Gitanjali Gems Acquisition

Gitanjali Gems declined 3.19% to Rs 244.30 at 10:58 IST on BSE after the company said on Wednesday, 26 March 2008, it has acquired 100% shares of Modali Jewels, earlier a joint venture company.

The stock hit a high of Rs 252.05 and a low of Rs 244.05 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 480 on 5 December 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 176.50 on 13 June 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 85.06 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 244.30 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 14.22, by a PE multiple of 17.18.

Gitanjali Gems’ net profit rose 20.70% to Rs 26.85 crore on 19.80% rise in net sales to Rs 598.28 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006

Modali Jewels (MJPL) is engaged in establishing and operating chain of showrooms/outlets for selling gold & diamond studded jewellery. After the acquisition, it has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gitanjali Gems.

In January 2008, Gitanjali Gems acquired 100% shares Mumbai based Brightest Circle Jewellery, which is engaged in manufacturing, distributing and selling of diamonds and jewellery products.

In December 2007, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Gitanjali Lifestyle signed a memorandum of understanding with Mariella Burani Fashion Group, Italy to form a joint venture in India.

The company manufactures, exports and markets diamonds and jewellery. It owns a number of jewellery brands, including D'damas, Nakshatra, Sangini and Asmi.

J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Buyback plan

J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals surged 8.85% to Rs 40.75 at 10:23 IST on BSE after the company scheduled a meeting of the board of directors on 8 April 2008 to consider buyback of equity shares.

The scrip touched a high of Rs 41.35 and a low of Rs 37.50 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 101.70 on 2 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 31.80 on 24 March 2008.

The small-cap pharmaceuticals firm has an equity capital of Rs 16.87 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Promoters hold 55.47% stake in the company (as at end December 2007).

At the current price of Rs 40.75, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 8.05, based on Q3 December 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 5.06.

The company’s latest reserves and latest book value per share stand at Rs 404.26 crore and Rs 49.93 respectively.

J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals’ net profit declined 45.30% to Rs 10.67 crore on 2.90% rise in net sales to Rs 139.02 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals manufactures basic chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, photographic chemicals and agro-based products.

Valecha Engineering builds on new order win

Valecha Engineering gained 1.91% to Rs 170.40 at 10:18 IST on BSE after the company said it has bagged new projects worth Rs 250 crore which includes road works at Pune, Delhi airport express line work and piling projects.

The stock hit a high of Rs 175 and a low of Rs 170.30 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 358 on 4 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 127.47 on 5 April 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 11.95 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 170.40 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 11.58, by a PE multiple of 14.72.

Valecha Engineering’s net profit declined 84.4% to Rs 3.46 crore on 68.7% growth in net sales to Rs 116.20 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The Rs 250 crore company is primarily a player in the road construction business, from which it derives 70% of its revenues. Its road projects are present across many states in the country.

Post Market Commentary - March 27 2008

Small-caps gain in volatile market

IT and banking shares fell sharply whereas FMCG and realty stocks bucked the weak trend. Gains in mid-cap and small-cap stocks led to positive market breadth.

Sensex fell 71.27 points or 0.44% at 16,015.56.

CNX S&P Nifty rose 1.40 points or 0.03% at 4830.25.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 247.98 crore today. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 339.84 crore.

Among the small-caps, Ankur Drugs And Pharma (up 20% at Rs 190.95), Classic Diamonds (India) (up 20% at Rs 62.15), Renaissance Jewellery (up 20% at Rs 61.30), BAG Films & Media (up 18.51% at Rs 38.10), and Grabal Alok Impex (up 17.14% at Rs 95), surged.

Power Grid Corporation of India rose 1.13% to Rs 98.50 on reports that the company may win a Sri Lankan sub-sea cable order worth Rs 2500 crore.

Great Offshore slipped 1.65% to Rs 614.75 after the company said it has sold its vessel - Malaviya Nine, a 1983 built anchor handling tug - supply vessel.

Power Finance Corporation gained 2.03% to Rs 166 after the company said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with RITES to combine its resources and expertise to facilitate import of coal from African countries.

