Infosys Guidance – Revenue to Decline by 3-6% in USD

Infosys Technologies has given a guidance for fiscal 2010, the revenues of the company is expected to report a decline by 6.7% to 3.1% in US dollar terms.

Infosys Technologies has announced its audited consolidated results for the quarter & year ended March 31, 2009:

In the consolidated results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 the Group has posted a net profit after tax & minority interest rise of 29.14% to Rs 1,613 crore compared to Rs 1,249 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.

Total Income has increased for the quarter by 25.76% to Rs 5887 crore from Rs 4681crore in the same quarter last year

In the consolidated results for the year ended March 31, 2009 the Group has posted a net profit after tax & minority interest rise of 28.52% to Rs 5,988 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 4,659 crore in previous fiscal.

Total Income of the group has increased by 27.42% to Rs 22,166 crore from Rs 17,396 crore of the previous year.

SBI – Micro SIP under Blue Chip Fund

SBI Mutual Fund has introduced Micro Systematic Investment Plan (Micro SIP) under SBI Blue Chip Fund. The change will come into effect from April 15, 2009.

The minimum investment amount under this scheme will be Rs 100 and in multiples of Rs 50 thereafter. The minimum redemption amount will be Rs 500. The minimum tenure of scheme is 5 years.

No entry load would be charged for direct applicants and for rest an entry load of 2.25% will be charged. An exit load of 3% on applicable NAV will be charged if investors redeem from the scheme within 2 years.

An exit load of 2% on applicable NAV will be charged, if the investment is redeemed after 2 years but before 5 years.

The investment objective of this open ended equity scheme is to generate long term capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity-related instruments.

Exports to US continue shrinking

Reflecting the deepening of troubles of Indian exporters, India’s exports to the US dropped to lowest level in more than a year in February. The recession-hit US imported goods worth a total $1.58 billion in February, the lowest in 14-months.

Consumer spending has fallen sharply in the US due to the ongoing economic crisis, resulting in erosion of demand for most of the imported goods. Nearly all countries which export to the US like China, Taiwan and other South Asian countries, have witnessed sharp decline in exports to US.

India’s average monthly exports bill had been over $2 billion a month before the start of financial crisis in September last year. Since then, however, it has been showing consistent decline and reached its lowest point of $1.58 billion in February this year.

Book Profits in DLF + Unitech – Kotak

Real estate stocks have rallied rapidly over the past three weeks as new launch activity has picked up at 25-30% discount to prevalent prices. Good responses to some of these projects especially in Mumbai and Delhi have further contributed to this positive sentiment. However, despite the better launch activity in March, Kotak continues to observe large consensus downgrades in March.

Expect 4QFY09E to be extremely weak, with sales dropping 70% yoy and 16% qoq, driving 81% yoy and 39% qoq de-growth in profits.

Sharp reduction in commercial revenues, and new sales have to be significantly higher to maintain same contribution as selling prices are sharply lower. Improvement in financial performance thereafter will depend on sustained recovery in volumes. (more…)

United Phosphorus Concerns Overdone – Citi

Besides good results, management speak from global peers indicate that farm economics and demand are sound across markets, with the exception of some LatAm countries. The outlook for the next fiscal is strong in most cases and concurs with our positive view on UPL’s business.

UPL has a steady B/S, with net D/E of 0.6x, low refinancing risk (most debt redeemable in 2011) and rising cash flows. As asset valuations come off, we believe UPL is one of the few players positioned to be an active participant in any industry consolidation. (more…)

Feb industrial production: Momentum shows uptick

The negative IP growth was in line with the consensus forecast of a 1.3% yoy decline and our expectation of a 1.5% yoy decline. The monthly momentum rose by 0.6% mom in February, higher than the 0.2% mom rise in January. For the April-January months, IP grew 2.8% yoy versus 8.9% yoy in the same period previously.

The Capital Goods Index rose by 10.4% yoy in February versus a 8.9% yoy rise in the first 10 months of the year. The monthly momentum in capital goods rose 1.2% mom s.a. (seasonally adjusted) in February, versus a 0.5% mom decline in the previous month. The Infrastructure Index for February rose 2.2% yoy in February compared to 1.5% yoy in January. Production of
consumer goods shrunk 3% yoy, lower than the 5.9% yoy average growth in the first 10 months of the fiscal year. However, on a monthly basis, growth in the Consumer Goods Index rose 0.7% mom from a 0.3% mom fall in January.