Category: Breaking Corporate India Earnings News

The Steel Ministry called a meeting yesterday with the large domestic steel majors in an effort to convince them to reduce steel prices due to concerns about high inflation. However, according to insiders, the steel industry indicated that they were not in a position to cut prices of hot rolled coils (HRC) due to the surge in raw material
costs.

Tata Steel and RINL currently sell their TMT bars at a premium to the other producers. They have agreed to cut TMT prices by Rs2,000/t in order to bring prices in line with the market. TMT bars are mainly used for construction.

The steel industry agreed to cut prices of galvanized sheets used for roofing in low cost housing by Rs500-1000/t. Sales of this product by the steel majors are limited as they are increasingly focusing on high-end galvanized products.

On Feb-21st, our chief research analyst wrote that the Zenith is behind us which was hard to digest then, a reality now.

Over the last 3-4 years BHEL’s PAT growth was largely aided by operating leverage and slower than expected sales growth could be made up by EBIT margin improvements. We had expected EBIT margins to peak in FY08 – EBIT margins might have peaked in FY07.

BHEL’s FY08P reported PAT at Rs28.1bn up 17% YoY was 14% below CIR estimates on the back of slower order backlog execution in 4QFY08P. 4QFY08P derived Gross Sales was up a measly 6.5% YoY and PAT was down 7% YoY. At this point of time we do not know if 4QFY08P had any exceptional items.

BHEL booked orders to the tune of Rs503bn up 41% YoY ending FY08 with a stupendous order backlog of Rs855bn up 56% YoY. However, it is pertinent to note that only 9,800MW of orders are remaining to be ordered in the XIth plan and as consequence inflows should slow down in FY09E/FY10E.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has announced the launch of BONISTA- Teriparatide injection (recombinant human parathyroid hormone) for the treatment of Osteoporosis, in collaboration with Virchow Biotech, Hyderabad, India. Ranbaxy is the first company to launch this bio generic product in the world.

The product has been indigenously researched at Virchow Biotech and developed with and from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Virchow Biotech, part of the Hyderabad based Rs 600 crore Virchow Group, engages in research, development, manufacture and marketing of a wide range of unique classical biologicals and high value recombinant bio-generie products for serious life-threatening diseases at affordable prices.

i-flex Solutions has signed an agreement with Wipro under which Wipro will market, implement and support i-flex’s products in the Middle East and Egypt. The products include flexcube, i-flex solutions flag ship core banking product suite, and i-flex’s analytics offering, an integrated suite of award-winning solutions – Reveleus and Mantas – that help financial institutions maximize profitability, minimize risks and deliver enterprise-wide compliance. Wipro is a global leader in providing technology, software and consulting services.

CII and NIIT have entered into an agreement to help create ICT infrastructure and foster International Software Talent in the African continent. As part of this capacity building and skill development endeavour, NIIT and CII will share high quality education resources from India and involve other appropriate players from the Indian industry to help Africa develop human capital for the global IT industry.

In line with its commitment of providing skilled ICT manpower in the region- NIIT recently launched the State of Art Training campus in Botswana which will accommodate 7000 students in various IT streams by 2010. NIIT now plans to scale up operations and forge partnerships with more Universities and Colleges to extend its IT training offerings for the youth in Africa.

Satyam Computer Services has signed a MoU with Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Hyderabad, an autonomous Plastics Training & Application Research Institute, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, for developing new engineering plastic materials through an Industry-Institute collaborative approach. The collaboration is part of Satyam’s strategic initiative of developing a global innovative ecosystem of alliances to provide total engineering solutions to its global customers.

The proposed alliance is aimed at synergizing the product design and development expertise of Satyam Engineering Solutions and application research of CIPET, Hyderabad to develop innovative materials for new products being developed for customers worldwide. This relationship will establish CIPET & Satyam together as a provider of applied research services to meet the needs of the global customers thereby successfully establishing an Industry-Institute partnership.