Valecha Engineering, which is primarily into road construction business, jumped 5.23% to Rs 175.95 after the company said it has bagged new projects worth Rs 250 crore which includes road works at Pune, Delhi airport express line work and piling projects.

J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals surged 20% to Rs 44.80 after the company scheduled a meeting of the board of directors on 8 April 2008 to consider buyback of equity shares.

i-flex Solutions declined 3.02% to Rs 953.75 even as the company said Lien Viet Bank, Vietnam has selected Flexcube, i-flex�s core banking solution for its banking operations.

Rajesh Exports jumped 2.92% to Rs 72.35 after the company clarified that it has not suffered any losses in any type of currency options, commodity trading or any other speculative business.

Term insurance plans to get cheaper

BS Reporter / Mumbai March 26, 2008

In a move aimed at making term insurance products cheaper and popular among customers, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDA) has decided to reduce the solvency margin on these products under traditional business.

Term insurance policies provide pure life cover with no maturity or survival benefits. Since there are no maturity benefits in these policies, they are not as popular as, say, the money back covers.

Currently, insurers have to maintain a solvency margin of 150 per cent on insurance products. The move will ease the capital requirement by one third for term policies for both individual and group policies. Solvency margin requirements are the prudential norms on capital requirement for insurance companies. They are the equivalent of capital adequacy ratios for the banking industry. Insurers are likely to pass on the benefit to customers.

"With the IRDA reducing the solvency margin on term products, the premium for these policies is likely to come down by 5% to 10%," said GN Agarwal, executive director and appointed actuary of Life Insurance Corporation of India.

For example, if a person is, say, 35 years old and buys a term insurance policy which has a sum assured of Rs 1 lakh, the premium would work out to around Rs 250 a year. However, the insurer had to provide a solvency capital of Rs 450. With the IRDA reducing the solvency margin to one-third, the solvency margin required to be maintained henceforth will be reduced to Rs 300.

“The proposed required solvency margin at lower level for pure term products would provide significant relief to life insurers both under individual products and under group products. This measure, it is hoped, would pave the way for enhancing the interest among insurers to launch pure term products for a sufficiently long period and at affordable rates, which would ultimately result in increased insurance coverage," said R Kanan, member actuary of IRDA.

Financial Technologies hardens as foreign fund hikes stake

Financial Technologies India gained 2.27% to Rs 1409 at 14:02 IST on BSE after the company said foreign funds FMR LLC and FIL have acquired a further 0.17% stake in the company to raise their total holdings to 10.13%.

The stock hit a high of Rs 1428 and a low of Rs 1360 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 3048 on 29 June 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 1340 on 24 March 2008.

The company’s current equity is Rs 9.18 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The current price of Rs 1409 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 469.46, by a PE multiple of 3.

Financial Technologies India's net profit surged 58.63% to Rs 536.95 crore on 27.24% growth in net sales to Rs 39.38 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

Financial Technologies develops software solutions used in online trading terminals. Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), IBS Forex and Tickerplant Infovending are the subsidiaries of the company.

"Roman Tarmat" bagged New order

Roman Tarmat declined 2.25% to Rs 69.60 at 13:05 IST on BSE even as the company said it has bagged an order worth Rs 29.42 crore from New Mangalore Port Trust, Mangalore for concreting the existing roads in Mangalore.

The stock hit a high of Rs 73 and a low of Rs 69.20 so far during the day, which is a 52-week low. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 376.25 on 9 July 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 10.96 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 69.60 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 7.01, by a PE multiple of 9.93.

Roman Tarmat’s net profit declined 40.9% to Rs 1.92 crore on 3.1% fall in net sales to Rs 26.37 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The project is to be executed within a period of 18 months.

The company provides engineering, procurement and construction services for infrastructure projects. The services include construction of airside works, highways, roads and other civil work.

Tata Motors acquire Ford Motor's premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover

Tata Motors acquire Ford Motor's premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover for around $2.5 billion.

The stock hit a high of Rs 690 and a low of Rs 657 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 840 on 12 October 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 535 on 22 January 2008.

