with H&A? By when would this be hived off?
The increase in the per capita income, demography and penetration of economic activity in interiors of India has fuelled overall economic growth of India and it is expected to grow further. About 40% of the clothing in India is through retailing. With this background, branded retail would be the driving force going ahead.

H & A is Alok’s foray into branded retail segment targeted towards the mass market and offering ‘Value for money’ proposition. The company already has 20 stores and has plans to reach 40 stores by June 2008 with a two-year target of having 400 stores pan India.

The company in its board meeting held on 28th April 2008, has approved the hiving off of H&A division into a separate wholly owned subsidiary of Alok by the name “Alok Homes and Apparel Pvt. Ltd.” The company would seek the approval of the same from its shareholders soon.

What kind of tie-ups are you looking at?
Alok has acquired brands from Mileta International, a Czech based company, like "Daks", "Lord Nelson", "Erba", which are being introduced in India in a gradual manner. It has also entered into licensee arrangement with Peacock Alley, a premium home textile brand of USA for distribution in India.

Apart from the above, the company is keen to have long-term strategic tie-ups for marketing of its diversified multi product range in overseas markets.

Your dividend policy? Your message to shareholders?
The company has been consistently paying dividend from last 15 years and would certainly share its wealth with the share holders. We would like to inform all our share holders that with the above measures being taken by the company, the share holders will be benefited.

Link to the article: http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/showleader.asp?storyId=636&lmn=1

IVRCL - Desalination project could be delayed

2008-05-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

The commissioning of the 100-million litres a day (mld) desalination plant at Kattupalli near suburban Minjur is likely to be delayed by four months. It was scheduled to be commissioned in August this year.

Attributing the delay to unseasonal rain in March, Chennai Metrowater officials said about 70 per cent of the works had been completed. Dredging operation also could not be carried out due to rough sea. Dredging would facilitate laying of a separate pipeline to draw seawater from 10-metre-depth below sea level and discharge waste water, a Metrowater official said.

Though about 15 mld of water was to be supplied on completion of the first phase of the project, envisaged to be completed in May, the delay had pushed the project deadline to December, he said.

Chennai Water Desalination Limited, a special purpose vehicle formed by IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited and its technical partner Befesa Construccion y Tecnologia Ambiental, Spain, started implementing the project on a DBOOT (design, build, own, operate and transfer) basis last year.

The official said work for constructing units such as sand filters and cartridge filters, used to remove minute particles as part of the preliminary treatment, was under way. The process to erect five reverse osmosis units, an important component in desalinating seawater, was also in progress. Each of the unit that had a capacity to treat 20 mld of seawater would be commissioned one after another during December, the official said.

About Rs.118 crore was expected to be spent on purchase of water from the Minjur plant.

Link to the article: http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/26/stories/2008052657300100.htm

Jaiprakash - Jaypee's Municipal Solid Waste Processing Plant inaugurated

2008-05-24T08:08:00.001-07:00

General (retd) S.F.Rodrigues, the Administrator Union Territory, Chandigarh and Governor of Panjab inaugurated the municipal solid waste processing plant in Dadu Majra in Sector 25 West, Chandigarh, India, on 21st May. " This project is for the benefit of the common man and only need is to sustain this project to make it a success," he added. This would not only rid the city of stink and pollution but would provide eco-friendly alternative fuel The plant, a public private initiative between Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, has been completed in a stipulated time frame as per the agreement which was signed on 30th December 2005 and its foundation stone was laid by Gen Rodrigues on 21st February 2006, said Mr. Rajiv Gaur, President, Jaiprakash Associates Limited.

The plant shall be operational after about three months when complete process gets stabilised, he informed. Set up at a cost of Rs.30 crores on a 10 acres land, the plant which is one of its kind in northern India, has the installed capacity to process 500 ton per day of municipal solid waste, which will be converted into refuse-derived fuel to be used in a thermal power plant in Ropar and a cement plant of Jaypee Group in Himachal Pradesh. Mr. Pradeep Mehra, Advisor to the Administrator, said that the leaves sheded by trees in the city, which is the greenest city in the country today, shall also be processed in the plant for converting to fuel pellets.

Dr. Roshan Sunkaria, Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, informed that the city has simultaneously launched another complimentary project at the site to cap 42 acres of landfill site, and make it usable for putting up playground or sports facilities. The plant is eco-friendly conforming to the norms laid down by Pollution Control Committee of Chandigarh Administration, and has been fenced, with green cover of trees planted around it to create the green buffer zone.

The plant is fully-covered to minimise exposure to atmosphere, and arrangements to spray culture on the garbage to eliminate insects, flies and odour have also been made. All critical equipment have been imported from Dopastadt Germany and the plant has been commissioned successfully in the supervision of German engineers, which has a fully-equipped laboratory, a workshop, and a fully-automatic control room, effluent treatment plant and fire safety equipment.

The project will give much needed relief to the residents of Chandigarh, and the localities near Dadu Majra waste dump site in particular, which suffered from methane emission due to anaerobic decomposition of MSW in uncontrolled open landfill site, which had so far been the only practice of disposal of garbage. The project shall also help in conservation of fossil fuels, enhance nations's energy security, prevent ground water contamination due to leakage of leachate, stop open dumping, enhance the city's aesthetics and overall hygiene of the area in and around the landfill sties, said Mr. Gaur.

The function was attended by Home Secretary Mr Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Mr. R.K. Rao, former Mayor of Chandigarh Mrs. Harjinder Kaur, municipal councillors, and various officers of the city. Jaypee Group a Rs.4,500 crores industrial conglomerate having rich presence in infrastructure, hydro-power, cement, education and hospitality sectors, embarking on environmental friendly projects to fulfill its social objectives, has taken up this project on BOOT basis - transforming challenges into opportunities - true to its reputation.

- End -

Jaypee Associates Limited is a Rs.4500 crore company that has set up in Chandigarh, the north India's first municipal waste processing plant at a cost of Rs.30 crore, in association with the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh.

Link to the article: http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/environmental-services/200805229726.htm

Jaiprakash - Jaiprakash acquires Bina Power from Aditya Birla group

2008-05-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

ET reported that Jaiprakash Power Venture Limited has acquired Bina Power Supply Limited from the Aditya Birla Group for INR 150 to INR 175 crore. Aditya Birla Group had formed BPSCL in the early 1990s to develop a 1,000 MW power plant in two phases of 500 MW each at Bina in Madhya Pradesh, but did not pursue it after the initial progress.

Mr Suren Jain MD of JPVL said that "JPVL has now approached the Madhya Pradesh government for revival of the various approvals required for the setting up of the plant." He added that the first phase of the project would commence operations within 48 months of receipt of all approvals. JPVL plans to commission 500 MW in the first phase at an investment of INR 2,500 crore and subsequently raise the capacity to 1,000 MW.

Post the Bina acquisition, JPVL will have interests in almost 7,000 MW of power assets. These projects, which are at different stages of implementation include 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydro Electric Project, 1,320 MW super critical technology coal based power plant at Nigrie in MP, two projects totaling 2,500 MW in Arunachal Pradesh and two projects totaling 720 MW in Meghalaya.

Link to the article: http://steelguru.com/news/index/2008/05/23/NDY3NDk%3D/Jaiprakash_acquires_Bina_Power_from_Aditya_Birla_group.html

Subex - Romtelecom selects Subex for centralized operations center for mitigating risks to the revenue chain

2008-05-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

Subex Limited, a leading global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for communications service providers, today announced that Romtelecom, Romania’s largest fixed-line operator, has selected Subex Rocware™ solutions to form the core of a Revenue Operations Center (ROC).

Romtelecom‘s objective is to reduce the risk of financial loss from revenue leakage, fraud or bad debts. The ROC environment at Romtelecom will include Subex’s Moneta™ Revenue Assurance Solution, NikiraTM Fraud Management Solution and the Prevea™ Risk Management Solution.

Anastasios Tzoulas, Chief Financial Officer, Romtelecom said, “We found Subex to be a knowledgeable partner who is ready to help us achieve this important risk management objective. The ROC will provide us with a centralized, integrated platform to maximize, control and secure our revenue chain.”

Like a Network Operations Center (NOC) ensures the health of the network, a ROC ensures the integrity of a telco’s revenue streams, processes and improves visibility of the financial impact of the enterprise’s operations. The ROC at Romtelecom will provide advanced revenue and risk management capabilities as it combines revenue assurance, fraud management and risk management in one integrated framework.

Subex pioneered the concept of a ROC as a centralized collection of systems and processes correlating operational activities to the impacts on revenues, costs and, ultimately, profit. A ROC can enable an operator to adopt Operational Assurance, gaining better understanding and control over how operations support critical business goals.

Mark Nicholson, CTO, Subex said, “We are delighted that Romtelecom has selected Subex and the ROC. We are pleased to have this opportunity to assist Romtelecom in meeting its important revenue risk mitigation objectives.”

Subex is the trusted partner of communications service providers around the world seeking to achieve enhanced operational dexterity, offering rapid and flexible delivery of innovative new services while running lean operations. Subex’s award-winning family of best-of-breed solutions is the foundation of the ROC, enabling operational assurance and, as a result, improved operational dexterity.

At TM Forum Management World Nice, May 20 -22, Subex will demonstrate a ROC as part of the Content Encounter 2 Catalyst project, the premier demonstration of the delivery of advanced, content-based services involving Tier 1 operators from around the world

Link to the article: http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=30839

Subex - Subex unveils groundbreaking new OSS and BSS solutions

2008-05-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

Subex is unveiling a new version of its industry-leading Revenue Operations Center (ROC) and is launching new products in its revenue maximization and fulfillment and assurance business lines. The solutions are debuting at the TeleManagement Forum's Management World 2008, held between May 18 - 22 in Nice, France.
Subex will unveil a new version of its industry-leading ROC through demonstrations at Management World 2008. The ROC is a centralized collection of systems and processes correlating operational activities to the impacts on revenues, costs and, ultimately profit, and ensures the integrity of a Lelco’s revenue streams and processes.

With the previous version of the ROC, operators could conduct advanced revenue management and maximize efficiencies around revenue assurance and fraud management. The new version of the ROC builds on this capability to enable an operator to adopt Operational Assurance, gaining better understanding and control over how operations support critical business goals. Demonstrations of the ROC will take place at the Subex booth and in the ‘Content Encounter II' a Catalyst demonstration program covering emerging best practices and techniques for delivering advanced content-based services.

The company also is taking part in a Catalyst project highlighting an end-to-end B/OSS Framework for streamlining and standardising the processes of bringing new telecom products to market, using Syndesis Controlle. The project will demonstrate concept-to-market and order fulfillment processes, as well as order and trouble ticket fall-out management.

Subex will also launch its WiMAX-enabled Syndesis Express solution, designed to help operators to quickly and efficiently define and deliver value-added, next- generation services, like VolP and IPTV, over WiMAX. Also at Management World, Subex will launch Optima 4.6, the new version of its route optimization system, a part of its revenue maxmization offerings, designed to help service providers to create optimized route plans for automatic switch upload as well as facilitating a full reporting suite for data analysis.

In addition to the above, Subex’s CTO, Mark Nicholson will be chairing a presentation track on Strategies & Solutions for monetizing digital media services to held be on May 20. Subex also will present on the topic of revenue assurance for next generation services, providing insights on proactively identifying, analyzing and implementing scalable revenue integrity solutions to maximize revenue.

Subex is known around the world as a leader in revenue maximization and fulfillment solutions that enables communications service providers to achieve their business objectives. Its industry leading products help service operators gain that competitive advantage in quickly rolling out services, while mitigating costs, through the concept of operational assurance. The company has a significant presence in all the leading telecom markets of the world, Mark Nicholson was also recently appointed as advisory director on the TM Forum board.

Management World 2008 is the annual global event for the management of information, communications and entertainment services organised by TM Forum, the world’s leading trade consortium focused on enabling digital services.

Link to the article: http://www.ndtvprofit.com/2008/05/19165106/Subex-unveils-groundbreaking-n.html

Subex - Subex launches Optima 4.6 to help telecom operators to make efficient and informed call routing decisions

2008-05-19T04:59:00.001-07:00

Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS / BSS) for communications service providers, today announced the launch of OptimaTM 4.6, a new version of its Route Optimization system designed to help service providers to create optimized route plans for automatic switch upload as well as facilitating a full reporting suite for data analysis.

The latest version of Optima supports Oracle Database 10g, one of the most widely deployed enterprise databases in the industry. Additional enhancements also include localization to support multiple languages, switch interface support for Nortel DMS-300, and percentage-based volume agreements.

Anuradha, Senior VP - Engineering, Subex Ltd said 'Optima is an end-to-end Route Optimization solution that is modular in design and provides service providers with the ability to quickly adapt to changing operational requirements.

Optima's modularity reduces initial system costs and allows additional modules to be easily added at a later date, as the business grows." Optima is part of the Rocware suite of solutions, supporting the concept of the Revenue Operations Center (ROC) - a consolidated framework of systems that enables advanced revenue management, cost control and profit enhancement.

Subex is the trusted partner of communications service providers around the world seeking to achieve enhanced operational dexterity, offering rapid and flexible delivery of innovative new services while running lean operations. Subex's award-winning family of best-of-breed solutions is the foundation of the ROC, enabling operational assurance and, as a result, improved operational dexterity. At TM Forum Management World Nice, May 20-22, Subex will demonstrate a ROC as part of the Content Encounter II Catalyst project, the premier demonstration of the delivery of advanced, content-based services involving Tier 1 operators from around the world.

Link to the article: http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=30612

Subex - launches WiMAX-enabled fulfillment solution

2008-05-19T04:57:00.002-07:00

Bangalore-based Subex today announced the availability of its wimax-enabled Syndesis Express solution, designed to help operators to quickly and efficiently define and deliver value-added, next-generation services, like VoIP and IPTV, over WiMAX.

Syndesis Express, a pre-integrated solution bundle that provides subscriber-centric fulfillment for high-speed internet, IPTV, VoIP and other advanced service offerings, now allows service providers to seamlessly introduce and automate the delivery of WiMAX-based services to their customers, across multi-vendor, multi-technology networks.

``Service providers are looking for new ways of bridging the last mile to the customer for residential and enterprise broadband services and WiMAX is gaining increasing acceptance as an access technology,`` said Mark Nicholson, CTO of Subex.

Link to the article: http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/newsPopup.php?fileR=20080515120921130&dir=2008/05/15&secID=livenews

IVRCL

2008-05-19T04:57:00.001-07:00

IVRCL: The strong business momentum of IVRCL is expected to be driven by an order backlog of Rs.110bn which is 4.75x FY07 sales. Water continues to dominate the revenue of the company which is closely followed by building and industrial infrastructure space. Water and environment forms the lions share at 59.1% followed by building and industrial infrastructure at 18.2%, transportation at 13.6% and power & distribution at 9.1%. IVRCL has reported strong growth in its topline and bottom line for the past few years. Income grew at a CAGR of 43.9% during FY2004-2007 and stood at Rs.23.13bn at the end of Mar 31, 2007. During the same period, cost of construction expenses grew at a CAGR of 42.4% to Rs.19.5bn in FY07. This resulted in PBT and PAT growing at a CAGR of 76.1% and 53.4% to Rs.1.85bn and Rs.1.41bn respectively during the same period. IVRCL recorded revenue of Rs.23.44bn for the nine months ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs.13.22bn during the same period last year representing robust growth of 78.2%. Operating margins of the company stood at 9.82% for the first nine months of 2008 and was lower as compared to 9.92% recorded for 9MFY2007 due to increase in raw material prices of various inputs like cement and steel. We initiate our coverage of IVRCL with a Buy rating and value IVRCL’s share at an intrinsic value of Rs.470.06 based on Sum of the Parts valuation method. The intrinsic value is higher than the current market price of Rs.413.5 (as on April 28, 2008) by 13.68%.

