"The price quoted by L&T (Rs 45.90) in the financial bid is fairly decent, compared with the share price of Satyam in the last three months. The team of (L&T chairman) A M Naik never expected that anybody could quote 10 per cent above their price, as there was no clarity on Satyam's liabilities. Even if somebody had quoted less than 10 per cent of what L&T quoted, the company could have raised the bid in the open bidding round," said a source in L&T.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
A company executive said unlike India, the price of petrol changed on a daily basis in the US. "In India, we don't have a level playing field, since the government gives public sector oil marketing companies subsidies. Since the RIL refineries operate on better refining margins, we could earn more revenue from free markets," he said. "We have better understanding beyond a theoretical knowledge about the US and European markets after our long experience in these markets."
Already partnering seven international brands such as Giorgio Armani and Salvatore Ferragamo, it also plans to tie up with 12-15 global brands in the next five years. The company plans to fund its expansion through a mix of equity and debt and go in for tie-ups through joint ventures and franchise routes. The focus of expansion would be in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai in the initial phase, the official said.
Indian retailers put cash & carry on backburner
The company has already booked Rs 5,450 crore (Rs 54.5 billion) revenue from sale of 5 million sq ft it has sold to DAL. DLF on Tuesday clarified to the exchanges that it had been looking at various options from time to time but no definite option had been presented to the board so far for its consideration.
Part of government strategy to push demand.
Developer to bid for work from those who win the final contract.
Companies are either taking small government projects alone or bidding for larger ones with consortium partners. The companies, which had 18-75 per cent of their order books in property development, say they are facing payment delays of 20-90 days from some of the private developers, blocking their working capital requirements. Some of them take a week's advance payment from developers to execute their projects.
After the rechristening of Telco to Tata Motors in 2003, one of the auto-maker's earliest decision was to settle its high-cost debts of around Rs 500 crore with the proceeds from foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The company had raised $100 million and repaid the debt.
Reliance Retail has added 485 stores in the last one year, taking the total count to 950 and the footprint is now spread across 77 cities (58 in the last one year) across India. While his critics say Ambani may have lost the plot as the progress of his retail plans are nowhere near what he had sought to achieve, others feel the Reliance chief is just being pragmatic given the not-so-conducive environment for expansion in retail.
After a lacklustre winter season sale, apparel retailers are now planning to cut their summer purchases by as much as 20 per cent to save holding cost and reduce pressure on working capital.
A company executive said that the Anil Ambani group is still keen on foraying into television broadcasting business. The top-line of broadcasters was shrinking in the December-ended quarter on the back of economic slowdown and the consequent slowdown in advertising revenues, said the latest Ficci & KPMG report.
According to sources in the Future Group, it plans to tie up with international retailers in different segments. "We can certainly look at bringing in foreign capital to our subsidiaries now," said a group official, who did not wish to be quoted. Under the new guidelines, downstream investments by an Indian company that has foreign investment but is owned and controlled by Indians will not be considered as FDI.
Though end-of-season sale is common in the first week of February, what is interesting this time around is the quantum and timing of the offers. Retailers are giving away 20-25 per cent additional discounts, compared to the last year. Also, they began giving discounts at least three weeks before the ususal timing.
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.
Less than half-a-dozen people have evinced interest in buying the eight apartments owned by the late Harshad Mehta and his family, partly due to a last-minute case filed by the stockbroker's mother, Rasila S Mehta.
Chevron CEO David O'Reilly told analysts the company has pulled out of some unprofitable refining markets, and will continue to do so. However, he had said that Chevron is continuing talks with its refining joint venture partner RIL that would determine whether it keeps a foothold in Indian refining. Chevron has not yet signed a crude supply and product off-take agreement with RIL to take forward its plans to increase its stake in RPL beyond the existing 5 per cent.
Jaybharat Textiles & Real Estate, a textile company that forayed into real estate three years back, today has a market capitalisation higher than Grasim Industries or Tata Motors.