The company’s current equity is Rs 385.55 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Promoters hold 33.42% stake in the company (as at end December 2007).

The current price of Rs 658 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 51.78, by a PE multiple of 12.70.

Tata Motors’ net profit declined 2.8% to Rs 499.05 crore on 5.2% growth in net sales to Rs 7251.83 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

As per reports, the deal which took almost nine months to be finalised was signed in evening yesterday, 25 March 2008. With this deal, Tata Motors will get access to three manufacturing facilities at Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood. The Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) acquisition would be the biggest made by Tata Motors. In 2004, the company acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicles for Rs 465 crore and Hispano Carocera, a Spanish bus body building firm for Rs 70 crore.

The Jaguar and Land Rover are luxury brands belonging to Ford, the world's third-largest automaker. Ford had announced it was selling Jaguar and Land Rover late last year as part of a restructuring after posting a record $12.6 billion loss. Demand for the luxury vehicles had fallen at the fastest pace in at least three years. Jaguar sales dropped 33% in the US and Europe in the first two months of 2008 while Land Rover sales fell 13% in the U.S. and 7.7% in Europe in this period.

Tata Motors is engaged in manufacturing and marketing heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles, utility vehicles and passenger cars.

Simplex Infrastructures builds on new orders

Simplex Infrastructures gained 2.72% to Rs 538 at 12:07 IST on BSE after the company said it has bagged new orders worth Rs 653 crore from different sectors.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 26 March 2008.

The stock hit a high of Rs 549.80 and a low of Rs 456 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 774 on 9 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 315 on 25 May 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 9.85 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The current price of Rs 538 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 17.82, by a PE multiple of 16.31.

SIL’s net profit rose 28.5% to Rs 22.03 crore on 57.7% growth in net sales to Rs 703.98 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

On 21 February 2008, Simplex Infrastructures (SIL) received an order worth Rs 302 crore for construction of six flyovers on Seeb Corniche road in Muscat in Sultanate of Oman.

On 15 February 2008, the company secured an order worth Rs 406 crore comprising of civil construction work for a metro rail project in Mumbai.

On 4 February 2008, the company received an order worth Rs 287 crore for Qatalum thermal power plant project in Qatar.

In January 2008, Simplex Infrastructures received an order worth Rs 481 crore for civil work for 1050 mega watt Maithon thermal power project.

Simplex Infrastructures provides infrastructure solutions in power, industrial construction, urban infrastructure, marine, high-rise building, roads and bridges segments. The company provides comprehensive services across ground engineering.

K S Oils Overseas acquisition

K S Oils gained 4.20% to Rs 67.05 at 11:48 IST on BSE after the company said it has acquired a single palm plantation over a vast area spread across 50,000 acres of green land in Indonesia.

The stock hit a high of Rs 68.90 and a low of Rs 63.50 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 142.40 on 8 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 26.60 on 26 March 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 31.53 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.

The current price of Rs 67.05 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 4.11, by a PE multiple of 16.31.

K S Oils’ net profit rose 60.5% to Rs 32.43 crore on 84.7% growth in net sales to Rs 563.67 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The company said the plantation will be developed over next three years with an investment of Rs 230 crore. The company is resorting to backward integration to secure raw material supplies and avoid global price volatility.

K S Oils is engaged in producing mustard/rapeseed oil. K S Oils provides all type of cooking media, which include edible oils like mustard, refined oils, vanaspati and non-edible solvent oil. The main manufacturing plant of the company is situated within a large industrial complex at Morena, Madhya Pradesh.

Kirloskar Oil Engines block deal

Kirloskar Oil Engines jumped 5.45% to Rs 105.50 at 11:16 IST on BSE after three block deals aggregating 30.99 lakh shares were executed on the counter at an average price of Rs 100.03 per share in opening trade on BSE.

The stock hit a high of Rs 109.85 and a low of Rs 100 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 200 on 13 July 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 90 on 17 March 2008.

The company has equity share capital of Rs 38.83 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Promoters holds 60.79% stake in the company (as at end December 2007).

At the current price of Rs 105.50, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 23.54, based on Q3 December 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 4.48.