Wockhardt - Wockhardt CFO found guilty of insider trading

2008-05-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

It's the first in Indian corporate history that a company CFO has been charged and indicted of insider trading: Rajiv Gandhi, Director-Corporate Finance and Company Secretary of one of India's leading pharmaceutical companies-Wockhardt.

The Securities Appelate Tribunal, or SAT, has upheld a November 2006 Sebi order that charged Wockhardt CFO Rajiv Gandhi, his wife and his sister of insider trading.

The Tribunal's order states, “We uphold the appelants guilty of insider trading."

Whilst this is not India's first insider trading case, it is by far unique because the accused is part of the company's senior management and Wockhardt is an over Rs 2,600 crore giant.

Who is Rajiv Gandhi?

He is a Wockhardt board member and is instrumental in the demerger of group companies. He is responsible for all mergers and acquisitions and was a Wockhardt employee for over 10 years.

His key deals include the buyout of Pinewood (Ireland), Negma Labs (France) and Morton Grove (USA). He was also instrumental in negotiating the Andrx buyout.

Wockhardt issued a statement saying, “We are considering/studying the judgement and its implications. We will take appropriate measures after thorough review and investigation."

Modus Operandi:

Gandhi's wife and sister traded in Wockhardt shares. They traded prior to important financial events.

On January 21, 1999, there was a Wockhardt Board meet on results and interim dividend at 5pm. Wife Sandhya and sister Amishi Gandhi sold 2,100 shares at 2:37 pm and 2:42 pm.

On January 22, 1999, the company announced results and interim dividend pre-trading. Amishi and Sandhya Gandhi sold 1,500 shares at 9.59 am and 10.04 am.

On April 22, 1999, the board meeting on results and demerger took place at 11.30 am. Amishi Gandhi sold 1,200 shares at 11.33 am.

The Sebi order of November 2006 quoted trading patterns from January to October 1999. It found Rajiv, Sandhya and Amishi Gandhi guilty of insider trading and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh in 2006.

The SAT order of May 2007 alleged that appelants traded in the scrip before and after board meetings held to consider financial results. The trades were executed on the basis of price sensitive information not available to investors in general.

Road ahead for Gandhi:

Somashekhar Sundaresan of J Sagar Associates, cousel for Rajiv Gandhi, said this did not constitute insider trading and would be appealing against the order in the Supreme Court. “Our position is quite different. This did not constitute insider trading. We are talking about transactions that happened in 1999. You are asking me a question with the perspective of a new law that came in 2002. We have just got the order and are reading it. There is a statutory right to appeal and I cannot really get around into discussing the merits of the case. But we will surely be filing an appeal in the Supreme Court.”

On the standards of corporate governance in this country, Sundaresan said, “I am not at liberty to discuss that. That is a question you should ask the company. Our defence has been that the facts as they are, applying the law as it stood, does not constitute insider trading.”

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/wockhardt-cfo-found-guiltyinsider-trading/16/36/337990

IVRCL

2008-05-14T04:09:00.001-07:00

IVRCL — (IVRCL.NS, I-OW; PT INR593)
Water projects dominate its order book; should benefit from irrigation opportunities
IVRCL has a predominant position in effluent treatment, water supply, sanitation and
irrigation-related projects. About half of its water-related order book is made up of irrigation
projects, with the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Scheme being the key. At 58%, water projects
form a bulk of its order book of INR110 billion as of fiscal year 3Q08. We estimate strong
order inflows growth in this segment, given the high investment outlay in India’s irrigation
and water sectors for the next five years.
Other sectors to contribute as well
IVRCL has also expanded substantially into other segments such as power and roads and
buildings. Roads and buildings account for 11% and 21% of the order book, respectively,
while the transmission & distribution (T&D) segment accounting for 9% of the order book.
Robust investment planned in these three sectors over the next five years should help IVRCL
improve its order inflows.
Robust subsidiary businesses
! IVR Prime, the real estate subsidiary of IVRCL, currently has about a 85-million-squarefoot
area under development in seven different cities.
! The acquired Hindustan Dorr Oliver (HDO), which has engineering and design skills in
water projects, registered revenue CAGR of 40% during FY04-FY07.
! In the build-operate-transfer (BOT) space, IVRCL currently has three road projects and
one water desalination project. So far, the company has invested around INR2.6
billion as equity in these projects. It is the first company to develop a water
desalination project on a BOT basis.
We estimate strong growth in order inflows:
! We expect order inflows to register a CAGR of 31% during FY07-FY10. We expect
total order inflows over FY08-FY10 to be around INR259 billion versus INR113 billion
for the past three years.
! We project revenue CAGR of 41% over FY07-FY10.
! We estimate core EBITDA margins to expand from 10% in FY07 to 11.1% in FY10.
! We project an earnings CAGR of 40% over the next three years. Our EPS estimates
for FY08, FY09 and FY10 are INR13.9, INR20.8, and INR28.8, respectively.
India Infrastructure and Construction
March 25, 2008 5
! We estimate ROE to reach 12% in FY08 and 18% by FY10, up from 11% in FY07. If
we were to adjust for investments in subsidiaries, IVRCL’s ROE would expand from
13.6% in FY07 to about 20.6% by FY10.
! The total funds requirement by IVRCL over FY08-FY10 is close to INR16 billion
(including negative operating cash flows of INR11.5 billion). As the debt-equity ratio
of IVRCL is at 0.25x, we are building in a debt of INR15 billion over the next three
years to fund the capital requirement.
Initiate with a 1-Overweight rating and a 12-month price target of INR593
We value IVRCL using the sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) methodology. For its core construction
business, we value it at a P/E multiple of 17x on our FY09E earnings. We value IVR Prime
using the discounted cash flow (DCF) methodology. For its BOT portfolio, we value the
projects on respective P/B multiples.
Figure 1: IVRCL valuation
Segment March 2009 value (INR mn) Value per share INR Comment
Core construction business 53,783 399 17x on our FY09 earnings
IVR Prime 18,007 134 Valued on NPV basis
BOT Portfolio 5,657 42 Multiple to book
Hindustan Dorr Oliver 2,484 18 15x on our FY09 earnings
Total 79,931 593
Source: Lehman Brothers estimates
Based on our SOTP valuation, we have a 1-Overweight rating on IVRCL and a 12-month
price target of INR593, representing potential upside of 72% from the current levels.

Jaiprakash - Jaiprakash gets land for Taj Expressway

2008-05-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

Jaiprakash Associates is learnt to have acquired the entire 165 kilometres of land it needs to build an expressway between Greater Noida and Agra. The company earlier had only 7.2 kilometres of land in its possession, a company executive said.

Jaiprakash Associates is building the 165-kilometre-long Taj Expressway through the majority-owned unit Jaiprakash Infratech Ltd, created specially for implementation of the project.

Bharat Parekh, Reena Verma Bhasin and Joseph Jacobelli, Merrill Lynch analysts, said the entire 165 kilometres of land was acquired last week.

Jaiprakash Associates organised a roadshow for US investors last week to highlight the acquisition.

“This (the land acquisition) should create the room to boost engineering and construction revenues from the second half the fiscal year 2008-09,” the Merrill analysts said in a note Tuesday.

The company is also likely to get about 160 acres of land for real estate development at Noida next week, taking the total to 1075 acres along the expressway, the note said. “This will help Jaiprakash Infratech secure 39% of the Merrill Lynch estimate of the SPV value,” it said.

Jaiprakash Infratech’s director in-charge Sameer Gaur and Jaiprakash Associates’ executive chairman Manoj Gaur were unavailable for comment.

Earlier in March, Jaiprakash Associates raised Rs 250 crore by selling 1% stake in Jaiprakash Infratech to ICICI Bank, valuing the special purpose vehicle at Rs 25,000 crore. The company also secured a long term loan of Rs 900 crore from ICICI Bank.

The money will most likely be used by the company to construct the access-controlled expressway. Jaiprakash Infratech will develop, construct and operate the expressway on a tolled basis.

Jaypee Infratech also has the rights to develop 2.5 crore square metres of land along the expressway for commercial, residential, amusement, industrial and institutional purposes.

Jaiprakash Associates has also been awarded a contract by the Uttar Pradesh Development Authority to build a 1,047-km long expressway connecting Greater Noida to Balliya in the state. The company has deposited Rs 1,491 crore as a bank guarantee for the project. Jaypee Associates will execute the 1,047-km long Ganga Expressway project through its unit Jaypee Ganga Infrastructure Corp.

Link to the article: http://finance.indiainfo.com/2008/05/14/0805140913_jaiprakash-taj_expressway.html

IVRCL - target price of Rs570

2008-05-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

IVRCL Infrastructure—expect moderation in execution in 4QFY08 after >70%
growth in 9mFY08, marginally revise estimates, maintain BUY
We expect IVRCL to report revenues of Rs13.6, a yoy growth of 37% versus 9MFY08
growth of over 78%. We believe that yoy growth in 4QFY08 is likely to be lower led by
(1) more even spread of revenues and (2) base effects with very strong yoy growth in
4QFY07 also.
We have revised our execution estimates for FY2009E and FY2010E to Rs50.4 bn and
Rs69.5 bn from Rs49 bn and Rs70.7 bn earlier, based on more even distribution of
execution growth. We have revised our EPS estimate for FY2009E and FY2010E to
Rs20.6 and Rs27.4 from Rs20.4 and Rs31.4 earlier. We expect flat margins in FY2009E
and FY2010E of 10.3%. We maintain our target price of Rs570 comprised of (1) Rs413
for the core construction business, (2) Rs112 for IVR Prime, (3) Rs15 for Hindustan Dorr
Oliver and (4) Rs39 for BOTs and infrastructure holdings (Exhibit 6). Our valuation of
core construction business implies 14X FY2010E earnings (Exhibit 7). We highlight that
IVRCL had a visibility of 2.6 years at the end of 9mFY08 based on forward four quarter
revenues (Exhibits 6, 7 and 8).

Dwarikesh - Buy Dwarikesh Sugar tgt Rs 95

2008-05-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

PINC has maintained buy rating on Dwarikesh Sugar Industries with target price of Rs 95 in its May 13, 2008 report. "Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd.’s (DSIL) net sales surged by 36% YoY to Rs866 million in Q2FY08. Commissioning of Dwarikesh Dham unit (7,500 TCD and 24 MW saleable cogen) and 24 MW cogen unit at Dwarikesh Puram were the key reasons for the sales growth. Sugar volumes rose by 27% to 37.5k mt whereas realisations were down by 2% YoY and up by 4% QoQ to Rs13.8k/mt. The other key development was the commissioning of its 24 MW each cogen plants at Dwarikesh Dham and Dwarikesh Puram in Feb’08, which were postponed on account of delays in installing evacuation lines from power plants to the state grid. The future profitability of the company will come primarily from its 56 MW (saleable) cogen power plants. This, coupled with firm sugar prices is likely to boost the company’s margins and improve its cash flows. Hence, we maintain our ‘BUY’ recommendation with a price target of Rs 95 (as against our earlier target of Rs 130) on an investment perspective of one year" according to PINC report.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Source: Moneycontrol.com

Bargain stocks

2008-05-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

A combination of value and growth helps in achieving healthy returns, yet keeping the margin of safety.

The Indian markets had fallen by almost 30 per cent between January and March, 2008. Since then, they have recovered half the lost ground. The impact of the fall was so hard that many stocks were beaten down to levels disproportionate with their fundamentals and growth prospects.

Interestingly, even as the markets have risen, many stocks are still quoting well below their worth and provide investment opportunities.

The ways of identifying value stocks are many, including looking at ratios like price-to-earnings (PE) and price-to-book-value (P/BV) besides, factors like replacement cost and dividend yields. But if factors like company management and track record, healthy growth prospects and sound business model, are also considered, it only increases the margin of safety.

To put it differently, a low PE or low P/BV does not necessarily mean cheap but, it only helps in keeping a lid on the price one pays vis-à-vis a company's past earnings or book-value. Thus, it makes sense to look for stocks that offer a good combination of value and growth.

In a bid to identify such stocks, the Smart Investor looked at companies by considering factors like market capitalisation (over Rs 250 crore), PE (under 15), financials, return ratios and cash flows (should be positive).

While companies with a dividend track record were preferred, their growth prospects were given utmost importance.

Many of these companies are from sectors that have underperformed in the past (even before the markets crashed) due to different reasons, including change in macro environment and cost pressures, which typically, are not permanent in nature.

This also means that the worst is already reflecting in their stock valuations. And, since the long-term growth prospects of most of these companies look healthy, there is potential for their stocks to deliver decent returns.

Apart from the companies mentioned below (See Value Buys), there are many public sector banks that are quoting at a good discount to their true values.

Additionally, stocks like Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals, LIC Housing Finance, Wanbury and Lok Housing, which are quality buys, continue to look good and merit attention.

Alok Industries
In the last four years, Alok Industries has taken advantage of the textile upgradation fund (TUF) to backward integrate (from yarn to home textiles and apparels) as well as expanded capacities in a big way.

The fruits are visible in its numbers including the healthy operating profit margins (22-25 per cent in the last eight quarters).

The last phase of the expansion will get commissioned over by March 2009, and should help sustain revenue and profit growth in excess of 20-25 per cent in the next two years. The company's focus on value-added products and thrust on retailing should also help maintain profit margins.

In the retail space, Alok is consolidating all its activities under Alok Homes & Apparels, where it is targeting to operate 400 stores (20 now) over the next two years.

Alok is also looking at real estate as agrowth driver, wherein it has signed up for a few projects (a township in Vapi, a million sq ft commercial project in Bhandup (Mumbai) and two projects in Central Mumbai).

In a bid to mitigate risks, it has chosen the joint venture route and aims to be selective with focus on large projects.

Among key risk factors is the high leverage (but, largely low-cost loans under TUF), which should gradually come down as the last phase of expansion starts contributing, post the conversion of two crore warrants into shares (at Rs 102 per share) over next 15 months and a planned private equity placement (in 1-2 months).

To sum up, Alok should report robust growth rates over the next two years, while additional triggers will come from the progress in real estate and retail businesses. At Rs 68, the stock trades at 6 times its estimated FY09 earnings.

Amtek India
Amtek India manufactures castings and machined auto components for companies. Like others, Amtek too, has been facing input costs pressures.

For quarter ended March 2008, operating profits grew at a slower pace as compared to revenue growth. Analysts though say that the company has cost escalation clause with its customers and is already negotiating for price hikes.

Over the years, Amtek India has done backward integration to emerge as a fully integrated castings player. It is now expanding its foundry capacity by 60 per cent, which will go on stream by 2008-09.

Besides, Amtek is shifting capacity (45,000 tonnes) of its subsidiary Sigmacast, UK to its Indian facilities this year, which will lead to better utilisation of the assets and expand operating margins due to lower costs in India.

These moves should help sustain volume and earnings growth of over 15 per cent for the next two years.

Funding its expansion and inorganic growth plans is not an issue, given the low leverage, cash and bank balance of Rs 265 crore, and the sale of its stake in a group company in April 2008 for about Rs 300 crore. The stock quotes at just one time its book-value and at a PE of 8 times it's estimated FY09 earnings.

Grasim
Including its subsidiary, Ultratech, cement accounts for 70 per cent of Grasim Industries' consolidated revenues followed by viscose staple fibre, sponge iron and textiles.

Currently, higher input prices across its businesses has seen its operating profit grow at a slower pace than revenue growth in Q4 FY08. Not surprisingly, the stock has underperformed the Sensex by a huge margin; valuations are now close to historical lows.

While the near-term outlook is not exciting, Grasim's expanded cement capacities (6.6 million tonnes per annum commissioned recently and another 2.7 MTPA expected by December 2008) will result in strong volume growth over the next 18 months, whereas cost rationalisation measures should help report a reasonable growth in profits. Capacity expansion in other businesses too, has been taken up and should contribute to the kitty.

