Month: March 2008

Industrial output growth fell to 5.3% y-o-y in January from 7.7% in December, below expectations, because of a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

Capital goods output, a lead indicator of investment activity, slowed to 2.1% y-o-y in January from 16.6% in December. A single month does not make a trend, but this is worrying nevertheless since investment has been the main driver of India’s strong economic growth in recent years.

Consumer durables continued to underperform, with the growth rate falling to -3.1% y-o-y in January from 1.2% in December.

Mining and electricity sector output growth remained sluggish at 1.8% y-o-y and 3.3%, respectively, in January, likely reflecting capacity constraints.

Wood products, one of the best-performing sectors, saw output growth plunge to -4.6% y-o-y in January from 31.3% in December

Gayatri Projects has secured new order valued Rs 242.55 crore. The entire work has to be executed with in a period of 2 years form the executive engineer, Narmada Development Canal Division, Khargone, Madhya Pradesh.

The company, as ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is among India’s fastest growing construction companies known for its in-securing model driven by professional teams and unique equipment bank.

Gitanjali Gems has informed us that in continuance of company’s policy towards strategic acquisition, company has acquired Trinity Watch Company through its wholly owned subsidiary Gitanjali Lifestyle.

Further the company has informed that, the Trinity Watch Company is engaged in the business of sale of watches under its registered premium brand ‘Iris’. The company also distributes various international watch brands under license from various principals.

The demand for premium watches is on the rise as we saw launch of Hamilton and Leon Hatot watches in India in October 2007.

L&T could incur loss of Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore from commodity hedging in the year ending March 2008 (FY 2008). The company expects overall margin expansion to offset the losses from commodity hedging.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal Securities had, in a client note, said Larsen & Toubro (L&T) International FZE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, was expected to incur marked-to-market losses on commodity hedging transactions during FY 2008.

Motilal Oswal, which maintained its neutral rating on L&T stock, said it had downgraded its earnings forecast for L&T FZE and expected it to now report a net loss of Rs 92.4 crore in FY 2008, compared to a profit of Rs 85.10 crore a year earlier. It said it had also revised downward its consolidated net profit estimates for L&T to Rs 2400 crore in FY 2008 from a previous estimate of Rs 2590 crore.