The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Sterling Farm bags award
KOCHI: The Sterling Farm Research and Services Private Ltd here has been selected for an award by the Coir Board for conducting research and developing new/value-added products from coir and coir pith for hi-tech agriculture. The award ... More

ANNOUNCEMENTS

All Iraqi crude bought at prevailing intl prices: Reliance Ind
RELIANCE Industries today said that all purchases of Iraqi crude oil supplies made by the company were done at prevailing international prices and that "no other payments were involved in these purchases." The Volcker Committee report has ... More

Ponni Sugars Erode to raise sugarcane crushing capacity
PONNI Sugars Erode Ltd plans to expand its sugarcane crushing capacity by 500 tonnes a day to 3,000 tonnes a day. With this, it would process an additional one lakh tonnes annually. According to officials, the company hopes to put in place ... More

BASF India to hike capacity
BASF India Ltd is planning to expand the capacity of its Mangalore-based polymer dispersions manufacturing plant from 20,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes. The expansion will take effect from the first quarter of 2007. "This investment is part of ... More

Venkat Pharma bags order
HYDERABAD: Venkat Pharma Ltd announced that it has secured orders worth $4,00,000 for the supply of vitamins and dietary supplement products in the US market. In a press release here on Monday, the company said it executed its first ... More

Assam Co strikes oil in Amguri
The Assam Co Additional Vice-Chairman, Mr Aditya K. Jajodia, said the company had so far invested Rs 20 crore towards oil exploration and will participate in the next round of NELP. More

Name change for Traders Hotel
This follows the termination of an agreement between Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, which owned the Traders name, and J Hotels Ltd, the promoters of the hotel. J Hotels Ltd has tied up with the Accord Metropolitan Hospitality Pte Ltd of ... More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES

HC stays AAIFR order on Jessop rights issue
THE Calcutta High Court on Monday stayed an order by the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR) on October 21, which had stayed the exemptions granted by Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) ... More

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

HLL: Q3 numbers signal newfound aggression
A SURGE in consumer spending and a pepped-up brand portfolio have helped Hindustan Lever better street expectations with its numbers for the September quarter. The 14 per cent sales growth is impressive; it beats the growth rates achieved by ... More

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Cross-holding between NTPC and BHEL — A solution to many problems
PERHAPS all is not lost for the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, stymied from raising Rs 2,000 crore through the disinvestment in BHEL because of political compulsions. There is another option. NTPC and BHEL may buy into each other's stock, ... More

Godrej acquires FMCG co in UK
GODREJ Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has announced that it has acquired 100 per cent stake in UK-based Keyline Brands Ltd. The company did not disclose the value of the deal. Keyline is an FMCG company engaged in the manufacture, marketing, ... More

Swap ratio for Williamson, McLeod Russel merger soon
THE BM Khaitan group has appointed ICICI Securities and PricewaterhouseCoopers for working out the details of the merger of Williamson Tea Assam Ltd (WTA) with McLeod Russel India Ltd (MRIL). According to Mr Deepak Khaitan, Vice-Chairman of ... More

United Phosphorus acquires Argentina's Reposo for $11 m
UNITED Phosphorus Ltd has announced that it has purchased 100 per cent stake, through its UK subsidiary, in Buenos Aires-based Reposo, a manufacturer and distributor of crop protection products, for $11 million. The sale includes all stocks ... More

NEW PROJECTS

Bajaj Hindusthan begins cane crushing in 3 new UP plants
BAJAJ Hindusthan Ltd has commenced cane-crushing operations at three of its new greenfield sugar plants in Uttar Pradesh. This includes Bilai (Bijnore district) and two units in Muzaffarnagar district — at Thanabhavan and Budhana. Each ... More

In revamp mode — Visaka Ind plans Rs 64-cr expansion
VISAKA Industries Ltd (VIL), the Hyderabad-based Rs 214-crore building products and synthetic blended yarns manufacturer, has decided to revamp its business plans. The company has advanced the execution of expansion in its fibre cement sheets ... More

ONGC to launch pilot project for helium production
ONGC has entered into an MoU with the Department of Science and Technology and the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics for launching a Rs 200-crore pilot project for production of helium from natural gas at Kutralam in Tamil Nadu. ONGC will fund ... More

Vishnu Fabrics plans backward integration
VISHNU Fabrics (P) Ltd, a manufacturer of high tenacity advanced technical textiles to reinforce roads and buildings, plans to go for backward integration to produce sand to finished composite fabrics at a cost of Rs 18 crore. The company based ... More

SOCIETY & DEVELOPMENT

Ranbaxy aid to quake-hit J&K
RANBAXY Laboratories Ltd and the promoter group companies such as Fortis Healthcare Ltd, Fortis Securities Ltd and Escorts Health Institute and Research Centre Ltd have donated Rs 1 crore towards relief efforts being made to help ... More

DIVERSIFICATION

Biodiesel foray: Emami team set to visit US, Europe for machinery
"A pre-feasibility study has already been completed, and a few experts have been recruited to mount the project." More

Pokarna diversifies into apparel making
HYDERABAD: Pokarna Ltd announced here on Monday that it has diversified into apparel manufacturing with a new factory at the Apparels Export Park near here. Besides launching a new premium brand `STANZA', the company's apparels division ... More

OUTLOOK

ONGC confident of striking gas in Bengal Basin
THE delay in drilling schedule notwithstanding, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is smelling gas in the Bengal off-shore. Though the testing results of its first exploratory well in the block are awaited, high level sources said ONGC was ... More

Panacea Bio sees positive impact from Novartis buy of Chiron
THE New Delhi-based Panacea Biotec today maintained that the announcement by Novartis AG to take over US biotechnology firm, Chiron Corp, would be beneficial to its joint venture with the latter in India. Panacea had entered into a 50:50 joint ... More

PERFORMANCE

Hero Honda retail sales cross 4 lakh units in October
FUELLED by festive buying, Hero Honda achieved record retail sales of over four lakh motorcycles in October, the company said. According to a company release, sales to dealers during the month further reached a high of 3,02,000 units, marking ... More

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