Reliance Petroleum Project 82% Complete

Reliance Petroleum has informed us that the company has successfully completed the second year of implementation of its complex refinery, coming up in a special economic zone at Jamnagar. The company has achieved 82% overall progress in just 24 months since commencement of the project. Based on the progress so far, the company is on course to complete the project ahead of its initial schedule of December 2008.

During the quarter, the project engineering activities were completed with all drawings for concreting, structural steel, underground piping as well as electrical and instrumentation released for construction. Residual engineering activities to support ongoing construction are continuing. Successful completion of this massive engineering effort in less than two years has set a new global record in the refining sector: It also reflects the success of a team effort that involved over 7,500 engineers, working from several interconnected locations across the world.

The quarter witnessed near completion of procurement activities for the project as well. The procurement and contracting for equipments, tagged items and bulk materials is now complete. Equipment deliveries have gained enhanced momentum with over 3,800 equipments, including several ODCs and super heavy equipments, delivered at site already. Nearly all the bulk materials, including pipes and fittings as well as substantial part of electrical and instrumentation bulks have also been received at site. Thrust on vendor follow- up for the balance equipments is continuing. Simultaneously, focus is shifting towards procurement close-out during the coming quarter.

ABG Shipyard – Smooth Sailing

On the recommendations of Citi, we first initiated coverage on ABG Shipyard 6 months ago. Now Merill Lynch has put a BUY rating on the stock with huge potential for upside. ABG Shipyard is expanding from being a manufacturer of small vessels to vessels of all categories. Order backlog at 7.5x FY08E sales, ten fold jump in capacity by FY12E to drive 63% EPS CAGR in FY07-10E. The stock, trading at 6.6x FY10E EV/EBITDA is attractive relative to peers.

Merill Lynch thinks that – the Govt. may extend a subsidy scheme which is being discussed; but not confirmed; b) ABG’s gets SEZ status for its upcoming shipyard at Dahej providing it substantial tax benefits; and c) Manages to acquire Western India Shipyard that Is still awaiting regulatory approvals. (more…)

Forgotten Hero Honda – Back on Track

With the Indian markets becoming expensive, really especially the SENSEX stocks, Analysts are scrambling to find out new winners. DSP Merill Lynch has upgraded Hero Honda Ltd from neutral to BUY.

After a sharp decline last fiscal, expect margins to reverse trend and increase
140bps over FY07-10 to 13.2%, driven by (1) control over selling expenses, (2) operating leverage on improved volumes, and (3) shift in sales mix to pricier bikes. We believe this would surprise consensus, leading to forecast upgrades. (more…)

HCL Technologies competency center for retailers

HCL Technologies informed us that the company has launched service-oriented architecture (SOA) competency center for retailers at this week’s National Retail Federation Convention. The competency center is designed to guide retailers in the areas of SOA tool selection, development methodology and project execution, leveraging an industry-specific set of services and the deep expertise of HCL team members in areas relevant to SOA and BPM.

HCL Technologies’ Middleware and SOA practice is comprised of more than 750 professionals with experience in all leading integration technologies and products including SOA, BPM and BAM. The practice focuses on addressing problems for enterprise customers that impact key horizontal business processes such as supply chain visibility, consistent customer experience, partner integration, and identity and provisioning management. HCL has also executed projects using the SOA competency center for customers in financial services, life sciences and other key vertical markets.

HDFC Infratsructure Fund

HDFC has also joined the bandwagon to launch an infrastructure fund like other AMCs. Everybody is painting a rosy picture of Indian infrastructure. However, their is no master plan and it is a haphazard growth story with various governments coming to power scrapping previous regimes work / projects and rampant corruption in awarding tenders.

HDFC Infrastructure Fund – Features

  • Closed Ended Fund – 3 years Will be converted into open ended after 3 years
  • To seek long term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity related securities of companies engaged in or expected to benefit from the growth and development of infrastructure
  • Minimum Rs. 5,000 and in multiples of Rs. 100 thereafter per application
  • Till conversion of the scheme into an open-ended scheme, the scheme will offer for redemption / switch-out of units on an ongoing basis at monthly intervals at NAV based prices. The redemption / switch-out of units will be available only during the specified redemption period i.e. the first two business days of each calendar month

HDFC is charging an initial issue expense of 6% amortoised over a period of 3 years.

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