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BoI Q1 net up 78% at Rs 561.95 cr

Mumbai, July 28: Public sector Bank of India on Monday announced a net profit of Rs 561.95 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, a 78.28 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year ago.

The firm had a net profit of Rs 315.20 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, Bank of India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The total income rose to Rs 4,114.74 crore in the June quarter, from Rs 3,108.41 crore in the same period a year ago.

Shares of the bank were trading at Rs 293.65, up 3.11 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE.

Dena Bank Q1 net up 22%

Public sector lender Dena Bank on Monday announced a net profit of Rs 68.3 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, a 22.28 per cent increase from that in the corresponding period a year-ago.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 55.58 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, Dena Bank said in a filing to the National Stock Exchange.

The bank's interest income rose to Rs 767.46 crore in the June quarter from Rs 627.25 crore in the same period last year.

Shares of Dena Bank closed at Rs 47.65, up 0.32 per cent on the BSE.

US blames India, China for putting WTO talks in jeopardy

Geneva, July 28: The US on Monday blamed India and China for creating hurdles in the ongoing WTO talks here and said Doha trade talks have been thrown into the "gravest jeopardy" by these two countries which are not willing to open their markets for more imports.

"Their (India's and China's) actions have thrown the entire Doha Round -- the Doha Development Round - into the gravest jeopardy in its nearly seven-year life," a US trade official told ministers at ongoing WTO meeting.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab too voiced her frustration against the stand taken by developing economies in the talks. She left the WTO headquarters after a meeting last night.

"Unfortunately a few emerging markets have decided that somehow they want to re-balance it in favour of one or another issue," she said while indicating her unhappiness against India and China.

She said while the negotiators at the talks have a tentative agreement on a path forward "I think the biggest concern we have is that a handful of large emerging markets threaten this round for the rest of us and for the other developing countries who are so critically dependant on a successful development outcome of this development round".

Kinetic may not sell stake, may forge alliance with M&M

Mumbai, July 28: Pune-based two-wheeler maker Kinetic Motor may not sell stake to Mahindra and Mahindra at all, and may instead go in for an alliance to cash in on the auto major's huge network and expertise.

"The Kinetic Motor Board will meet on Wednesday and there the matter will come up for discussion. The company may not at all sell any stake to M&M, but forge an alliance with them," sources close to the development said.

Talks between Mahindra & Mahindra and Kinetic Motor have been going on for quite some time now and the Mumbai-based auto major was reportedly carrying out due diligence to acquire the two-wheeler maker.

For Mahindra & Mahindra, the acquisition would have paved the way for entering into the two-wheeler business, the area it has been looking at for some time now.

Putting up a greenfield project is much more expensive and time-consuming than acquiring a ready-made firm like Kinetic Motor since it has been in business for over three decades. Besides, Kinetic offers a full product portfolio ranging from mopeds to scooters to motorcycles, sources said.

Kinetic Motor, however, was incurring losses for some years now. The company had recorded a net loss of Rs 18 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008, slightly below from the third quarter of the previous fiscal when it had posted Rs 19.75-crore net loss.

Kinetic Motor's promoters, the Firodia family, owns 54.83 per cent in the company. The firm needs funds to revamp its operations and it was looking for raising anything between USD 100-125 million.

GlaxoSmithKline Q2 net at Rs 115 cr
28 Jul, 2008, 1556 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals on Monday posted a net profit of Rs 114.86 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, where as the same was at Rs 96.43 crore a year ago.

Total Income of the company stood at Rs 442.80 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, while it stood at Rs 415.10 crore in the previous year, GlaxoSmithKline said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The figures for the current period are not comparable with those of the previous period in view of sale of the fine chemicals business on September 30, 2007, GlaxoSmithKline added.

The growth in net sales excluding the fine chemicals business was 11.2 per cent during the quarter ended June 30, this year. Growth in gross sales during the June quarter this year was impacted due to lower selling prices as a result of the excise benefit passed on to the consumer, the company said.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 1,125, up 2.68 per cent in afternoon trade on BSE.

WTO talks collapse

Geneva, July 29: A high-level summit to salvage a global trade pact collapsed after the United States, China and India failed to compromise on farm import rules, trade officials said Tuesday.

Trade officials from two developed and one emerging country told a news agency that a meeting of seven commercial powers broke up without agreement at the World Trade Organization on Tuesday.

The officials, who asked not to be named because the news was soon to be announced to a larger meeting of countries, said a US dispute with China and India over farm import safeguards had effectively ended any hope of a breakthrough.

Two officials said WTO chief Pascal Lamy had informed ministers that convergence could not be reached after nine days of talks.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab appeared downcast as she began to brief reporters. She said negotiators were "so close on Friday," but then stopped speaking. Asked if the round was over, she said: "I didn't say that" and walked away.

Negotiators were hoping for a deal this week on farm and industrial trade, so that crisis-ridden WTO talks could be saved. They were launched in 2001, but have repeatedly stalled amid deep divisions between rich and poor nations.

Some officials had described this meeting at the WTO's Geneva headquarters as a last chance for the so-called Doha trade round, noting that US and other national elections would make negotiations difficult over the next couple of years.