Notably, Grasim is among few cement companies that will have the advantage of early commissioning of capacities, given that an over supply situation is expected by end-2009. Some analysts though expect that project delays by players may postpone any possible glut situation to 2010.

All these indicate that Grasim is well placed to shore up volumes across its businesses, while its earnings should grow by 12-15 per cent annually over the next two years (estimated EPS of Rs 320, PE of 7.5 for FY09). And, if there is any realignment (reduction) in excise duty rates, it will only provide a boost to the industry's volumes.

As per analysts' estimates, the stock is quoting below the combined replacement cost of its businesses. Based on its growth prospects too, the stock is being valued between Rs 2,950-3,100. In short, Grasim has the potential to deliver good returns, as it rises to its true value.

HPCL
Quite an exception to the other four stocks, going purely by numbers, this one needs little brains to call it a value play; HPCL's stock quotes below its book value and its dividend yield is 7.3 per cent.

The reasons for the same, too, are well known. While the situation is unlikely to change any time soon or may not change at all, this stock is for those with an extraordinary high level of patience and an appetite for risk.

The dividend yield may also not hold this year as it is based on last year's dividend (2006-07). But, even if turns out to be lower considering that Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has reported a 26 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 750.37 crore (annualised EPS of Rs 29.5) for nine months ended December 2007, it would still be decent. The other risk relates to the assumption that the subsidy burden does not increase in future.

Regards its business, among long-term drivers is the company's investment (10-20 per cent stake) in 21 exploration & production blocks in consortium with other companies besides, some with ONGC.

The company also owns a 16.95 per cent stake (29.72 crore shares) in MRPL worth Rs 2902 crore or Rs 85 per share of HPCL. Adjusting for this, the stock quotes at a PE of 5.4 times its estimated FY09 earnings.

Royal Orchid Hotels
Most of hotel stocks have underperformed the broader markets in the last one year and, Royal Orchid Hotels is not exception. In fact, its stock performance has been relatively worse, thanks to subdued growth in revenues and marginal dip (by 5 per cent) in profits in the nine months ended December 2007. This may be attributed to its presence, primarily in Bangalore (80 per cent of revenues)–four out of its 10 hotels are in the city, including a 200-room 5-star business hotel and a 200-room 4-star business hotel. Bangalore has seen room rents remain stable to weak in the recent past.

However, the new international airport, increasing international events, development of new convention centres and corporate conferences (like held by Microsoft and IBM) could provide some triggers to drive demand in the future.

Overall, the company has 10 hotels with an inventory of about 830 rooms in Bangalore, Mysore, Pune and Jaipur. Positively, by 2009, it will also have presence in Hyderabad, Shimla, Delhi, Noida and Mumbai (includes foray into budget hotels category), which in turn should mitigate the concentration risk.

Last month, the company acquired a 50 per cent stake for Rs 17 crore in a company that owns a 65-room beach resort in Goa.

The company plans to spend Rs 10 crore towards renovating the property, which is expected to be completed by October 2008 thus, indicating that the time-lag to its revenue contribution will be minimal.

At a one-year forward PE of 7 and a reasonably high dividend yield of 5.8 per cent, and considering its growth prospects, the stock can deliver good returns in a year's time.

Link to the article: http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu6&subLeft=2&autono=322613&tab=r

Jaiprakash - Investor's Eye Sharekhan

2008-05-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

Jaiprakash Associates
Cluster: Ugly Duckling
Recommendation: Buy
Price target: Rs390
Current market price: Rs269
Results above expectations
Result highlights
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) Q4FY2008 results were above our estimates. On a standalone basis the company reported a top line growth of 44.5% year on year (yoy) to Rs1,280 crore. This was on account of a 45.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in the revenues from the construction division to Rs475 crore. The higher revenue was also aided by the revenue from the real estate division, which stood at Rs256 crore against nil during the corresponding period last year.
The operating profit margin (OPM) on a standalone basis for the quarter improved by 140 basis points yoy to 31.1%. This was mainly on account of higher earning before interest and tax (EBIT) margin of the construction division, which reported an increase of 950 basis points to 25.5%. The real estate division reported an EBIT margin of 31.6%, while the cement division reported a negligible improvement of 30 basis points in EBIT margin to 35.3%. However the hotel and hospitality division reported a decline of 1,190 basis points in the EBIT margin to 16.7%. Consequently the operating profit jumped by 51.3% to Rs398 crore.
On a standalone basis, the company reported a net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs211 crore, up by 61.1% yoy. The growth in the net profit was mainly because of an increase in the other income by 120% to Rs66 crore.
For the year ended March 2008, on a standalone basis the net sales increased 14.6% yoy to Rs3,985 crore and the PAT stood at Rs610 crore, up 47% yoy. On a consolidated basis, the net sales increased by 6.8% to Rs4,201 crore and the adjusted PAT stood at Rs627 core, an increase of 21.2% yoy.
We have upgraded our FY2009 earnings per share (EPS) estimate by 10.9% to Rs6 and have also introduced FY2010 estimates. The estimated PAT for FY2010 stands at Rs947.9 crore, implying a growth of 26.4% over FY2009E. At the current market price of Rs269, the stock is trading at 45x its FY2009E EPS and 35x its FY2010E EPS. We maintain a Buy on the stock with a price target of Rs390 based on our sum-of-the-parts valuation.

ET 500

2008-05-09T03:35:00.000-07:00

The complete list of ET 500 Companies gives a clear picture upon performance of the Indian Corporates and achievements of top sectors.
As to the recent rankings given, the Information and Technology sector dominates the linking. The IT Companies such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have got very good rankings in the given list.

The list of top 500 companies, their rankings and their Market Cap (Avg for Jan1-15 ‘07 in Rs Cr) is as follows:

Company Ranking (Mar 2000) Market Cap (Avg for Jan1-15 ‘07 in Rs Cr)
Tata Consultancy Services 1 124492
Infosys Technologies 2 124113
Wipro 3 87270
Bharti Airtel 4 120753
Suzlon Energy 5 36481
Hindustan Lever 6 47226
Bharat Heavy Electricals 7 54964
Siemens 8 18724
Tata Motors 9 35859
Larsen & Toubro 10 40987
HDFC 11 39522
Hindustan Zinc 12 33693
Reliance Industries 13 180685
Mahindra & Mahindra 14 22429
ITC 15 63431
Satyam Computer Services 16 32318
Cipla 17 19534
ONGC 18 192377
ICICI Bank 19 81495
Bajaj Auto 20 27928
Unitech 21 37413
ABB 22 15251
Sterlite Industries 23 30058
HDFC Bank 24 32847
Sun Pharmaceuticals 25 19068
Maruti Udyog 26 26711
Ultra Tech Cement 27 13597
Grasim Industries 28 25841
Gujarat Ambuja Cement 29 19187
ACC 30 19804
HCL Technologies 31 20021
Crompton Greaves 32 8026
Container Corporation of India 33 13590
NTPC 34 113099
UTI Bank 35 13477
Motor Industries Company 36 11237
Bharat Electronics 37 10444
I-flex Solutions 38 16035
Nestle India 39 11411
Hindalco Industries 40 19861
Dabur India 41 8719
Lakshmi Machine Works 42 4625
Indian Petrochemicals Corp 43 8657
Videocon Industries 44 10187
Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories 45 13502
Lupin 46 4740
Thermax 47 4672
Asian Paints 48 7081
Aditya Birla Nuvo 49 11815
Canara Bank 50 11303
Bank of India 51 9830
Ranbaxy Laboratories 52 15478
Titan Industries 53 3908
IVRCL Infrastructures 54 4499
Kalpataru Power Transmission 55 2765
Pantaloon Retail (India) 56 6654
Areva T&D India 57 4041
Kirloskar Brothers 58 4358
United Spirits 59 7896
Reliance Capital 60 14252
Cummins India 61 5378
Hero Honda Motors 62 14925
Ashok Leyland 63 6011
Punjab National Bank 64 15977
Tata Power Company 65 11194
Nagarjuna Construction 66 4615
Steel Authority of India 67 36818
Maharashtra Seamless 68 3213
Indian Hotels Co 69 9077
Madras Cements 70 4141
Voltas 71 3677
Century Textiles Ind 72 6878
Jaiprakash Associates 73 15507
Tata Steel 74 25866
Indian Overseas Bank 75 6192
Colgate Palmolive (I) 76 5227
Bank Of Baroda 77 8717
Shree Cement 78 5097
Havell’s India 79 2131
State Bank of India 80 63825
Kotak Mahindra Bank 81 13443
Ansal Properties & Infrastructure 82 5346
Jindal Steel & Power 83 6743
Peninsula Land 84 2355
India Cements 85 5151
National Aluminium Company 86 13545
United Phosphorus 87 5601
Aurobindo Pharma 88 3883
Indian Oil Corporation 89 54258
Marico 90 3171
Union Bank of India 91 6156
Birla Corporation 92 2562
Patel Engineering 93 2737
Shriram Transport Finance Co. 94 2392
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals 95 7083
Exide Industries 96 2981
Allahabad Bank 97 4007
Cadila Healthcare 98 4430
Centurion Bank of Punjab 99 4651
IDFC 100 8938
Panacea Biotec 101 2538
Jubilant Organosys 102 3653
Deccan Chronicle Holdings 103 3508
Bharat Forge Co. 104 8090
Amtek Auto 105 4549
Petronet LNG 106 3845
Bharat Petroleum Corpn 107 12606
Moser Baer (India) 108 3647
Divi’s Laboratories 109 3883
Anant Raj Industries 110 4704
United Breweries 111 4241
Motherson Sumi Systems 112 2520
Rajesh Exports 113 1507
Federal Bank 114 1989
EIH 115 4067
Andhra Bank 116 4231
Adani Enterprises 117 5562
Kesoram Industries 118 2494
HT Media 119 4032
Sesa Goa 120 6437
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. 121 9842
Bhushan Steel & Strips 122 1615
Jain Irrigation Systems 123 2246
Blue Star 124 1869
Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chem. 125 1563
JSW Steel 126 6317
Videsh Sanchar Nigam 127 12444
Aban Offshore 128 7930
Glaxosmithkline Pharma 129 9839
Oriental Bank of Commerce 130 5621
Pidilite Industries 131 3130
Hindustan Construction Co 132 4072
Reliance Energy 133 11122
GAIL (India) 134 23298
Sintex Industries 135 2494
Tulip IT Services 136 1647
Jindal Saw 137 1889
State Bank Of Travancore 138 1913
Essar Steel 139 4373
MRF 140 1815
Sundaram Clayton 141 2497
Syndicate Bank 142 3884
State Bank of Mysore 143 2222
Sanghi Industries 144 1250
Yes Bank 145 3796
Godrej Consumers Products 146 3438
MRPL 147 7165
Greaves Cotton 148 1658
Alstom Projects India 149 3116
Sterling Biotech 150 4312
Gammon India 151 3495
GHCL 152 1590
Gujarat Fluorochemicals 153 3555
Zee Entertainment 154 13237
Dalmia Cements (Bharat) 155 1944
Bharat Earth Movers 156 4116
IDBI 157 5801
Financial Technologies (India) 158 7685
Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren 159 1366
Bajaj Hindusthan 160 2909
Orient Paper & Industries 161 886
Sterlite Optical Technologies 162 1408
United Breweries Holdings 163 2150
Castrol India 164 2781
Nicholas Piramal India 165 5337
Kirloskar Oil Engines 166 2740
Balrampur Chini Mills 167 2028
Elecon Engineering Co 168 1334
Praj Industries 169 1916
Chettinad Cements 170 1543
Mphasis 171 4831
State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur 172 1907
DCM Shriram Consolidated 173 1894
AIA Engineering 174 2519
Asahi India Glass 175 2164
Honeywell Automation India 176 1622
Jyoti Structures 177 1067
S Kumars Nationwide 178 1419
Hexaware Technologies 179 2496
Jet Airways (I) 180 5598
JK Cements 181 1316
Ruchi Soya Industries 182 1047
Shree Precoated Steels 183 4387
ISMT 184 1177
Kansai Nerolac Paints 185 2057
Shipping Corporation of India 186 4689
IFCI 187 1045
Indiabulls Financials Services 188 4730
Emami 189 1600
Hinduja TMT 190 2994
Chennai Petroleum Corporation 191 3189
Finolex Cables 192 1533
Opto Circuits (India) 193 1830
CESC 194 2631
Simplex Infrastructures 195 1632
SRF 196 1289
Britannia Industries 197 2643
ABG Shipyard 198 1540
Ashapura Minechem 199 873
Karnataka Bank 200 1802
HCL Infosystems 201 2720
Rolta India 202 2137
Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers 203 2165
J K Lakshmi Cement 204 826
3M India 205 1700
Coromandel Fertilizers 206 1140
Shopper’s Stop 207 2394
Tata Chemicals 208 4661
Zuari Industries 209 618
Atlas Copco (I) 210 1647
Lakshmi Energy and Foods 211 944
Glaxosmithkline Consumers 212 2396
Madras Aluminium Co 213 911
Jammu & Kashmir Bank 214 3207
Raymond 215 2524
Tele Data Informatics 216 481
Vardhman Textiles 217 1592
Carborundum Universal 218 1771
Godrej Industries 219 5048
Tata Tea 220 4059
Subhash Projects & Marketing 221 808
Prism Cement 222 1069
Varun Shipping Company 223 809
Himadri Chemicals & Inds. 224 870
Procter & Gamble Hygiene 225 2853
Wockhardt 226 3840
Ballarpur Industries 227 1840
Era Constructions (India) 228 884
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam 229 9748
KSL Realty and Infrastructure 230 2367
Berger Paints India 231 1481
Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers Co. 232 1544
Fag Bearings India 233 1124
Corporation Bank 234 4780
Apollo Tyres 235 1313
Pfizer 236 2459
SKF India 237 1430
Mangalam Cement 238 634
Ahmednagar Forgings 239 948
Asian Hotels 240 1649
KS Oils 241 450
Everest Kanto Cylinder 242 1312
TajGVK Hotels & Resorts 243 1438
Apollo Hospitals Enterprises 244 2184
PTC India 245 902
IG Petrochemicals 246 191
Kalyani Steels 247 1887
Dena Bank 248 1095
Uco Bank 249 1804
LIC Housing Finance 250 1362
Karur Vysya Bank 251 1432
TVS Motor Company 252 1944
Jaybharat Textiles And Real Estate 253 1240
Shree Renuka Sugars 254 1064
Apar Industries 255 587
Hotel Leela Venture 256 2341
Patni Computer Systems 257 5683
Bannari Amman Sugars 258 754
Dishman Pharmaceuticals 259 1728
ICSA India 260 637
Bombay Dyeing & Mfg. Co. 261 2905
Subex Azure 262 2422
Man Industries (India) 263 694
CMC 264 1089
NIIT Technologies 265 1176
Matrix Laboratories 266 3367
Gokaldas Exports 267 1068
ICI India 268 1820
Radico Khaitan 269 1575
Triveni Engineering & Industries 270 1413
Sundram Fasteners 271 1756
Bongaigaon Refinery 272 957
Indraprastha Gas 273 1686
Astrazen Pharma 274 1613
Infotech Enterprises 275 1538
Madhucon Projects 276 1146
Punj Lloyd 277 5400
Nahar Industrial Enterprises 278 695
Graphite India 279 864
Clariant Chemicals (India) 280 904
Bosch Chassis Systems India 281 1044
Chambal Fertiliser & Chemicals 282 1574
Aventis Pharma 283 3305
Tube Investments of India 284 1270
Alok Industries 285 1161
Adlabs Films 286 1961
Great Eastern Shipping Co. 287 3397
Phoenix Mills 288 1493
Gujarat Gas Company 289 1612
Amtek India 290 954
Lok Housing & Constructions 291 310
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 292 1349
Jindal Stainless 293 1566
Nesco 294 1349
Torrent Pharmaceuticals 295 1766
Ceat 296 583
Biocon 297 3694
Ipca Laboratories 298 1540
Bata India 299 1407
Emco 300 764
EID Parry 301 1215
India Infoline 302 1546
Ratnamani Metals & Tubes 303 433
Blue Dart Express 304 1265
Bank of Maharashtra 305 1826
Geodesic Information Systems 306 1272
Godavari Fertilisers & Chem 307 333
Automotive Axles 308 957
Fertilisers & Chemicals - Travancore 309 875
Essar Shipping 310 1838
Escorts 311 806
JBF Industries 312 613
Techno Electric & Engineering Company 313 584
Hindustan Machine Tools 314 3938
Television Eighteen India 315 3213
Prithvi Information Solutions 316 657
Gillette India 317 2816
Polaris Software Lab 318 1932
Educomp Solutions 319 1616
Prajay Engineers Syndicate 320 557
IGate Global Solutions 321 1234
IL&FS Investmart 322 1413
Vijaya Bank 323 2091
Transport Corporation of India 324 560
DS Kulkarni Developers 325 826
Sakthi Sugars 326 306
South Indian Bank 327 658
Max India 328 3223
Bharat Bijlee 329 696
OCL India 330 782
JM Financial 331 2435
Usha Martin 332 763
Unichem Laboratories 333 1038
Ruchi Infrastructure 334 922
Bajaj Electricals 335 408
Suashish Diamonds 336 486
Gulf Oil Corporation 337 1884
Mastek 338 1057
Nucleus Software Exports 339 1128
KSB Pumps 340 1104
Syngenta India 341 1174
Tata Elxsi 342 845
Bayer Cropscience 343 1209
Bharati Shipyard 344 868
Sanghvi Movers 345 570
Gemini Communications 346 650
Flex Industries 347 893
Texmaco 348 1240
Nirma 349 2834
CRISIL 350 1569
Balkrishna Industries 351 1052
KEI Industries 352 451
Donear Industries 353 1148
Jai Corp 354 3176
Bombay Rayon Fashions 355 1124
Supreme Industries 356 633
Balmer Lawrie & Company 357 681
Gujarat Sidhee Cement 358 348
Rain Calcining 359 676
Mercator Lines 360 856
Cranes Softwares International 361 1194
Alfa Laval (I) 362 1532
Gujarat Industrial Power Co. 363 967
Mahindra Gesco Developers 364 3126
ING Vysya Bank 365 1412
REI Agro 366 855
Strides Arcolab 367 1271
Pennar Industries 368 154
KPIT Cummins Infosystems 369 1002
3i Infotech 370 1182
Mahindra Ugine Steel Company 371 441
GTL 372 1435
Atul 373 371
HEG 374 715
Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals 375 1142
Merck 376 797
National Fertilizer 377 1621
Core Projects And Technologies 378 562
Binani Industries 379 1129
KRBL 380 421
Ramsarup Industries 381 295
Savita Chemicals 382 460
Wyeth 383 1198
Uttam Galva Steel 384 304
Murli Industries 385 416
Alembic 386 898
Bilcare 387 846
Tata Investment Corporation 388 1328
Elder Pharmaceuticals 389 720
Tamilnadu Newsprint & Papers 390 655
Dredging Corporation of India 391 1676
Punjab Tractors 392 1500
Surana Industries 393 178
Mukand 394 654
Paramount Communications 395 321
Nava Bharat Ventures 396 740
GMR Industries 397 1014
Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals 398 661
Amara Raja Batteries 399 468
NIIT 400 1023
Sasken Communication Technologies 401 1637
Ingersoll-Rand (I) 402 1176
Electrotherm (India) 403 211
Kirloskar Pneumatic Co. 404 521
Kennametal India 405 1091
Lumax Industries 406 465
Gati 407 674
Gateway Distriparks 408 1861
ITD Cementation India 409 393
Asian Star Company 410 1416
Bajaj Auto Finance 411 1255
Abhishek Industries 412 443
PSL 413 679
Eicher Motors 414 1005
Ansal Housing & Construction 415 534
JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 416 849
Vaibhav Gems 417 793
Grindwell Norton 418 717
Asian Electronics 419 590
Sona Koyo Steering Systems 420 546
Panchmahal Steel 421 214
Balaji Telefilms 422 871
Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services 423 1048
HBL Power Systems 424 681
Trent 425 1272
Eastern Silk Industries 426 514
Venus Remedies 427 376
Geojit Financial Services 428 534
JMC Projects (India) 429 391
Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals 430 177
Helios & Matheson Information Tech. 431 289
Ganesh Housing Finance Corrn. 432 444
Hindustan Sanitaryware & Inds 433 611
Mcnally Bharat Engineering Co. 434 464
Oudh Sugar Mills 435 154
Manugraph India 436 750
McLeod Russel India 437 940
Aftek 438 496
Goodyear India 439 399
ANG Auto 440 334
Shanthi Gears 441 596
Vertex Spinning 442 907
Dynamatic Technologies 443 558
Dabur Pharma 444 1245
Abbott India 445 796
Electrosteel Castings 446 822
Rico Auto Industries 447 796
BOC 448 829
Allsec Technologies 449 466
Sangam (India) 450 347
SREI Infrastructure Finance 451 590
BSEL Infrastructure Realty 452 413
Country Club (India) 453 329
Esab India 454 612
Shasun Chemicals & Drugs 455 595
Genus Overseas Electronics 456 231
Webel Sl Energy Systems 457 270
Sharon Bio-Medicine 458 222
Marg Constructions 459 285
South East Asia Marine Engg 460 638
CCL Products India 461 627
Shriram City Union Finance 462 437
Champagne Indage 463 721
Finolex Industries 464 1066
Provogue (India) 465 703
Rain Commodities 466 489
Southern Iron & Steel Company 467 689
Walchandnagar Industries 468 375
Megasoft 469 435
Gujarat Ambuja Exports 470 403
RPG Transmission 471 308
Sanwaria Agro Oils 472 230
Century Plyboards (India) 473 367
Kemrock Industries & Exports 474 275
Phoenix Lamps 475 359
BASF India 476 668
Automobile Corporation of Goa 477 236
Geometric Software Solution 478 791
Shrenuj & Company 479 290
Lloyd Electric & Engineering 480 437
Sujana Metal Products 481 377
City Union Bank 482 403
Vakrangee Softwares 483 510
Solectron Centum Electronics 484 418
Gruh Finance 485 468
Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols 486 268
Spanco Telesystems & Solutions 487 317
Oriental Hotels 488 708
Greenply Industries 489 169
Paper Products 490 472
Hindustan National Glass 491 618
NRB Bearings 492 488
Nahar Spinning Mills 493 444
Magma Leasing 494 329
Kajaria Ceramics 495 412
Zensar Technologies 496 560
Crew BOS Products 497 310
Dewan Housing Finance Corp 498 398
Subros 499 303
Classic Diamonds (I) 500 340