The company’s net profit slipped 12.60% to Rs 21.76 crore in Q3 December 2007 on 17.70% rise in net sales to Rs 537.10 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Kirloskar Oil Engines (KOEL) exports diesel engines, pumpsets and generating sets mainly to Africa, the Middle East, and to other Asian countries.

SEL Manufacturing gains on fund raising plan

SEL Manufacturing Company rose 0.91% to Rs 265.35 at 11:15 IST on BSE after the company said its board has approved raising upto $250 million through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds and global depository receipts.

The stock hit a high of Rs 276 and a low of Rs 265 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 330 on 7 March 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 76.65 on 22 October 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 15.22 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 265.35 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 35.80, by a PE multiple of 7.41.

SEL Manufacturing Company’s net profit rose 236.3% to Rs 13.62 crore on 103.2% 99.87 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

SEL Manufacturing Company manufactures and exports knitted garments, fabrics and combed and carded yarn.

Avantel Softech surges on new order win

Avantel Softech surged 8.01% to Rs 57.95 at 10:19 IST on BSE after the company said it has bagged an order worth Rs 8.25 crore from the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, for supply of satellite communication receiver terminals for Indian Navy

The stock hit a high of Rs 58.85 and a low of Rs 55.25 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 138.50 on 10 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 36 on 28 March 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 5.15 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 57.95 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 4.50, by a PE multiple of 12.88.

Avantel Softech’s net profit declined 67.60% to Rs 0.58 crore on 54.15% fall in net sales to Rs 4.36 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

The company's principal activity is to design and manufacture repeaters, filters, combiners and amplifiers to enhance the capacity and coverage of wireless communication networks, for use in GSM, CDMA and 3G networks.

GEI Industrial soars on new order win

GEI Industrial Systems soared 10.08% to Rs 71 at 10:42 IST on BSE after the company said it has bagged an order worth Rs 30 crore from Essar Construction for a refinery expansion project in Vadinar, Gujarat for supply of air cooled heat exchangers.

The stock hit a high of Rs 72.10 and a low of Rs 66 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 152 on 3 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 48 on 28 March 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 14.27 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 71 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 6.64, by a PE multiple of 10.69.

GEI Industrial Systems’ net profit rose 25.4% to Rs 2.37 crore on 102.9% growth in net sales to Rs 49.56 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The company is engaged in manufacturing air-cooled heat exchanger and fin tubes. It provides innovative engineering systems and solutions. The products include air cooled heat exchangers, air cooled steam condensers, plant thermal equipments, water cooling modules and air blast oil coolers, radiators for gas and diesel engines, inter and after coolers for compressors, modular oil coolers for large transformers, coolers for motors and generators and finned tubes.

Post Market Commentary - March 26 2008

Sensex sheds 131 points on uncertainty about US outlook

Mixed global cues and imminent expiry of March 2008 derivative contracts kept the market volatile throughout the day. Concerns about the US economy which is said to be already in recession resurfaced following data that showed that US consumer confidence fell to a five-year low in March 2008.

Investors turned cautious after the previous day's 6.1% jump. Majority of the sectoral indices on BSE slipped into red. ICICI Bank was the top loser from the Sensex pack. The market breadth was positive.

Sensex was down 130.66 points or 0.81% at 16,086.83.

CNX S&P Nifty was down 48.65 points or 1% at 4828.85.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 393.91 crore today. Domestic funds sold shares worth a net Rs 108.65 crore.

India's largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank fell 4.17% at Rs 843.25.

Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 0.68% to Rs 2298.70.

Tata Motors ended almost unchanged at Rs 679.40. As per reports, US automaker Ford has agreed to sell its luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors for more than $2 billion. Ford, which signed the deal on Tuesday, 25 March 2008, plans to publicly announce the transaction in New York today, reports suggest.

Mercator Lines rose 6.59% to Rs 76 after the company said its subsidiary Mercator Lines, Singapore has entered into negotiation with Refined Success for the time charter-out of Geastiniono TBN, a gearless panamax vessel.