A number of trade officials described the debate pitting the United States against China and India as one of principle — and not just hard economics. Others blamed a lack of courage for the standoff.

"It is a jump in the dark," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said before final efforts Tuesday. "You can't calculate until the very last situation all the hypotheses. If you do that (the round) will never finish. It will take two years, three years. It will probably be for a new generation."

The issue concerned a "special safeguard" developing countries led by China and India have demanded to deal with a sudden surge of imports or drop in prices.

While farm import safeguards currently exist in rich and poor countries, they are rarely used. The dispute over the current proposals concerns the threshold for when developing nations could sharply raise their tariffs, and how high those taxes could rise.

The United States had accused the two emerging powers of insisting on allowances to raise farm tariffs above even their current levels. That violates the spirit of the trade round, the US and other agricultural exporters argued, because it is supposed to help poorer countries develop their economies by boosting their exports of farm produce.

Hero Honda Q1 PAT jumps 44%

New Delhi, July 29: Country's largest two wheeler maker Hero Honda today reported a 43.74 % rise in its profit after tax for the quarter ended June 30 at Rs 272.87 crore as against Rs 189.84 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income has also increased by 16.22 % to Rs 2,890.25 crore compared to Rs 2,486.90 crore for the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement.

Hero Honda's cumulative sales for the first quarter this fiscal stood at 8,94,244 units, a growth of 11.38 % over the same period last year.

It had sold 8,02,853 units of two-wheelers in Q1 in the last financial year, the statement said.

Syndicate Bank Q1 net drops 60.18%

Bangalore, July 29: Syndicate Bank on Tuesday reported a 60.18 % dip in its net profit at Rs 87.89 crore for April-June quarter, against Rs 221.03 crore in the corresponding period last year due to higher provision of Rs 261 crore for depreciation on investments.

Operating profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, stood at Rs 293.76 crore, a 6.6 % decline over Rs 314.52 crore reported in the same period last year, the bank's Executive Director George Joseph told reporters here.

"Profit is subdued", he said. Joseph said net interest margin had come down to 2.26 per cent in the quarter compared to 2.76 % in the April-June period of 2007. Net interest income was at Rs 503 crore as against Rs 547 crore for the quarter last year.

The total income of the bank in the first quarter increased to Rs 2,279 crore from Rs 1,999 crore, up 13.98 per cent.

The global business of the bank as on June 30 this year grew by 17.5 % and stood at Rs 1,55,722 crore, against Rs 1,32,526 crore on the same day last year.

Deposits went up by up 13.65 %, from Rs 80,682 crore to Rs 91,698 crore and global gross advances from Rs 51,844 crore to Rs 64,024 crore.

Joseph said the bank has put on hold its capital-raising plans till there is improvement in the market situation.

On RBI hiking key rates today, he said Syndicate Bank was looking at what peer banks would do now. "Rate hike is warranted. There is impact on our bottom-line. There is need to hike rates."

NTPC Q1 net dips 27% at Rs 1,726.53 cr

Mumbai, July 29: State run National Thermal Power Corp on Tuesday announced a net profit of Rs 1,726.53 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008, a 27.15 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year-ago.

NTPC had a net profit of Rs 2,369.93 crore in the Q1 of FY 2007-08, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The total income rose 6 per cent to Rs 10,256.70 crore in Q1 of FY'09, from Rs 9,687.84 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

The net sales rose 6.35 per cent to Rs 9,539.47 crore in the June quarter, from Rs 8,969.70 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Shares of NTPC closed at Rs 178.45, down 3.44 per cent on the BSE.

GAIL India Q1 net up 31 pc

New Delhi, July 29: State gas utility GAIL India on Tuesday reported a 31 percent jump in net profit to Rs 897 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, despite 74 percent rise in its subsidy outgo.

The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 685 crore in the April-June quarter of last fiscal, a GAIL India press release said here. It shelled out Rs 475 crore towards subsidising domestic LPG and PDS kerosene during the quarter. This included Rs 87 crore towards subsidies for fourth quarter of 2007-08 fiscal.

In April-June period of last fiscal, the company had paid Rs 272 crore in subsidies.

GAIL's turnover rose 35 per cent to Rs 5,731 crore in Q1 this year as against Rs 4,246 crore in same period last year.

Profit before tax was up 40 percent to Rs 1,352 crore.

GMR Infra Q1 PAT up 10% at Rs 42 cr

Mumbai, July 30: Realty firm GMR Infrastructure Wednesday announced a 9.71 percent decline in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 41.90 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, over the corresponding period a year ago.

The company had a PAT of Rs 46.41 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, GMR Infrastructure said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Bangalore-based company's consolidated income rose to Rs 892.33 crore in the June quarter, from Rs 483.14 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, GMR Infrastructure reported a first quarter net profit of Rs 41.89 crore, a 57-fold jump in the corresponding period a year ago. The company had a net profit of Rs 0.73 crore in the first quarter of FY'08.

Total income rose to Rs 55.87 crore in the June quarter, from Rs 7.07 crore in Q1 FY'08.

Shares of GMR Infra were trading at Rs 86.65, up 2.06 percent in the early morning trade on the BSE.