Source:economictimes

Need to produce less sugar, more ethanol: Experts

2008-05-08T04:54:00.001-07:00

Keeping focus on ethanol right now SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com and M Manickam, MD of Sakthi Sugars, who suggests that we need to produce less sugar and produce more alcohol. Tulsian estimates that the season of 2008-09 will have a sugar production of 21 million tonne. That will give a production of about 200 crore litre of ethanol.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with SP Tulsian and M Manickam:

Q: A question on demand-supply scenario on account of this increase in ethanol blending. The government has mandated about 10% by October 2008, 20% ethanol blending by about 2011, sugar supplies are expected to come under pressure in 2009. Are you going to see a major demand-supply mismatch in cane production now on account of this ethanol demand?

Tulsian: Definitely. Just a quick recap - 2007-08 the season, which will end this September, will have sugar production of about 26 million tonne. That will give ethanol production of about maybe 250 crore litre. Since we have about 80 crore litre of ethanol required for industrial purposes, 90 crore litre required for potable - for drinking purposes, so this season we have 80 crore litre of ethanol available for blending with petrol. The annual consumption of petrol in the country is about 1,600 crore litre, 5% of that is required of about 80 crore. That means 80 crore surplus of ethanol for this season will take care probably of my blending of 5% in petrol.

But season of 2008-09 is estimated to have a sugar production of 21 million tonne. That will give a production of about 200 crore litre of ethanol, which will definitely not be sufficient even to meet the 5% blending norm because no one can sacrifice for the industrial and drinking category that will be requiring about 170 crore litre. What we will be left with is 30-40 crore litre while 5% blending alone will require about 80 crore litre.

So suppose if I go for 10% blending, which is contemplated by the government from October 2008, that will require about 150 crore litre of ethanol. Where do you have that kind of ethanol because farmers have been moving away from sugarcane crop to other crop as sugarcane is a one-year crop, while they are moving to other crop, which can have two crops in a year. In fact there is a strong mismatch. You will not be having matching sugarcane production, which even will be sufficient for you to go for 5% blending from October 2008.

Q: Has the government even moved towards implementing the October 2008 deadline of lifting ethanol and blending? Do you see enough progress in that direction at least?

Manickam: I think almost all the states have implemented it except Tamil Nadu where we have a problem of supply. But most states where 5% is being blended and is being used at this point of time, I don’t see an issue on 10% either because what you need to do is produce less sugar and produce more alcohol which is we have to reduce the sugar production by 2 million and we have surplus sugar anyway. So I think we can reduce the sugar and produce more alcohol.

Q: Do you see any direction or any moves towards giving ethanol declared goods status?

Manickam: Not yet. It has been talked about but we have not heard anything on that count yet.

Q: But if that does happen do you see a material improvement in ethanol usage?

Manickam: To a certain extent there will be a good movement of stocks. In fact we have surplus stock available in Karnataka and possibly in Maharashtra, which can move across the country. We also have surplus distillation capacity available. I think if they have molasses moving, they will be able distill molasses wherever they can.

Q: There are three factors that have probably come to a head in 2009 according to what Mr. Tulsian has been saying. There could probably be less cane grown in the country, there would perhaps be an upward movement in international and domestic sugar prices and if crude prices continue the way they are or even remain where they are, the demand for ethanol could also increase. Do you see 2009 as an excellent sugar year? What kind of margins do you think you would be able to notch up compared to 2008?

Manickam: 2009 should be a good year, but I am scared to say that lest the government is listening to it and puts a dampener on the whole thing. But it should be a good year because of ethanol prices and oil prices going up. Internationally also we are finding that sugar prices are likely to firm up. So, it is looking like it is going to be a good year.

Q: As a stock picker, how would this issue pan out and what would you recommend?

Tulsian: My call is that probably from the season that will be starting from October 2008 and which will effectively last till March 2009 in Maharashtra and UP, probably there will be a lull on sugar stocks till September 2008, because right now for the next six months only the inventory would get sold by all the mills, those who have crushed. Definitely since the government is too keen on controlling inflation, if they see any price rise happening in sugar, there will be a free release mechanism. Right now there is ample stock in the system. You need to liquidate at least 4-5 million tonne from the system to get rid of the excess supply. So, I do not expect anything happening in the sector till October 2008. If somebody really wants to take a call probably the stock picking would only start happening from October to December 2008.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/need-to-produce-less-sugar-more-ethanol-experts/17/19/337330

Subex - Subex, Accenture implement activation solution

2008-05-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Subex Ltd and Accenture have implemented the first phase of a multi-technology activation solution for Telecom Argentina, one of Argentina's largest telecommunications groups.

"The solution will help ensure IP services dominance, enable rapid delivery of Ethernet-based services and accelerate growth in broadband," Subex, a telecom software services provider, said in a statement.

Leveraging Subex's service fulfilment platform, the three-phase, multi-million dollar project is the main component of an ambitious transformation strategy being undertaken by Telecom Argentina, it said.

The first phase provides Telecom Argentina flow-through provisioning of its IP-VPN services and facilitates the assurance processes, the statement said.

Link to the article: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200805061731.htm

IVRCL - IVRCL Infra has target of Rs 650: Gujral

2008-05-06T05:11:00.001-07:00

Technical Analyst, Ashwani Gujral is of the view that Above Rs 492 IVRCL Infrastructure has target of Rs 650.

Gujral told CNBC-TV18, IVRCL Infra is in a medium-term range of about Rs 340 and Rs 560. Once it can trade above Rs 490, I think targets of Rs 650 are possible. These stocks have been late movers, so chances are they would tend to touch the higher end of the range."

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/stocks-views/ivrcl-infra-has-targetrs-650-gujral/11/34/336875

IVRCL - IVRCL Infra bags Rs468 crore orders from Andhra govt

2008-05-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

Contracts are from state’s irrigation and CAD department for modernization of Godavari Delta Canal System

IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd said on 5 May it has bagged orders worth Rs468.59 crore from the irrigation and CAD department of government of Andhra Pradesh for modernization of the Godavari Delta Canal System. The company has bagged Rs134.35 crore order for the modernization of Narsapur Canal, Rs111.65 crore for Yanamadurru Drain, Rs98.26 crore for Samalkot Canal and its distributory system and Rs124.33 crore for the Kakinada Canal and KMJ Canal, IVRCL Infrastructures said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scope of the order includes excavation and forming embankment for canal and channels, construction of concrete retaining walls, formation of roads on either side of canal banks among other things.

Link to the article: http://www.livemint.com/2008/05/05140210/IVRCL-Infra-bags-Rs468-crore-o.html

Wockhardt - Buy Wockhardt, target of Rs 480: Angel

2008-05-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Angel Broking has maintained its buy rating on Wockhardt with a revised target price of Rs 480 in its April 30, 2008 research report. "For 1QCY2008, while Wockhardt’s Sales at Rs 786 crore was in line with our expectations, Net Profit at Rs 50.9 crore was a disappointment. The key factors impacting the same have been the substantial jump in Interest expenditure along with the Rs 27.3 crore MTM losses booked by the company during the period. Thus, in spite of a yoy growth of 50.3% on the Sales front, the company posted a 23.2% decline in Net Profit during the period"

"At the CMP, the stock is trading at 6.6x CY2008E and 5.8x CY2009E EPS, which is at a significant discount to its peers. A substantial part of the discount is on account of the high competitive pressures in the Generic space and dependence of the company on its M&A strategy to scale up its Generic business. A part of the discount is also due to the accounting polices followed by the company (deferment of R&D expenditure). On the Earnings front, we have pruned our Net Profit estimates by 9% for CY2008E and CY2009E, respectively. Overall, owing to the concerns, we have downgraded our Target P/E multiple to 10x. We maintain a Buy on the stock, with a revised Target Price of Rs 480, over an 18-month period, says Angel's research report.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/recommendations/buy-wockhardt-targetrs-480-angel/11/45/336612

IVRCL - Hyderabad builder will make cement to meet own demand

2008-05-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

IVRCL is unable to buy the required quantities for its daily operations although it was ready to buy the cement at higher prices.

City-based IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects Ltd, which earned Rs2,379 crore in revenues last fiscal year, will build a cement factory byallying with other builders to tackle short supply and rising prices, said its top executive. “Our requirement of cement is around 50,000 bags per day and sometimes we hardly get 6,000-10,000 bags a day despite having entered into long-term supply arrangements with the cement producers,” IVRCL chairman and managing director E. Sudhir Reddy told Mint.

Reddy said the scarcity of cement, a key raw material for builders, was hurting growth. “We thought we will grow 80% this year, but we are growing at around 40% only. For outsiders, 40% growth looks great but we know internally what we are missing out.” He said IVRCL is unable to buy the required quantities for its daily operations although it was ready to buy the cement at higher prices. “We don’t mind buying cement at higher prices but the supplies have become a major constraint. Sometimes, the cement companies with whom we have agreements of long-term supplies do not honour the deal.”

