"That plant has a high cost of production and it is not feasible to operate it when aluminium prices have dropped significantly," said a company executive. It has started reducing output and full closure is expected soon. Aluminium prices fell to $1,251 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange from last July's all-time high of $3,271, as the global credit crunch and economic slowdown curbed demand for the base metal. On Wednesday, the metal's LME price was $1,421 a tonne.
Ripples of Indias largest corporate scam along with poor quarterly performance have made more than half of the actively traded companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opt not to disclose their fourth quarter un-audited results this month. Instead, they would announce only their annual audited results, before the end of June.
The National Aluminium Company (Nalco), India's second largest producer of the base metal, avoided a production cut by offering discounts to its key clients that helped it boost sales and trim rising inventory.
Tech Mahindra, the highest bidder for Satyam Computer Services, has tied up Rs 875 crore funding from mutual funds and insurance companies and is in talks with banks to mobilise Rs 1,000 crore bridge loans.
Gold is back in favour with consumers shifting their focus on the precious metal on the back of moderation in prices.
Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, has postponed plans for an overseas equity issue and sale of investments to repay the $3 billion bridge loan it took in June last year to acquire the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford.
Stung by the steep fall in demand for the yellow metal in the world's largest consumer nation, the World Gold Council is now falling back on the familiar marketing mantra: If customers aren't coming, go to their doorsteps. The reason for the marketing overdrive by the Indian arm of the WGC is simple: India, which used to import around 60 tonnes of gold a month till last year, has seen zero imports in the past two months because of the prevailing high prices.
The corporation, christened MCX Clearing Corporation, is likely to start functioning next month. So far, the exchange's clearing activities are controlled by an integrated clearing house which remains a function of the exchange platform.
The first to pass on the baton will be Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant. He retires in June, according to the group's policy that all executive directors must retire at the age of 65 years. The other two are the MD of Tata Steel, B Muthuraman, and his long-time counterpart at TCS, S Ramadorai. They retire in September and October, respectively.
Banks that own ATMs charge an inter-change fee for providing the facility to the customers of other banks. For larger players such as SBI, ICICI, HDFC and Axis Bank, the shift would mean higher revenues as customers would tend to use the nearest ATM. Smaller banks, which already allow their account holders to access any ATM without having to pay a transaction charge, fear the bigger players, sensing an opportunity, may increase the inter-change fee over the next 6 months.
IndusInd Bank MD & CEO Romesh Sobti said that, during the fourth quarter, the private sector lender was expecting a 20 per cent growth in its loan book. "There are still a lot of good companies, and you don't write off everyone. There is nothing like zero-risk. It is low-, medium- and high-risk, and you avoid high-risk though they give you high returns," Sobti said after announcing the inauguration of new-look branches aimed at attracting more high networth customers.
The company had reported less than 1 per cent of the revenue of Rs 781 crore (Rs 7.81 billion) in 2007-08 from the dredging business. For the nine months ending December 31, 2008, it reported revenue of Rs 853 crore (Rs 8.53 billion), a 61.1 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the previous year as it largely deployed its ships on long-term contracts.
Currently, the public sector major has an inventory of 20,000 tonnes as against the usual level of 5,000 tonnes. Analysts expect the inventory to reach 25,000 tonnes by March-end. "We expect aluminium prices to remain below the cost of production for the next six to nine months," said Vipul Shah, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage K R Choksey Shares. "The outlook for aluminium is grim," he said.
India's largest refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd, is in talks with public sector oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for a tie-up to run the former's fuel retail outlets, closed a year earlier.HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal.Last year, RIL closed 1,400 petrol pumps -- 900 owned by the company and the rest managed by dealers.
Gold purchases by India, the world's largest importer of the metal, are down to a trickle because of high prices, prompting local traders and jewellers to reprocess scrap and jewellery to cater to rapidly falling local demand.
The debt came with covenants, which require borrowers to meet certain conditions such as a mandated debt to EBITDA ratio. A failure to meet the conditions may result in an increase in interest rates. The company reported EBITDA (operating profit) of $69 million in the quarter ended December 31, down from $151 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Aban offshore has a Rs 13,000 crore debt on its books and a market cap of only Rs 1,645 crore, down 90 per cent from its peak on May 23 last year. The huge debt is a result of the company, earlier known as Aban Lloyd, buying a 33.7 per cent stake in Sinvest ASA, a Norwegian drilling company, for Rs 5,200 crore. The acquisition gave Aban access to eight premium jack-up rigs with contracts, but it also increased its debt substantially.
The retailer, which runs a supermarket chain under the More brand, is targeting annual sales of $4.5 billion (Rs 22,000 crore or Rs 220 billion) by March 2014 from Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the current financial year. The retailer clocked sales of Rs 500 in the previous year. In 2007, the company had talked about a Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) investment plan.
The Reserve Bank of India is formulating guidelines that would allow government-owned banks get into the private equity business.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Wednesday made it compulsory for promoters of listed companies to disclose the details of their pledged shares, but clarified that there would be no need to disclose pledged shares of the holding company. Legal and accountancy experts say this may lead to a restructuring of the shareholding pattern in many companies.
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