Avantel Softech surged 9.41% to Rs 59 after the company said it has bagged an order worth Rs 8.25 crore from the Government of India for supply of satellite communication receiver terminals for Indian Navy

GEI Industrial Systems soared 10.85% to Rs 71.50 after the company said it has bagged an order worth Rs 30 crore from Essar Construction for supply of air cooled heat exchangers for a project in Gujarat.

Axis Bank vaulted 4.34% to Rs 826.50 after a two block deals totaling 45.46 lakh shares were struck on the counter at average price of Rs 799.89 per share on BSE.

SEL Manufacturing Company (Garment manufacturer) rose 5% to Rs 276.05 after the company said its board has approved raising upto $250 million through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds and global depository receipts.

Kirloskar Oil Engines jumped 5.55% to Rs 105.60 after three block deals aggregating 30.99 lakh shares were executed on the counter at an average price of Rs 100.03 per share in opening trade on BSE.

K S Oils gained 0.78% to Rs 64.85 after the company said it has acquired a single palm plantation over a vast area spread across 50,000 acres of green land in Indonesia.

THE NEXT - FRESH TROUBLED WATERS-FX-DERIVATIVES

Banks blame law firms for 'misguiding' firms on Fx derivatives

Private sector lenders on Tuesday criticised law firms and consultants for wrongly prompting corporates not to meet their payment commitments to banks after the companies started making losses due to volatility in global markets.

Besides, the banks also wanted more finite guidelines from the Reserve Bank on structured derivative products such as interest rate swaps and currency swaps. It is believed that the exposure of Indian banks in forex (Fx) derivative products is Rs 10,000 -15,000 crore.

In derivatives, however, foreign bankers are the major players. The exposure of the public sector banks, barring State Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, is limited in forex derivative products.

The private sector banks, which did not want to be quoted, said many law firms acting as intermediaries between banks and SMEs are now taking advantage of the confusions in the foreign exchange and derivatives products market prompting companies not to m eet their obligations and thus to prolong the litigations.

"We have seen many lawyers (of SMEs that made losses in derivative products) prompting their clients not to meet their obligations to banks citing various reasons. It's high time for the Reserve Bank to come out with a more finite guideline on such produ cts," Head of a private sector bank said.

A host of private sector banks such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank and Yes Bank are understood to be in legal battles with their corporate clients who question the validity and legality of the derivative products when they started incurr ing losses in derivatives market.

Corporates started making losses following the high volatility and the consecutive widening in spreads in a variety of derivative products such as interest rate swaps and currency swaps. - PTI

IIM-B hikes annual fee to Rs 4 lakh

The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has hiked the fee for post graduate programme (PGP) from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 4 lakh per annum. The decision to hike the fee, to be effective from the next academic year, was approved by the IIM-B Board of Governors meeting chaired by Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday here. The decision to hike the fee was long pending as the premier academic institution was subsidising the education of the students. According to IIM-B, the institute incurred an expenditure of Rs 5 lakh per student per year whereas the fee charged was just 50% of it. The balance 50% of the fee was being subsidised. All incoming PGP students will pay Rs 4 lakh for the first year and another Rs 5 lakh in the second year. “Since the cost of the education per year per student is Rs 5 lakh, there is a proposal to collect the same. The IIM-B is planning to fix the fee at Rs 5 lakh per year from the 2009 academic year,” a spokesperson of IIM-B said. Besides, the IIM-B was failing to attract faculty due to compensations that were not on a par with the private universities. “The hiked fee will go towards the functioning of the institute, improvement of infrastructure,” the spokesperson added. Though the number of full time faculty at the institute is 120, it has fallen below 100. The institute hopes to regain its full faculty strength. IIM-B Director Pankaj Chandra said the institute provided financial assistance amounting to Rs 91.13 lakh to 49 students during the year 2007-08. “No student will be denied an opportunity to pursue the PGP for want of financial resources. Besides the financial assistance provided by the institute, several students won awards and merit and need-based scholarships,” he said in his report at the thirty-third annual convocation of IIM-B on Friday. He pointed out that all 266 students were successfully placed with top Indian and international firms. “In order to encourage alternative career choices, IIM-B has become the only institution to allow students to defer placement by two years. Five students have taken advantage of this flexibility to pursue other interests. Two of them are looking to start entrepreneurial ventures,” Chandra pointed out. Amit Gupta secured the first rank in the PGP 2006-08 batch. Mukesh Ambani gave away the awards to passing out students of PGP, Fellow Programme in Management, PGP in Public Policy and Management and PG Diploma in Software Enterprise Management. In all, 424 students passed out of the IIM-B.