The company has been importing cement from Pakistan. “This is not going to solve our problems. We cannot buy large quantities because we may incur huge losses if the consignment is spoiled withmoisture due to delays in the ports” A cement manufacturingfacility with a capacity of 1 million tonnes (mt) of ordinary Portland cement or 1.25mtof blended cement involvesan investment of aroundRs400 crore, said Ramesh Chandro, managing director of the city-based Coromandel Cements Ltd. “Raising funds is not an issue for setting up the cement facility. Today, each one of the construction companies (the firm is talking with) can cough up Rs25-50 crore to set up four-five small cement units and leave them to professionals to run,” said Reddy. He also pointed out that some construction firms such as the MyHome group already has a captive cement plant to meet its needs. Janapriya Engineers Syndicate Ltd, another Hyderabad-based construction firm, also has a captive cement factory.

IVRCL’s demand will be met with a 1mt facility that can deliver 20 million bags a year. The firm currently operates in infrastructure segments that include water and environment, transportation, buildings and industrial structures, and power. It has orders of Rs11,000 crore at the end of December. On 31 March last year, India’s installed cement capacity was 177.83mt, while production was 161.66mt, according to industry body Cement Manufacturers Association. Although an analyst called the construction firms’ strategy of entering cement manufacturing a smart move, he advised caution. “It takes at least two years to set up a cement unit. But by then, the country is likely to witness enough capacities, if not excess capacities, to meet the demand, since several existing players have gone in for expansion,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

Link to the article: http://www.livemint.com/2008/05/02224540/Hyderabad-builder-will-make-ce.html

Jaiprakash - Jaiprakash to buy stake in Prize Petro

2008-05-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Indian engineering and construction firm Jaiprakash Associates said on Friday it had won a bid to buy 45 percent of small-sized energy explorer Prize Petroleum for an disclosed sum.

The stake in the unlisted company was put on the block by ICICI Bank, India's No. 2 lender, and its unit ICICI Venture Funds.

Prize operates three small oil and gas fields in western India and was founded by state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, which owns 50 percent, and Indian banks.

In January, Hindustan Petroleum Chairman Arun Balakirshnan had told Reuters ICICI wanted to exit the joint venture as it was not not keen to invest in the exploration firm.

Prize is considering a rights issue to fund its exploration business. Top mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp owns 5 percent of Prize.

Link to the article: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKBOM11401020080502

IVRCL - IVR Prime to build high-rise apartments

2008-04-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

IVR Prime Urban Developers Ltd has announced that it has entered into the joint development agreement for the construction of high-rise residential apartments. The 9.6-acre community project at Kukatpally, comprises a built up area of 1.325 milli on Sft and a parking area for 1,200 cars.

The Rs 386-crore project consists of a 2 bed room apartments of 1,250 Sft, 3 bedroom apartments of 1,500 Sft and 4 bedroom apartment of 1,800 Sft each.

Amenities such as clubhouse, jogging track, landscaped open spaces etc will add value to the project.

The Project is designed to satisfy the growing residential property demand from the emerging middle classes in the key Cyberabad growth corridor.

The company is also set to Foray into the city of Visakhapatnam with its real estate development at Vedurvada, located near the Vizag Steel Plant.

The company's ongoing projects include the Thyme Park Project at Bangalore which is spread over 8 acres built at a cost of Rs 110 crore.

Link to the information: http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu1&subLeft=1&autono=321394&tab=r
Link to the information: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/02281305.htm

Subex - Press Release

2008-04-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

Subex Ltd announces financial results for FY08 Revenue up by 42 % from FY07
Year ended 31 March 2008 – Key Highlights
Net Consolidated Revenue at Rs. 4,853.39 mn ($ US 121.33 mn), up from
Rs. 3,409.01 mn ($ US 85.23 mn) in FY07
Revenue from Products at 3,615.96 mn ($ US 90.40 mn), up from Rs.
2,287.67 mn ($ US 57.19 mn) in FY07
Net Loss at Rs. 681.04 mn ($ US 17.03 mn), down from a profit of Rs.
675.67 mn ($ US 16.89 mn) in FY07
Quarter ended 31 March 2008 – Key Highlights
Net Consolidated Revenue at Rs. 1,084.77 mn ($ US 27.12 mn)
Revenue from Products at Rs. 783.32 mn ($ 19.58 mn)
Net Loss at Rs. 505.66 mn ($ US 12.64 mn)
Bangalore, INDIA: Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Operations Support
Systems (OSS) solutions for communications service providers, today announced that
it has recorded a revenue of Rs. 4,853.39 mn ($ US 121.33 mn) and net loss of Rs.
681.04 mn ($ US 17.03 mn), for the year ended 31 March 2008. For the quarter ended
31 March 2008, the revenue stood at Rs. 1,084.77 mn ($ US 27.12 mn) and net loss
at Rs. 505.66 mn ($ US 12.64 mn).
The new order intake in FY08 was Rs. 3440 mn ($ US 86 mn), as against Rs. 1880 mn
($ US 47 mn) in FY07.
The revenue from products for FY08 stood at Rs. 3,615.96 mn ($ US 90.40 mn),
contributing 75% to the total revenue. The revenue from products for Q4 of FY08 was
Rs. 783.32 mn ($ US 19.58 mn), contributing 72% to the total revenue for the period.
Commenting on the business, Subash Menon, Founder Chairman, Managing Director
& CEO, said, “While we had a bad year, we see momentum picking up in order intake.
Further, the integration has resulted in expected annualized cost saving of $ US 12
mn.”
GUIDANCE
Subash Menon also issued the guidance for FY09. "The guidance for FY09, ending
31st March 2009, is $ US 125 mn of product revenue and $ US 12 mn of net profit,” he
said.

Link to the information: http://www.subexworld.com/pdf/FY08%20%20Results.pdf
Link to the presentation: http://www.subexworld.com/pdf/FY08%20Full%20Year%20Results%20Call%20Presentation%20Final.pdf

Subex - Subex Q4 net loss at Rs 50 crore

2008-04-29T04:06:00.001-07:00

Subex has announced its fourth quarter results. The company's net loss at Rs 50 crore versus loss of Rs 4.3 crore, QoQ.

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=336089

Jaiprakash - Merrill Lynch has kept buy rating on Jaiprakash Associates; with a target of Rs 475

2008-04-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

Merrill Lynch

Jaiprakash Associates

Buy; with a target of Rs 475

Link to the information: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/brokerage-recos/brokers-bullish-on-hind-zinc,-jp-associates/336026

Alok - Alok Ind net profit at Rs 53.74 crore

2008-04-29T04:03:00.000-07:00

Alok Industries has announced its fourth quarter results. The company's Q4 standalone net sales were up at Rs 724.79 crore from Rs 574.08 crore, YoY.

Its standalone net profit at Rs 53.74 crore versus Rs 78.68 crore, YoY.

Particulars	Mar-08	Dec-07	Sep-07	Jun-07
Net Sales / Interest Earned / Operating Income	724.79	550.78	464.78	418.9
Other Income	-10.89	8.87	13.87	39.74
Total Income	713.9	559.65	478.65	458.64
Expenditure	-544.44	-416.01	-356.16	-317.34
Operating Profit	169.46	143.64	122.49	141.3
Interest	-36.45	-29.54	-28.27	-27.01
Profit Before Depreciation and Tax	133.01	114.1	94.22	114.29
Depreciation	-45.69	-43.44	-36.37	-35.75
Profit before Tax	87.32	70.66	57.85	78.54
Tax	-33.58	-21.86	-14.88	-23.53
Net Profit	53.74	48.8	42.97	55.01
Equity Capital	187.17	174.85	171.74	170.37

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=335993

Alok - Alok Ind promoters stake up to 34% from 29%

2008-04-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

Alok Industries has announced its fourth quarter results. The company's Q4 standalone net sales were up at Rs 724.79 crore from Rs 574.08 crore, YoY.

Its standalone net profit at Rs 53.74 crore versus Rs 78.68 crore, YoY

Speaking to CNBC-TV 18 Dilip Jiwrajka, MD at Alok Industries said we would be able to sustain our sales growth and margin expansion because value addition has been key to value improvement.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Dilip Jiwrajka:

Q: Sales growth of about 26%, PAT of about 24% and your margin expansion has been roughly 34% this quarter; do you hope to sustain it going forward?

A: There are no reasons why we would not be able to sustain it because value addition is a key to our value improvement and since we also went backwards totally into spinning there is an improvement in the margins.

Q: What has been the contribution of exports this quarter and how much in terms of percentage would it amount to?

A: Our exports this year has been Rs 1,025 crore and it is almost 48% of our total sales and in terms of the quarter our exports have been impressive. The exports went up in the same manner as the full year.

Q: On Alok Infrastructure, are you looking at raising more funds for your current ongoing projects?

A: In terms of funds we are looking at some debt funds and maybe some SPV level funds in the company.

Q: To the amount of?

A: Not yet decided.

Q: When are you listing Alok Infrastructure?

A: No plans at the moment.

Q: In this quarter with regards to Alok Infrastructure have there been any sort of creeping acquisitions that have taken place?

A: For Infrastructure we have not done any creeping acquisition but in case of Alok Industries the promoters have upped the stake from 29% to 34%.

Q: There has been news that you have been hiving off your retail business are you looking at listing that as well separately?

A: Not at the moment but since we want it to grow we want to ensure that it gets right platform to grow.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/results-boardroom/alok-ind-promoters-staketo-34/16/07/336062

Dwarikesh - Results for Q2 March 2008 +ve net profit

2008-04-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

Audited Financial Results for the Quarter and Half year ended on 31ST MARCH., 2008
(Rs. Lacs)

Sl. No.	Particulars	Quarter Ended March 2008	Quarter Ended March 2007	Half Year ended March 2008	Half Year ended March 2007	Year ended September 30, 2007 (Audited)
1	Gross Turnover	9,409.87	6,884.32	15,977.93	13,689.74	24,401.53
2	Net Sales/Income from Operation	8,664.92	6,380.16	14,810.49	12,785.58	22,693.28
3	Other Income	7.81	43.00	10.51	67.70	118.99
4	Total Expenditure	6,193.10	5,566.67	12,796.94	10,866.65	20,921.85
	a) (Increase)/Decrease in stock (net of excise duty)	(13,747.75) -	(8,296.29)	(12,784.70)	(11,362.44)	(6,515.45)
	b) Consumption of Raw Material, Packing Material & Chemicals	18,696.05 -	12,816.56	23,483.64	20,405.32	24,019.60
	c) Staff Cost	766.26	494.24	1,236.21	814.13	1,597.14
	d) Other Expenditure	478.54	552.16	861.79	1,009.64	1,820.56
5	Interest	1,238.25	519.55	1,786.35	803.85	1,846.11
6	Gross Profit after Interest but before depreciation & Tax	1,241.38	336.94	237.71	1,182.78	44.31
7	Depreciation	832.53	334.25	1,162.01	690.26	1,330.99
8	Profit before exceptional item and Tax	408.85	2.69	(924.30)	492.52	(1,286.68)
9	Exceptional item- Expenditure	-	-	-	-	-
10	Profit before Tax	408.85	2.69	(924.30)	492.52	(1,286.68)
11	Provision for Tax	-
	- Current Year	3.37	3.16	3.37	57.69	57.69
	- Previous Year	0.35	4.01	0.35	4.01	4.01
	- Fringe Benefit Tax	2.89	2.45	6.22	6.25	10.64
	- Deferred Tax	(236.22)	21.65	(236.22)	21.65	(730.76)
12	Net Profit	638.46	(28.58)	(698.02)	402.92	(628.26)
13	Paid up Equity Share capital (Face value of Rs.10/-each)	1,631.47	1,556.47	1,631.47	1,556.47	1,556.47
14	Reserve excluding Revaluation Reserve	12,418.25	13,507.54	12,418.25	13,507.54	12,440.66
15	a. Basic EPS (Rs.) (not annualised) b. Diluted EPS (Rs.) (not annualised)	3.98 3.74	(0.18) (0.18)	(4.41) (4.09)	2.59 2.59	(4.27) (4.20)
16	Public Shareholding
	- Number of Shares	8,572,577	8,531,577	8,572,577	8,531,577	8,559,077
	- Percentage of shareholding	52.55%	54.81%	52.55%	54.81%	54.99%

SEGMENT WISE REVENUE, RESULTS AND CAPITAL EMPLOYED
(Rs. Lacs)

Sl. No.	Particulars	Quarter Ended March 2008	Quarter Ended March 2007	08Half Year Ended March 20	Half Year Ended March 2007	Year ended September 30, 2007 (Audited)
1	Segment Revenue
a)	Sugar	6,997.11	5,576.75	13,005.60	11,833.36	21,042.17
b)	Co Generation	3,206.33	842.32	3,694.47	1,798.72	2,249.15
c)	Distillery	285.16	742.75	349.09	907.40	1,572.48
	Total	10,488.60	7,161.82	17,049.17	14,539.48	24,863.80
	Less: Inter Segment Revenue
	Segment-Co Generation	1,601.34	428.76	1,910.15	1,194.90	1,490.52
	Sugar	222.35	352.90	328.53	559.00	680.00
	Net sales/Income from Operation	8,664.91	6,380.16	14,810.49	12,785.58	22,693.28
2	Segment Results (Profit) (+)/Loss(-) before tax and interest form Each segment)*
a)	Segment- Sugar	(1,031.25)	(392.09)	(2,208.12)	(492.84)	(1,731.53)
b)	Segment- Co Generation	2,562.65	680.17	2,941.68	1,505.05	1,764.62
c)	Distillery	115.71	234.16	128.49	284.16	526.34
	Total	1,647.11	522.24	862.06	1,296.37	559.43
	Less: Interest	1,238.26	519.55	1,786.35	803.85	1,846.11
	: Other Un-allocable Expenditure net off un-allocable Income		-	-	-	-
	Total Profit Before Tax	408.85	2.69	(924.30)	492.52	(1,286.68)
3	Capital Employed (segment assets- segment Liabilities)
a)	Sugar	50,706.02	27,880.46	50,706.02	27,880.46	25,181.23
b)	Co Generation	19,389.95	2,475.98	19,389.95	2,475.98	1,594.54
c)	Distillery	1,746.86	1,858.05	1,746.86	1,858.05	1,544.09
	Total	71,842.83	32,214.49	71,842.83	32,214.49	28,319.86

The Company does not have any exports, hence reporting on Secondary segment does not arise.

Notes:

1. The above results were approved in the meeting of the Board of Directors held on 28th April '2008 after being reviewed and recommended by the Audit Committee.
2. The working result of sugar segment was adversely affected due to surplus availability of Sugar on account of higher carryover of stocks coupled with more than average production, which led to decline in sugar prices ,both in domestic & international markets.
3.The Company, in compliance of the interim order passed by the Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad (Lucknow Bench) on the 15th November'2007, is paying a price of Rs.110/- per quintal for sugar cane purchased and accordingly accounted for the liability for the quarter under review. Differential liability, if any, will be accounted as and when the matter is finally settled.
4. The Companys new green field plant of 7500 TCD (expandable to 10,000 TCD) at Faridpur, District Bareilly commenced commercial production from 1st January'08.Evacuation and supply of additional 48 MW power from Company's units at Bahadarpur, District Bijnor & Faridpur, District Bareilly commenced from 4th February'08 and 9th February'08 respectively.
5. Out of 15 lacs warrants,7.50 lacs warrants have been converted into 7.50 lacs equity shares on 1st February,2008 at Rs100.20 per equity shares as per SEBI formula as laid down in DIP guidelines.All the requisite approvals for listing of these shares have been obtained from BSE & NSE .
6. Given the seasonal nature of the Industry, the results of any quarter may not be a true and / or proportionate reflection of the annual performance of the Company.
7. Previous period figures have been regrouped and reclassified wherever necessary, for the purpose of comparison.
8. There were no investors complaints pending at the beginning of the quarter, no complaint was received during the quarter and there are no complaints outstanding at the end of the quarter.

Place: New Delhi Gautam R. Morarka
Date: 28th April, 2008 Chairman & Managing Director

Link to the information: http://www.dwarikesh.com/ShowChannel.aspx?ArticleId=05092118322509

Wockhardt - Will maintain margins going ahead: Wockhardt

2008-04-29T03:39:00.000-07:00

Habil F Khorakiwala, Chairman, Wockhardt says that they would be able to maintain their margins going forward and might even be able to slightly improve the margins next quarter.

He adds that overall they will definitely be able to show about 20%-25% improvement on topline and bottomline. Wockhardt Hospitals is looking at options to raise funds including private equity, he further added.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Habil F Khorakiwala:

Q: Could you just detail what that Rs 28 crore loss is on account of?

A: I think this is a loss because of new MTM guidelines of the auditors, in fact we have a long-term debt and we were covering 50% of our interest hedging it and as of March 31, this was a difference but these are long-term hedges and therefore this is a provision.

Q: That 785 crore sales number that you have reported for this quarter, could you just break it up between geographies and also tell us how much your acquired companies have contributed to this topline?

A: I think basically about 54% of this business is coming from Europe, India is over 30% and US we are doing quite well and it is nearing 8%-9% of a topline this quarter. What is important is if you look at our income statement not only we have improved topline to 50% because of our acquisition of Negma and Morton Grove but equally important our operating profit has also grown 50% and therefore we have brought operations of a new acquisition in line with our overall performance.

Q: Are you holding your CY09 guidance at this point to deliver revenues of USD 1 billion 30%-35% growth?

A: Yes, I think we will continue to show a topline growth because what is seen in Q1 may not happen from Q3 onwards as we had extraordinary percentage of acquisition. But overall I think we will definitely show about 20%-25% improvement on topline and also similar number in the bottomline.

Q: You expect margins to improve as well considerably for Q1 though how has the margin performance been?

A: I think we will be able to maintain the margin and then slightly improve the margin in the next quarter.

Q: I believe you were planning to raise some equity, is that correct and by when do you think you will be able to raise?

A: We have taken enoubling resolution from the last AGM and sometime in the second half of the year we would be raising this equity.

Q: In what form, you will do a straightforward issue?

A: We have not yet finalized that, it could be through various options including private equity or other options. So we will take a call little later in the year.

Q: What is the plan now for Wockhardt Hospitals?

A: For Wockhardt Hospitals we are looking at options to raise fund including private equity

Link to the article: http://indiaearnings.moneycontrol.com/sub_india/compnews.php?autono=335915

Wockhardt - Wockhardt quarterly net down 23 pct, shares dip

2008-04-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd (WCKH.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday posted an unexpected 23 percent fall in quarterly net profit on one-time derivatives-related losses, pulling down its shares.

A one-time mark-to-market charge of 279 million rupees saw the Mumbai-based company posting a net profit of 509 million rupees for the quarter ended March 31, well below a Reuters poll estimate for 995.1 million rupees.

The losses were due to Wockhardt's long-term hedging instruments that were bought to reduce the interest costs for the company's loans, Wockhardt said in a statement.

The company did not specify how much its loans were, but said it was hedging the interest for 50 percent of its long-term loans.

Revenue, however, rose 50.3 percent to 7.86 billion rupees, slightly above anlaysts' forecast of 7.71 billion rupees.

Analysts were expecting Wockhardt's acquisitions to drive growth in the quarter.

Last year, Wockhardt acquired U.S.-based liquid generics and speciality skin products maker Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc and French pharmaceutical group Negma Laboratories.

"This (Morton Grove and Negma) has enabled us to increase our operating profit by 50 percent and thus maintain a margin of 22 percent," Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said in a statement.

Wockhardt shares have slipped 27 percent in 2008 as of Friday, underperforming the BSE Healthcare index index, which fell 4.9 percent. At 2:47 p.m., the shares were trading 2.5 percent lower at 296.80 rupees in a weak Mumbai market. (Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; editing by Sunil Nair)

Link to the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINBOM18894720080428

Wockhardt - Wockhardt Falls After Profit Slumps on Derivatives

2008-04-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

Wockhardt Ltd., an Indian drugmaker that gets about 60 percent of its revenue from overseas, fell in Mumbai trading after announcing a 23 percent decline in first- quarter profit because of losses on derivatives.

The company, based in Mumbai, dropped as much as 4.1 percent.

The drugmaker was forced to report derivatives losses a month after denying it faced charges on the contracts, following the tightening of disclosure rules. The rupee fell for the first quarter in seven in the period, triggering losses at exporters and companies with overseas debts that had bet on a continued rally in the currency.

Net income declined to 509 million rupees ($13 million) in the three months ended March 31 from 663 million rupees a year earlier. Revenue gained 50 percent to 7.86 billion rupees.

The company incurred 279 million rupees of losses on derivatives it had taken out on its overseas debt, Wockhardt said.

Derivatives are financial instruments used for speculation and as insurance against fluctuations in the markets. Their value is based on prices for currencies, stocks, bonds, loans and commodities, or linked to events such as changes in foreign exchange rates.

Wockhardt dropped 7.7 rupees, or 2.5 percent, to 297 rupees at the 3:30 p.m. local time close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Link to the article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=achVBdBw_YlE&refer=india

Wockhardt - Wockhardt Q1 FY08 sales up 50% y-oy

2008-04-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

Pharmaceutical and biotech major Wockhardt Ltd today posted its consolidated sales for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008 at Rs 785.7 crore, a jump of 50.3 per cent over the previous year's period.

Its net profit for the reviewed period stood at Rs 78.8 crore, which is a rise of 18.9 per cent over the last year.

After adjusting for extraordinary item, the net profit is Rs 50.9 crore, a press release issued here stated.

"The acquisition of Negma Laboratories in France and Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals in the US has shown a remarkable performance," Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said.

"This has enabled us to increase our operating profit by 50 per cent and thus maintain a margin of 22 per cent," Khorakiwala added.

The company's marketshare grew 24 per cent and it improved its ranking by five levels to 15th position as compared to Q1 2007, the release said.

Overall, nine brands feature in the list of 'Top 300' brands of the industry with Dexolac and Spasmo-Proxyvon still maintaining their position in the 'Top 100'.

Europe continues to be Wockhardt's single-largest market accounting for 54 per cent of consolidated sales.

The business grew at 69 per cent, driven largely by a surge in the European formulation business growing at 70 per cent and the opportunities of contract-manufacturing fructifying and gaining momentum for the future, the release said.

Link to the article: http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=36452

Biocon - Biocon to form a subsidiary for R&D

2008-04-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

Biotech major Biocon plans to set up a subsidiary company for its research and development this year much against the industry norm of spinning it off as a separate unit.

"Biocon would form a wholly-owned subsidiary company for research and development in this financial year. The company doesn't want to spin off as a separate company because the management feels that R&D is still an integral part of the company," a person close to the development said.

Biocon's R&D team is working on developing products for diabetes, cardiovascular, inflammation, oncology and endocrinology.

The company has four molecules and it would be transferring all of them to the subsidiary company, the source said.

In the last couple of years, Indian pharma companies have split their generic and R&D businesses into two separate companies.

Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, Wockhardt, Glenmark and Nicholas Piramal have split their generic and R&D into two separate companies.

Link to the article: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200804271223.htm

IVRCL - Buy Economic Times

2008-04-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects: The stock is currently trading at a P/E (on consolidated basis) of less than 20, one the lowest among tier-I stocks in its sector. In contrast, its net profit has doubled in the past one year and is expected to remain buoyant, aided by its subsidiaries and a 20-25% earning growth in its core business. All these reasons make the stock a good buy at these levels.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Capital_Goods_amp_Construction_Sell_amp_Buy_recommendations/articleshow/2989578.cms

Wockhardt - Wockhardt Jan-March net may jump 50 pct

2008-04-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

Drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd is set to post a 50 percent rise in quarterly net profit, as companies it acquired earlier began contributing to revenue, analysts said on Friday.

A Reuters poll of analysts estimates the company's net profit at 995.1 million rupees for the quarter to March 31 with revenue expected to rise 47.4 percent to 7.71 billion rupees.

The company has bought three drugmakers since October 2006, including U.S.-based liquid generics and speciality skin products maker Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc and French pharmaceutical group Negma Laboratories.

"Negma and the other companies acquired by Wockhardt have already started adding revenue." said an analyst with KR Choksey. "I am expecting revenue from Morton Grove to have come in during the quarter. Apart from that, there aren't any big drivers."

Excluding acquisition, the company's revenue may rise about 11 percent, ICICI Securities said in a report.

"We believe that Wockhardt still has to display the ability to fully leverage its assets (particularly the biotech facilities) and scale up substantially in regulated markets," brokerage Motilal Oswal, which has a 'neutral' on the stock, said in a note.

The company reports earnings on April 28.

Still, Wockhardt, which earns nearly half its revenue from Europe, is making inroads into the U.S. market. It launched the generic version of Pfizer's Zyrtec brand, chemically called cetrizine, in that country during the quarter.

"Wockhardt could benefit from rapidly improving U.S. business, focus on improving margins and de-merger of drug development research," ICICI Securities said. The brokerage has a 'buy' on the shares.

Following in the footsteps of bigger rivals like Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr. Reddy's and Ranbaxy Laboratories, Wockhardt too has decided to spin off its research and development unit into a separate firm and list it later.

Wockhardt shares have slipped 27 percent in 2008, underperforming the BSE Healthcare index, which fell 4.9 percent.

Link to the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-33242420080425

Biocon - Networth recommends `Accumulate` on Biocon

2008-04-24T05:04:00.001-07:00

Networth recommended an Accumulate on Biocon (CMP: Rs. 509)

According to the analysts at Networth, the net sales of the company for FY08 grew by 10% (y-o-y) to Rs 10900 million, driven by a 29% y-o-y growth in contract research services and a 12% growth y-o-y from biopharmaceuticals. The EBIDTA margin has expanded by 300 bps to 32% at Rs 3350 million. The interest outgo has marginally increased while there has been a sharp increase in depreciation due to addition of fixed assets.

Net profit of the company has increased by 132% at Rs 4640 million. The company has declared 1:1 bonus to increase liquidity and a special dividend of Rs 2 per share on divestment of the enzyme business. At CMP of Rs 509 the stock is trading at a PE of 19x its consensus EPS of Rs 26.74 FY09E. They analysts say that currently they do not have any rating on the stock, however remain positive on the stock. They expect future positive triggers in the form of expect approval in 10 to 12 countries to market Insugen and listing of its clinical research services.

Link to the article: http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/newsPopup.php?fileR=20080424124230094&dir=2008/04/24&secID=livenews

Biocon - Accumulate Biocon: Edelweiss

2008-04-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

Edelweiss has maintained its accumulate rating on Biocon in its April 22, 2008 research report. "Biocon’s Q4FY08 results were in-line with our estimates, with YoY sales and EBITDA declining 4% and 2.4%, respectively, while net profit for the quarter grew 8.8% YoY. The company recorded other income of INR 120 million, significantly higher than our expectations, which helped boost profit for the quarter. EBITDA margin for the quarter was 31.1%, improving 50bps, while for the full year it stood at 28.4%. Reported net profit for FY08 (including exceptional items) was INR 4,554 million."

"With these numbers we don’t see any near-term trigger for the stock. The listing of Syngene in FY09E will be an event to watch out for, but, we believe, at current prices the upsides due to this unlocking of value are already included in the price. Its R&D projects in various phases are progressing well and any new development on this front (which is uncertain) could give the stock some upsides, going forward. At CMP of INR 509, the stock trades 21x FY09E numbers. We maintain our ‘ACCUMULATE’ recommendation," says Edelweiss research report.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/recommendations/accumulate-biocon:-edelweiss/335402

IVRCL - IVRCL Infrastructures (Rs 418.90): Buy

2008-04-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

We recommend a buy in IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects from a short-term perspective. From the charts of IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects, we see that it has been on a long-term uptrend from its July 2006 low of Rs 164. However, after reaching a life high of Rs 575 in early January 2008, the stock witnessed selling pressure and was on a medium-term downtrend till it took support at around Rs 350 levels in late March. The stock bounced off this level and subsequently crossed over the 21-day moving average and then the medium-term down trendline.

On April 23, the stock breached the 50-day moving average, accompanied with above average volume. The stock appears to have resumed the long-term uptrend. The daily relative strength index is on the brink of entering the bullish zone. The moving average convergence and divergence is also showing signs of bullishness and is likely to enter the positive territory. We are bullish on the stock from a short-term point of view. We expect the stock to move up to our price target of Rs 475 in the upcoming sessions. Investor with short-term perspective can buy the stock, while keeping the stop-loss at Rs 396.

Link to the article: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/24/stories/2008042452181700.htm

IVRCL - IVRCL Infra sees QoQ growth to continue at 40-45%

2008-04-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

, CMD of said that they would continue to grow at 40-45% every quarter. "QoQ, this particular quarter could be good but the next quarter because of the monsoon and other things, it could be lower than the first quarters," he added.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with E Sudhir Reddy:

Q: Take through the kind of growth that you foresee for your company in the next few quarters as it stands for now, given the kind of order book pressure that the market is expecting for most construction companies or equipment makers?

A: I guess overall on YoY basis we would continue to grow at 40-45%. QoQ, this particular quarter could be good but the next quarter because of the monsoon and other things, it could be lower than the first quarters. Then probably we might end up doing 60-70%. I am just giving a hypothetical number - 60% or 70% in Q1; then the next quarter could be 30-35%.

Q: What sort of breakup in your order book will we see from the transportation side, the power transmission side from your building side? What sort of breakup in your revenues this quarter and going forward in FY09 can we see?

A: 65% will come from water and the balance is equally divided among buildings, power and in transportation.

Q: Are there any execution risks that you are factoring in at this point of time. Any delay in the execution of the projects that you currently handling or are looking at bidding for?

A: There is no execution risk in the sense that we are bidding what we are good at and in the locations where we are already present. So I guess that way we are well covered.

Q: What is your current order book position?

A: Almost about Rs 12,000 crore.

Q: What is the timeframe for execution?

A: Next 28 to 36 months.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/ivrcl-infra-sees-qoq-growth-to-continue-at-40-45-/16/52/335277

Biocon - Biocon to sell up to 25% in Syngene via IPO

2008-04-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: Biocon will launch an IPO for its fully-owned contract research subsidiary Syngene this financial year, it said on Tuesday.

Details of the planned IPO has not been finalised, Biocon chairman & MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said, but senior officials who declined to be identified said it could be a combination of Biocon selling 20%-25% of its holding in Syngene as well as an issue of fresh shares.

Biocon earned Rs 176 crore from contract research in the fiscal-ended March 2008, an increase of 29% over the previous year.

“We believe that there is enormous scope for growth of Syngene given that global pharma companies are looking at reducing their costs and the market for generics is on the rise,” Ms Shaw said.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/IPOs/Biocon_to_sell_up_to_25_in_Syngene_via_IPO/articleshow/2973714.cms

Jaiprakash - Buy Jaiprakash Associates - Kotak

2008-04-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

Jaiprakash Associates [JA] is a play on India's Infrastructure sector. JA derives its value from combination of Construction and Development. Kotak sec has initiated coverage on JP Associates with a BUY recommendation.

JA will emerge as a leading developer of Real Estate and Power generation. The company has the expertise to bag mega projects. JA has the right to develop 6,250 acres of land on the Taj Expressway corridor.