Madras Cements Ltd. (CMP Rs 3200)

Madras Cements has chalked a capex of Rs15.24bn by the end of this year to expand its cement capacity to 10 MTPA by the second quarter of FY09, from 8 MTPA now. It is also raising grinding capacity by 1 MTPA each at the Kolaghat (West Bengal), Chennai and Salem facilities. In addition, the company will step up wind power capacity from 64 MW to 120 MW by end-FY08 and has targeted to generate 123 MU per annum. We believe that capacity expansion will lead to volume growth. Further, given the fact that power accounts for major proportion of the total cost and cola prices hovering around $125/tonne, the expansion in wind power capacity will help the company to reduce its power cost. The stock may some positives on the update.

Grasim Industries sells Digvijay Cement

The board of Grasim the company at its meeting held on December 04, 2007 had approved the sale of its entire holding of 75,816,681 equity shares representing 53.63% of the capital of Shree Digvijay Cement Company Ltd (SDCCL) to CIMPOR Inversiones SA ("Cimpor"), Calle Brasil, 56-36024 Vigo, Spain.

Grasim Industries Ltd has informed BSE that with the completion of the sale of Shree Digvijay Cement Co on March 25, 2008, SDCCL has ceased to be a subsidiary of the company.

"Satra Properties" New project

Satra Properties India jumped 10.10% to Rs 80.70 at 14:34 IST on BSE after the company said it has acquired a prime property in Jodhpur, Rajasthan for building a shopping mall, which would generate a revenue of around Rs 133.78 crore.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 25 March 2008.

The stock hit a high of Rs 83.50 and a low of Rs 72 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 114 on 18 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 35.08 on 29 March 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 31.07 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The current price of Rs 80.70 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 12.97, by a PE multiple of 6.22.

Satra Properties India’s net profit rose 769.9% to Rs 16.79 crore on 262.5% growth in net sales to Rs 57.16 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The project is to be executed within a period of 18 to 20 months.

The company is engaged in developing commercial, retail, hotel and residential properties. The properties include shopping malls, luxurious apartments and star hotels.

Martin Burn spurts

Martin Burn surged 9.97% to Rs 48 at 15:06 IST on BSE after the company said it is negotiating with various parties for acquisition of about 36 to 40 acres of land at Rajarhat, Kolkata.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 25 March 2008.

The stock hit a high of Rs 48 and a low of Rs 42 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 188 on 1 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 42.10 on 24 March 2008.

The company’s current equity is Rs 4.78 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. The current price of Rs 48 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 17, by a PE multiple of 2.82.

Martin Burn’s net profit declined 30.7% to Rs 1.87 crore on 95.5% fall in net sales to Rs 0.20 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The company is engaged in constructing commercial and institutional buildings.

RCom rings as LIC goes long

Reliance Communications advanced 4.96% to Rs 534 at 14:29 IST on BSE after Life Insurance Corporation raised its stake in the telecom services provider to over 5%.

The stock hit a high of Rs 541.70 and a low of Rs 514.80 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 844 on 10 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 389 on 2 April 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 1032.01 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. The current price of Rs 534 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 8.46, by a PE multiple of 63.12.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) acquired 3 lakh shares representing 0.015% stake in Reliance Communications (RCom) through open market transaction on 13 March 2008. Promoters After this acquisition, LIC’s holding in RCom has gone up to 10.33 crore shares (5.009%) from the earlier 10.30 crore shares (4.994%). Promoters hold 66.16% stake in RCom.

Reliance Communications (RCom)’s net profit declined 43.4% to Rs 436.48 on 11.8% growth in net sales to Rs 3403.52 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q4 December 2006.