Kotak estimates JA's revenues to grow at a CAGR of 35% between FY-08 and FY12 mainly catalyzed by - Increased sales of cements after adding capacities, Development of Real Estate and expressway projects. Power generation is likely to see a sharp increase from FY11. JP Associates has also bagged the popular Ganga Expressway project which is not being considered in the current valuation because the project is still in nascent stage.

SOTP Valuation of Jaiprakash Associates:
Cement Business - Rs 58 / share
Construction - Rs 37 / share
Real Estate - Rs 127 / share
Power - Rs 92 / share
Hotels - Rs 4 / share
Net Debt - (- Rs 39 / share)

Total Rs 279 / share. The company is expected to report an EPS of Rs 9.1 for FY09 and Rs 14.7 for FY10. It will also hit the Rs 10,000 crore sales mark in FY10. Kotak recommends a BUY with a price target of Rs 280.

Link to the article: http://www.dalalstreet.biz/2008/04/buy-jaiprakash-associates-kotak.html

Biocon - Outlook

2008-04-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Biocon Ltd has announced the following Outlook: Commenting on the results, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Ltd, said: "We are pleased with our overall performance and have delivered the highest profits to date. We have increased our capital expenditure to support the business expansion that we anticipate across the Group. We expect the year ahead to realize a good return on these investments especially at Syngene and Clinigene. We have a strong Balance Sheet which we will use for strategic acquisitions and investments. The recent AxiCorp acquisition is a significant move that provides us key access to the European market. We wish to make similar inroads into other markets to expand our global footprint. We have delivered a 13% increase in PAT despite a Rs 27 crore increase in depreciation. The strong financial base enables us to recommend a 1:1 Bonus issue that we believe will improve market liquidity to support Biocon's growing profile as a bellwether stock in the Life Science sector." Dr. Arun Chandavarkar, Chief Operating Officer, Biocon Ltd added : "Biocon's focus continues to be on deriving operational efficiencies as reflected in the improved EBITDA margins and in progressing its R&D pipeline of novel and bio-similar products through the complex stages of pre-clinical and clinical development. Divesting the enzyme business has enabled management to sharply focus on our bio / pharmaceutical business. We are pleased with the beach heads we have established in various countries either through direct investments or through strategic marketing partnerships; we are confident that these relationships will deliver as and when our development programs reach the launch stage. We recognize the challenges that lie ahead in terms of broadening and deepening our skill base to deliver on these development programs but are confident of attracting and retaining the right talent. We are also conscious of the need to strike an optimum balance between short term profit growth and longer term R&D investments which will deliver reliable shareholder value."

Biocon - Corporate Developments

2008-04-22T04:01:00.000-07:00

Biocon Ltd has informed BSE about the following Corporate Developments: - Biocon to acquire 70% controlling stake in German Pharma Company AxiCorp Gmbh:- Biocon is close to acquire a 70% stake in German pharmaceutical Company, AxiCorp GmbH for a consideration of €30 Million. This will enable the marketing and distribution of a range of Pharmaceuticals including generics, biosimilars, biologies and innovative pharmaceutical products in Germany and Europe. AxiCorp is a specialized marketing and distribution Company established in 2002 by a group of industry experts to address the lucrative generics and parallel distribution market in Germany and Europe. AxiCorp is ISO 9001 certified with a differentiated distribution model that is aligned to the radically altered way the German pharmaceutical market now functions. - Biocon commences Phase IIa Clinical Trials for IN105:- An open label, multi-centric, placebo controlled, single ascending dose study designed to evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of IN105 under fed conditions in type II diabetic patients currently on Metformin therapy has been commenced at 5 investigation sites. The study is expected to be completed in August 2008 and will provide the data necessary to commence Phase lIb clinical trials. - Biocon commences Phase lib trials for T1 h for RA & Psoriasis:- A Randomized, Open label, Four Arms Parallel Phase II Clinical Study to evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of anti-CD6 monoclonal antibody (T1h mAb) in combination with Methotrexate in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis has been initiated at 7 investigation sites. Another Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the Safety, Efficacy and Pharmacokinetics of anti-CD6 monoclonal antibody (T1h mAb) in Patients with Active Psoriasis is also due to commence at 5 investigation sites. This has been designed as a single blind, randomized, multiple dose, multiple schedule, multi-centric, parallel study in patients with active moderate to severe Psoriasis, with independent blinded disease activity assessment, and quality of life metrics assessment. These clinical trials will enable Biocon to establish Proof of Concept for T1h and will add tremendous value to its licensing potential. - Biocon commences Phase lib trials for Glioma and NSCLC for BIOMAb EGFR:- An open label, prospective, multi-centric study to evaluate the Safety And Efficacy of BIOMAb-EGFR™ (Nimotuzumab) as Induction and Maintenance Therapy in combination with Radiotherapy plus Temozolomide (Concomitant & Adjuvant) in Indian patients with Glioblastoma Multiforme is ongoing at 8 investigational sites across the country. Another Clinical Trial designed as an open-label, randomized, comparative, multi-centric Study To Assess Safety And Efficacy Of BIOMAb-EGFRTM (Nimotuzumab) in Combination with Chemotherapy Versus Chemotherapy alone in the treatment of Patients with Stage IIIB / IV Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is also being initiated at 11 sites. The above Clinical Trials will enable Biocon's Oncotherapeutics division to expand its market share through label extensions. - Biocon sets up Cardiology Division:- Biocon has decided to split up its Cardio-Diabetes group by launching a stand alone Cardiology division. This new division is being launched to focus on brand building for its flagship statin based product Statix as well as other products viz. Telmisat, Eptifibatide and its recombinant streptokinase product Myokinase. The Cardiology market in India constitutes 10%. (Approx. 3,200 Crore) of the Indian Pharma Market and is growing at 21%. This division is envisaged to have an all India presence through a 250+ strong field force.

Bicon - Biocon to maintain 20% sales, 15% profits growth

2008-04-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Biocon has announced its fourth quarter and FY08 results. It has posted consolidated net profit of Rs 65.3 crore for the quarter ended March 2008 as against Rs 60.7 crore in same quarter of last year and net sales of Rs 266.6 crore versus Rs 278.2 crore.

For FY08, it has reported consolidated net sales of Rs 1,053.8 crore versus Rs 985.7 crore and net profit of Rs 463.9 crore versus Rs 200.3 crore.

Kiran Mazumdar, CMD of Biocon informed that they are setting up a new cardiology division due to large growth trajectory. The investment in research would start contributing from the next year, she said. The biopharm business is showing stable prices, she added. Mazumdar hopes to list Syngene in FY09. She also hopes to sustain their 20% topline and 15% bottomline growth.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Kiran Mazumdar:

Q: The market usually takes Bonus as a sign of confidence from the management, is that what you are feeling going into 2009, or do you think it will be a challenging year?

A: We have a very strong financial base and the bonus issue certainly is towards the strong interest this stock is beginning to garner. We believe we need to create greater market liquidity, and you can see from our numbers that we have delivered the highest profits ever and we are very confidently looking at the year ahead, some of the investments that we had made, over the last 18 months are beginning to become very important for leveraging and delivering on certain growth trajectories.

We have created some very strong spring boards which will deliver the growth trajectories in the short medium and long term, so we are beginning to build up a very strong business portfolio, of very balanced and diversified set of business verticals.

Q: Could you just tell us whether there is a trajectory of corporate restructuring or the action that you expect to see in FY09 both in terms of the cardiology business which I believe you are hiving off, and also the contract research arm?

A: I don’t think we are hiving off cardiology, we have set up a new division. We felt that we had a combined in terms of our retail and branded formulations business. We had 3 divisions so far, which was cardio-diabetes, nephrology and oncology, and what we felt was that, it’s important to separate cardiology and diabetes largely because we wanted to put a much stronger focus on our Insugen led diabetes portfolio.

We felt that cardiology now requires separate attention because we think there is a large growth trajectory which is latent and needs to be unleashed, riding on the strength of not only the statons or our statics products but we also have other products in the pipeline like stirptocynes and other products in cardiology that need to get a special focus.

So that’s what we have done and we think that our formulations business is going to deliver a good growth number next year. In terms of research services this year, we have really made a huge investment in ramping up and this is going to be delivered by the numbers next year, that is in the current fiscal.

Q: What exactly is happening with the core bio-pharmaceutical business and what are you seeing with prices in Statins in specific?

A: You have seen our numbers this year and in fact our bio-pharmaceutical business has delivered very robustly this year and that’s what has helped us to meet and deliver very strong profit numbers this year. The Bio Pharmaceutical business is clearly a business that is beginning to show stability in terms of pricing. This is largely on account of the fact that there has been strong growth in some of the APIs businesses that we have focused on.

I think we have also seen prices stabilizing because of some factors that have contributed from this from the China competition, one is of course that the Chinese pricing has stabilized largely because of the fact that the incentives and export kinds of incentives that the Chinese government was giving, has been withdrawn and normalized the kind of global export markets. Then there is this fear factor of the quality issues pertaining to Chinese products which has also helped Indian companies to take advantage of that, so all in all, we are seeing a good stabilization of prices.

Q: Can you just give us a timeline on Singine, how soon do you expect the business to be de-merged and are you still keen on a listing?

A: Yes and certainly we are still very focused on that and it is not about de-merging Singine but it’s about the listing, and we are still very focused on that objective. We are just waiting for the markets to open up and we hope to be able to list Singine during this fiscal.

Q: Can you signal some kind of a growth number for us, without getting into specific earnings guidance or anything like that, can you give us a ball park number of what kind of growth you are expecting in 2009.

A: You can see that, this year we generated a top line growth of 20% and a bottom line growth of 13 to 15% and these are the kind of numbers we will try and sustain.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/results-boardroom/biocon-to-maintain-20-sales-15-profits-growth/15/40/335000

Bicon - Biocon FY08 net profit at Rs225 cr, board approves bonus

2008-04-22T02:28:00.000-07:00

The rise in profit is despite a Rs27 crore jump in depreciation. Revenue from research services grew 29% to Rs176 crore during FY08

Biocon Limited posted a net profit of Rs225 crore for the financial year ended March 2008, an increase of 13% over the previous corresponding period.

Operating margins at 31% for the year showed an improvement of 2% over the previous fiscal. The Earnings Per Share (EPS) stands at Rs22.5 for the year.

The Board has recommended a dividend of 60% (Rs3 per share) and a special dividend of 40% (Rs2 per share) pursuant to the divestment of the Enzymes business besides recommending a 1:1 bonus.

“We have delivered a 13% increase in PAT despite Rs27 crore increase in depreciation,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Limited.

During the period under review, revenues from research services grew 29% to Rs176 crore from Rs136 crore, contributing 16 % to consolidated revenues in FY 2008. However, currency appreciation and capacity expansion for future demand kept operating margins flat.

“The recent AxiCorp acquisition is a significant move that provides us key access to the European market. We wish to make similar inroads into other markets to expand our global footprint,” the CMD added.

Link to the article: http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/22105612/Biocon-FY08-net-profit-at-Rs22.html

Biocon - Bonus

2008-04-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

The company board is likely to consider bonus issue on April 22, reports CNBC-TV18

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/buzzing-stocks/biocon-up-on-buzz-of-bonus-issue/334825

Jaiprakash - No plans to defer fund raising programme: JP Power

2008-04-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

JP Associates' subsidiary Jaiprakash Power is planning to raise around USD 800 million to USD 1 billion from its initial public offering, IPO. It has filed IPO papers with SEBI on January 10, 2008.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Suresh Jain, MD of said they don't have plans to defer fund raising programme from its IPO and going to raise around USD 800 million to USD 1 billion from IPO.

SEBI allows three months period from date of final comments to raise funds, he said. The company is not in talks for any pre-IPO placement.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Suresh Jain:

Q: Could you clarify for us whether there has indeed been some amount of deferment to your capital raising plans?

A: I would like to comment on market rumours because it is figment of someone’s imagination, which is definitely not known to us.

Q: Are you on track to do your IPO over the next few months?

A: We have just received the Sebi comments early this month and we are currently in the process of finalizing our annual results. As you know Jaiprakash Power Venture Ltd is a company, which has operating assets. It owns and operates the 400 MW Vishnuprayag, which is India’s largest private sector operating plant. So we are currently in the process of finalizing our results and definitely Sebi allows you three months to do the fund raising post their final comments. So for us both growth and shareholder’s interests are important and definitely for growth we need to do the IPO and for shareholders’ interest it has to be done at the right time. Yes we are not closed to raising the money from the markets.

Q: How soon do you think you will be approaching the market and will you be making a pre-IPO placement and is it still USD 1 billion that you hope to raise in total?

A: We have filed the document for issuing about 104 million new shares and we are waiting for the finalization of the results and we have three months time from Sebi to take a call on that. As of now, there are no plans to defer the overall fund raising programme.

Q: How much money are you looking to raise and are you currently in talks for that pre-IPO placement as well that you had planned earlier?

A: No, while we have made a provision in the DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus) for making a pre-IPO placement, currently we have not really begun discussions on the pre-IPO placement and the size of the issue will be about USD 8 million to USD 1 billion.

Link to the article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/ipo-upcoming-issues/no-plans-to-defer-fund-raising-programme:-jp-power/334448

IVRCL - Motilal maintains 'buy' call on IVRCL

2008-04-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

Motilal Oswal has maintained ‘buy’ recommendation on IVRCL. At the CMP of Rs 380 per share, the stock trades at reported PER of 23.5 times FY08E, 17.9 times FY09E and 12.9 times FY10E. Adjusted for BOT, real estate the stock is trading at PER of 17.3 times FY08E, 13.2 times FY09E and 9.5 times FY10E.

Motilal expects IVRCL to report net profit of Rs 200 crore in FY08 (up 44.4% YoY), Rs 270 crore in FY09 (up 34.4% YoY) and Rs 380 crore in FY10 (up 38.8% YoY).

IVRCL's current order backlog stands at Rs120 billion v/s Rs 81billion in FY07 (up 48.1% YoY). This represents a book to bill ratio of 3.5 times FY08E revenues of Rs 34.3 billion.

About 93 per cent of IVRCL’s order book comprises cash contracts that include price variation clauses, thus minimizing the impact of raw material price increases. The company is thus better positioned versus peers such as Gammon, NCC, L&T, which have order books that comprise large proportion of fixed price contracts.

IVR Prime Urban has a land bank of 3,086 acres, representing a development area of 85 meter square feet in the cities of Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Noida. Planned projects include residential, commercial, retail, hotel projects, scheduled for completion by 2011. Management has informed that work on the Jigny project in Bangalore has started while excavation work at Gachibowli IT park project, Hyderabad is over and construction work has begun.

The company has also obtained permission for development of the land from the local government at Noida. Of the total current development, Chennai accounts for 63 per cent of the developable area while the second highest concentration is in the city of Pune at 12 per cent. The significant land bank of the company in Chennai is in the town of Sriperumbudur, which accounts for 34.2 million square feet (45% of the total area) of the total developable area of 75.46 million square feet.

The brokerage expects EBITDA margin for IVRCL to improve 70 basis point during FY08-FY10 on account of increasing proportion of buildings and power transmission in the order book to 21 per cent in December 2007 (v/s 12% in December 2006), where EBITDA margins are relatively higher at 13-15 per cent, compared with transportation projects (EBITDA margins 7-10%). Strong operating leverage from 40 per cent revenue CAGR during FY08-10E. Share of transportation projects to order book has reduced from 22% in March 2007 to 12 per cent as at December 2007, which again is positive for margins, given that road projects enjoy among the lowest margins.

IVR Prime has sold 28 per cent strategic stake in the Chennai real estate project at Sriperumbedur, which entails 600 acres (development area 30msf) to Kotak Realty Fund for Rs 250 crore out of which Rs150 crore has been received. Of the Rs 250 crore as part of the transaction, Rs 90 crore will go to the SPV for project development and Rs 160 crore to IVR Prime Urban.

The brokerage expect IVRCL to report strong revenue CAGR of 40.4 per cent over FY08-10, driven by robust order book of Rs 120 billion (3.5x FY08E revenues) as at March 2008, ensuring revenue and earnings visibility over the medium term, increasing proportion of relatively shorter execution cycles and high-margin segments like building and power in the order book from 22 per cent in March 2007 to 30 per cent in December 2007; also share of roads to order book has declined from 22 per cent to 12 per cent in the same period; and fixed price contracts account for just 8 per cent of the order book, thus restricting impact from commodity price increases.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Stocks/Motilal_maintains_buy_call_on_IVRCL/articleshow/2957094.cms

Subex - Update

2008-04-15T03:59:00.001-07:00

Subex Ltd has issued the following Press Release : "Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Operations Support Systems (OSS) for communications service providers, continues to record new contract wins for its Revenue Maximization and Fulfilment Assurance solutions in the Latin America region. During the past six months the company had closed seven new customer deals within one of the fastest-growing BSS/OSS markets in the world. The new deals were struck with leading wireless and wireline telecom service providers in several countries across Latin America. The customer wins have been for Subex's Revenue Assurance System, Moneta® and Fraud Management System, Nikira®, as well as Syndesis Controller®, Syndesis Express® and Syndesis TrueSource® from the fulfiliment and Assurance solution (FAS) suite, underscoring the continued impact of the FAS business since the Syndesis acquisition a year ago. A 2007 study by Analysys Research entitled Global Operator Attitudes to Revenue Management Survey revealed that service providers in the Caribbean and Latin America market lose close to 16 percent of revenue due to various forms of fraud, poor OSS processes, billing errors and credit management issues. In order to meet the increasing demands of its existing customers and new business prospects, Subex plans continued expansion of its existing Latin America based professional services and support operations. "There are issues unique to every region and Company, with fraud and interconnect challenges taking the lead in CALA. As the Subex brand and customer base continues to grow in the region, we look forward to building upon our success by helping CALA service providers maximize revenues and boost bottom-line profits with a tailored approach," said Charlie Ydoate, Vice President, Latin America Sales, Subex Ltd. "We are well-positioned to deliver on the promise next-generation OSS has to offer our current and future customers." Subex has been an active thought-leader within CALA through regular speaking engagements and free Webinars delivered in the region. Events at which Subex has participated include IBC Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management Conferences (Puerto Rico and Brazil), IPTV World Forum Latin America, Futurecom in Brazil and its free Webinar entitled Operator Attitudes to Revenue Assurance. Subex is a trusted partner in helping telecom service providers achieve successful operational transformations — with more than 150 installations worldwide."

Biocon - Update

2008-04-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

With reference to the news item appearing in a leading financial daily titled "Biocon to buy US firm for $400 mn", Biocon Ltd has clarified to BSE as under : "Boicon Ltd would like to clarify that this article is speculative and deny the Headline and the related information contained in the article. While it is true that the Company had earlier indicated an intent to acquire marketing Companies abroad, no acquisition target has been identified and the information contained in the article is unsubstantiated. There has been no comment from any Biocon spokesperson, as is clearly mentioned in the article: 'A Biocon spokesperson declined to comment as the firm is in the silent period ahead of the announcement of its quarterly results in keeping with the guidelines of stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)'. All announcements by the Company will be made as per SEBI guidelines, with prior intimation to the Stock Exchange."

Biocon - Biocon to buy US firm for $400 mn

2008-04-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

The acquisition of the pharma distribution firm may be announced along with Biocon’s fourth quarter results

After gaining a foothold in the European market with the acquisition of German drug marketing firm AxiCorp GmbH in February, India’s Biocon Ltd now has set its sights on the US pharma distribution market with a deal valued at about $400 million (Rs1,595 crore).

The Bangalore-based biotech firm has been scouting for an acquisition in the US that will sell its pharmaceutical products such as generics, biosimilars and biologics in the world’s largest drug market.

“The deal, if signed, will be Biocon’s second and the largest overseas acquisition in the marketing space,” said a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be identified.
“If everything goes smoothly...the company may even announce the deal along with its fourth quarter results on 22 April,” this person added. A Biocon spokesperson declined to comment as the firm is in the silent period ahead of the announcement of its quarterly results in keeping with the guidelines of stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Earlier, the firm had mandated the investment banking arm of Ernst and Young, the global accounting and financial services firm, for carrying out a due-diligence of potential acquisitions.

In an interview on 6 November, Biocon chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had said the firm was considering buying pharma distribution firms in the US and Europe’s top markets. “Since marketing of biopharmaceuticals, especially insulin products, needs special expertise and regional experience, acquiring such infrastructure would be an ideal option,” she had said then.

In February, Biocon announced that it had agreed to buy a 70% stake in AxiCorp for €30 million, expanding its drug marketing network into Germany and the rest of Europe. Allegro Capital was the financial adviser to Biocon. Part of the funds for these acquisitions are coming from the sale of the firm’s enzymes business last year. In July, Biocon sold the business to Denmark-based Novozymes A/S for $115 million (Rs465 crore then). The company had also raised Rs315 crore from its public issue in March 2004. Its current market capitalization on Indian bourses is about Rs4,304 crore. “Our strategy has been to become a dedicated biopharmaceuticals company with strong research focus and global presence. So, we will slowly move away from the generic business and the money that we could generate from these divestments we will re-invest in technologies and marketing infrastructure in biopharma space,” Mazumdar-Shaw had said in November, explaining Biocon’s plan to expand its biopharmaceutical business through acquisitions. In the research area, Biocon had announced its first overseas acquisition, of US-based Nobex Corp.’s research assets for a little more than $5 million, in 2006. Biocon was the first Indian insulin producer to seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, that country’s drug regulator. The company has also presented the results of early clinical studies on its oral insulin product IN-105 to the European Association for Study of Diabetes. Its biotech cancer drug BIOMab-EGFR, originally licensed from Cuba’s CIMAB, is also expected to receive marketing approvals for the European markets soon. Biocon is also in the process of setting up a joint venture company in Dubai, along with Abu Dhabi-based drug maker Neopharma, to develop and market biopharmaceutical products for treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart ailments in the West Asian market.

http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/14012855/Biocon-to-buy-US-firm-for-400.html

Alok - Alok Ind sees revenue growth of 30 pct in FY09, FY10

2008-04-10T04:07:00.000-07:00

Textile firm Alok Industries Ltd is looking at a revenue growth of about 30 percent each in the next two years, with exports expected to contribute almost half the growth, a top official said.

"Exports, particularly to the U.S., will contribute nearly 50 percent of the growth", chief financial officer Sunil Khandelwal told Reuters.

Analysts expect Alok Industries to post revenue of 21.63 billion rupees for the year ended March 31, according to Reuters Estimates.

A likely recession in the U.S. is unlikely to hurt Alok, Khandelwal said.

"People are talking about the recession, but for U.S. consumers, textile is a basic item, so while they may cut down on cars and jewellery, I don't foresee much of a cut in their textile expenditure," he added.

Still, Alok is also looking at expanding into other geographical regions to boost growth.

"This year we have diversified into Europe, gone into Latin America and Africa as well. Our growth will be fueled by the organic expansion route," he said.

In January, Alok Industries said it was hiking its stake in Czech Republic-based Mileta, thereby taking its stake in Mileta to 79.80 percent.

The company is also starting a distribution business in U.S. through its unit Alok Industries International Ltd to supply home textile products to retail stores there.

Through this unit, Alok Industries is entering into a strategic tie-up with an U.S.-based branding and distribution company called Aisle 5.

"Through Aisle 5, we are getting a distribution right for home textile products for certain supermarket stores", he said.

Link to the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-32956220080410

Subex - Wins Order

2008-04-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Subex Ltd on April 08, 2008 has announced that it has won a contract from Fintur Group, a major mobile operator consortium located across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, to deliver Fraud Management solutions across all its group companies. The project is being integrated by Gantek Technologies. Gantek acts as the turnkey solution provider for the whole deployment. The deployments will initially start with Moldcell (Moldova), Geocell (Georgia), Azercell (Azerbaijan) and Kcell (Kazakhstan). After a thorough evaluation process, Subex was selected to deploy its Nikira® Fraud Management system, a key component of the strategic Revenue Operations Center (ROC), across the four operators with a further three to follow during the course of the coming months. The implementation will be done by Gantek who is a leading ICT provider in the region. Subex and Gantek have been partnering together in several projects especially in the Revenue Management domain. Sudeesh Yezhuvath, COO, Subex Ltd said, "We look forward to working closely with the Fintur Group to deploy the Nikira system across its companies to provide better efficiency for agile operations for a consortium of this size and magnitude." Subex is the market leader in Revenue Management solutions, enabling service providers to dramatically reduce risks to the revenue chain by controlling multiple causes of revenue leakage, promoting operational efficiency and hence higher profitability. Nikira, uses flexible rules-based alerts and artificial-intelligence driven advanced analytics to help identify likely fraudulent behavior. This enables operators to detect known fraud types and patterns of unusual behavior in all telecoms environments.

IVRCL - 37 firms bid to develop regional Andhra airports

2008-04-02T04:57:00.000-07:00

Caparo Group Ltd, GMR Lanco, IVCRL among companies in race for 8 airports; GVK stays away

As many as 37 infrastructure firms have put in bids to develop eight regional airports in Andhra Pradesh, according to a top official.
The state government will finalize the list of developers for the airports located at the so-called tier-IV cities by September, said the senior executive of Infrastructure Corp. of Andhra Pradesh (Incap), who did not want to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The state had called for bids in January to develop airports at Nellore in Nellore district, Ongole in Prakasam district, Ramagundam in Karimnagar district, Kothagudem in Khammam district, Kurnool in Kurnool district, Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district, Nizamabad in Nizamabad district, and Badangi in Vijayanagaram district.
State-owned Incap promotes infrastructure projects in Andhra Pradesh.
India currently has 80 fully functional airports equipped to handle commercial, charter and defence flights, according to a report released by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) in February this year.
However, of these, 24 major airports together account for 94% of the air traffic, while the remaining traffic is shared by smaller or regional airports.
The companies that have shown interest in developing the airports include UK-based Caparo Group Ltd, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Lanco Infratech Ltd, IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd, Maytas Infra Ltd, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries Ltd, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Airport Developers Pvt. Ltd, Unitech Ltd and Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd.
Other players that have expressed interest include Navayuga Engineering Co. Ltd, Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, Gayatri Projects Ltd, Soma Enterprise Ltd, Indu Projects Ltd, Progressive Construction Pvt. Ltd, MSK Projects (India) Ltd, Marg Ltd, and Shivani Oil and Gas Exploration Services Ltd.
Interestingly, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, which operates the Mumbai international airport, did not participate in the bids, said the Incap official.
This despite the fact that GVK had in the past partnered with Deccan Aviation Ltd to build low-cost airports in small Indian towns. However, it later pulled out of the consortium after Kingfisher Airlines Ltd of the UB Group acquired Deccan Aviation.
“We did not participate in the bids for regional airports in Andhra Pradesh since we are keen on developing airports in smaller cities only if they have some kind of existing runway,” said G.V. Sanjay Reddy, vice-chairman of GVK Industries Ltd and managing director of Mumbai International Airport Ltd.

“We have expressed our interest to develop these regional airports but may not take up all eight,” said Kiran Kumar Grandhi, chairman of airports at GMR, which operates the New Delhi and Hyderabad international airports.
IVRCL, which had earlier built passenger terminal buildings of the old airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore, is keen on developing the regional airports more due to the potential development revenues outside the airports rather than their aeronautical revenues, according to its chairman, E. Sudhir Reddy.
IVRCL has tied up with an unnamed Spanish airports company and has also bid for the Amritsar, Chennai and Kolkata airport development projects.

Confirming that Lanco Infratech has submitted its expression of interest to develop regional airports in the state, its chairman, Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao, said the government may not award all the airport projects to a single developer. Last August, Lanco obtained a Rs83 crore contract to modernize the airport at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. It has also submitted bids to develop the Amritsar airport.
“Incap, along with district officials concerned, has already identified 300-500 acres of land for each of these regional airports, wherein the project would include city-side development that involve retail and real estate components,” said the Incap official.
Each of the regional airports would have a 2,500m runway to accommodate small aircraft and would require an investment of around Rs100 crore each, the official added.
Kapil Kaul, chief executive of consulting firm Capa, had earlier told Mint, “(Airports) will be natural extension for infrastrcture and construction companies since it provides for real estate opportunities.”
The regional airports in Andhra are aimed at triggering further economic growth in these tier-IV cities and also to meet the growing demand for quick transportation, said Manmohan Singh, principal secretary at the state’s department of infrastructure and investment.
It may take around six months for a developer, from the date of being awarded an airport project, to achieve financial closure and another 18 months or so from then to complete the project, the Incap official said.

Link to the article: http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/01235923/37-firms-bid-to-develop-region.html

IVRCL - bags orders worth Rs 484 cr

2008-04-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd on Wednesday said it has bagged orders worth Rs 484 crore for construction related works.

The orders include a Rs 250-crore order from River Bank Developers for the construction of an integrated township spread over 40 lakh sq feet in Kolkata, IVRCL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company bagged a Rs 114-crore order from Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation for the construction of 5,552 houses with cost effective technologies at Baprola in Delhi for economically weaker sections.

IVRCL bagged Rs 55-crore order from Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Jharkhand, for civil and structural works for 3 million ton per annum capacity steel plant, the filing added.

The company bagged Rs 40-crore order from Bharat Heavy Earth Movers Ltd for civil works of auxiliary buildings in Kolkata. The remaining Rs 25-crore order is related to miscellaneous works, it added.

Link to the article: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/IVRCL_bags_orders_worth_Rs_484_cr/articleshow/2920309.cms

Subex - Moneta™ 2.6

2008-03-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

Subex Ltd on March 31, 2008 has announced the immediate availability of Moneta™ 2.6, a major new edition of the telecom industry’s leading Revenue Assurance solution for IP-centric networks, cable, wireless and wireline operators. "Content-based services are critical to boosting bottom-line revenue and gaining a competitive advantage within extremely tight market conditions," said Mark Nicholson, Subex’s CTO. "This new version of Moneta addresses the growing need to monitor and monetize content-based services, and it includes several additional features that greatly improve the usability and value of automated Revenue Assurance technology." Other new features of Moneta 2.6 include: - Enhanced capabilities to analyse data from IP-systems for data, voice and value added services. Moneta can process and analyse any data from systems compliant with IPDR v3.5.1 specification, helping operators to quickly integrate the system with content and IP based systems. - Advanced trending capabilities with historic and multiple analysis capabilities that captures unique network and service usage activity for quick detection of Revenue Assurance issues. - As operators add new services and products, there is an increasing challenge of dealing with new Revenue Assurance issues. Moneta V2.6 provides powerful multi-dimensional analysis capabilities to support dynamic Revenue Assurance environments. - Moneta now provides solution templates specific to each type of business that ensures quick deployment and ROI. - Moneta now provides enhanced data integrity checks, enhanced manageability and increased automation to manage more complex Revenue Assurance environments. A component of the Subex suite of Revenue Maximization solutions, Moneta is the leading choice for telecom operators looking to improve the health and vitality of the entire revenue chain. It helps tackle critical Revenue Assurance challenges across the enterprise and provides unprecedented automated correction capabilities to improve bottom-line results and provide a quick return-on-investment. Moneta includes pre-configured solution templates that address Revenue Assurance issues across areas such as service fulfillment, usage integrity, retail billing/ interconnect/ wholesale billing and content settlement. Subex is the market leader in Revenue Management solutions, enabling service providers to dramatically reduce risks to the revenue chain by controlling multiple causes of revenue leakage, promoting operational efficiency and hence higher profitability.