RCom provides telecommunication services. The company provides wireless, wire line, voice, data and Internet communication services.

Reliance to close petrol pumps by April-end

Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector oil firm, plans to shut down all its 1,400 petrol pumps by April-end as it is unable to match the fuel price offered by state-run retailers, who get compensated by the Government for selling fuel below the cost.

Reliance has sent internal mails to its petrol pump operators about the phased closure, industry sources said. The company plans not to replenish petrol and diesel stocks once the existing lot at its retail outlets gets exhausted.

The owner of nation's largest refinery suffered huge losses despite selling petrol and diesel at prices higher than the state-run retailers Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.

On an average, petrol from Reliance outlets costed between Rs 4 and 5 a litre more than the PSU pumps. Reliance still lost Rs 3.4 a litre on petrol and Rs 5.8 per litre on diesel and had seen its market share fall from 14.3 per cent to less than a per c ent in diesel.

Public sector retailers too lose Rs 9.68 on sale of every litre of petrol and Rs 12.21 per litre on diesel but the losses are made up by issue of oil bonds by the Government and discounts from ONGC, GAIL and Oil India.

The same compensation is not given to the private retailers such as Reliance and Essar. Reliance spokesperson was not immediately available for comments. The company, sources said, had invested about Rs 4,000 crore in setting up close to 1,400 retail o utlets for selling petrol and diesel in the country.

Out of these, Reliance owns and operates about 450 outlets. Besides, transporters had invested over Rs 524 crore in a transport fleet of nearly 3,745 trucks, who after the closure would idle.

Over 55,000 jobs, which had been created by Reliance retail operations at outlets, transporters and within the company are now at risk. Sources said the shift of huge volumes from Reliance outlets to PSU outlets would increase the burden of support on t he Government to the tune of nearly Rs 4,000 crore. - PTI

Reliance Industries Expansion buzz

Reliance Industries surged 5.10% to Rs 2313 at 13:41 IST on BSE on reports the company plans set up its third refinery at Jamnagar in an ambitious project to reach a total capacity of 100 million metric tonnes per annum.

The stock hit a high of Rs 2313.30 and a low of Rs 2220 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 3252.10 on 15 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 1305 on 2 April 2007.

The company’s current equity is Rs 1453.65 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 2313 discounts its Q3 December 2007 EPS of Rs 222.26, by a PE multiple of 10.41.

Reliance Industries net profit rose 162.2% to Rs 8,079 crore on 22.7% rise in sales to Rs 34,590 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

As per recent reports, the company has appointed a global oil and refinery consultancy firm to evaluate the feasibility of the project, which will help capitalize the increased requirement for global crude distillation capacity.

Also, the company has decided to shut down all the petroleum retail outlets owned by it directly as surging crude prices and the absence of government subsidies have made operations unviable, reports suggested.

Reliance Industries is engaged in oil refining, producing and distributing plastic and intermediates, polyester filament yarn, fibre intermediates, polymer intermediates, crackers, chemicals, textiles. It is also into exploration and production of oil and natural gas.

GHCL restructuring plan

GHCL gained 3.15% to Rs 77 at 13:05 IST on BSE after the company’s board approved plan to spin off home textile and retail businesses into separate units, as part of a restructuring strategy to enhance growth.

The company made the announcement after market hours on Monday, 24 March 2008.

The scrip had touched a high of Rs 78.95 and a low of Rs 75.30 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 208.40 on 24 December 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 67.50 on 19 March 2008.

The company’s current equity is Rs 100.02 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 77 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 12.45, by a PE multiple of 6.19.

GHCL’s net profit rose 1.4% to Rs 31.14 crore on 37.6% rise in sales to Rs 298.57 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

As per the company’s announcement, GHCL, which is mainly into making soda ash, would continue to be listed. The home textile business, comprising sourcing and manufacturing, is proposed to be transferred to a 100% subsidiary of GHCL. The retail entity would look after the India and UK retail ventures, including that of Rosebys UK, which it acquired in 2006.

GHCL is currently engaged in chemicals business through the soda ash division apart from home textiles.