Glenmark settles patent suit for skin lotion with US firm

    Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it's subsidiary Glenmark Generics has entered into a settlement and licence agreement with US-based Nycomed to resolve patent infringement lawsuit for fluticasone propionate lotion, used for treating skin pain and itch.
    "Glenmark Generics Ltd has entered into a settlement and and license agreement with Nycomed US to resolve the patent infringement suit regarding Glenmark's abbreviated new drug application for Fluticasone Propionate 0.05 lotion," Glenmark said in a filing to the Bombay stock Exchange.
Fluticasone propionate 0.05% lotion by Glenmark is generic version of Nycomed's 'Cultivate' lotion."Under the terms of agreement, Glenmark will be able to market and distribute it's Fluticasone Propionate lotion under a royalty-bearing license from Nycomed US in March 2012, or earlier in certain circumstances," it added.

Union Bank of India Q4 net at Rs 597 cr

    State-owned Union Bank of India has reported Q4 net profit of Rs 597 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2011 as against Rs 594 crore in same quarter the previous year.Net interest income increased 22.9% to Rs 1,716 crore from Rs 1,396 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Net interest margins stood at 3.44%.Gross non-performing assets (NPA) declined at 2.37% as against 2.68% on quarter-on-quarter basis.

Cipla net profit dips 22%

    Pharmaceutical company Cipla reported a 22 per cent dip in net profit to Rs 214 crore in the fourth quarter of financial year 2010-11 compared to Rs 275 crore in the same period last year. Net sales went up by 23 per cent to Rs 1,627 crore against Rs 1,329 crore on an year-on-year (y-o-y) basis.    Domestic sales grew by 15 per cent and exports by more than 28 per cent. Net profit for the year ended March 2011, went down by 10 per cent to Rs 967.12 crore, compared to Rs 1,081.49 crore in the last year.
    For the year ended March 2011, net sales stood at Rs 6,172.55 crore, compared to Rs 5,411.68 crore in the previous year, growth of 14 per cent.

Cairn Energy to sell 40% stake in India arm to Vedanta

    Cairn Energy Plc on Thursday said it would sell 40 per cent stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources for Rs 30,811 crore, leading to a transfer of majority stake to the Anil Agarwal-promoted company. If the government clears the deal, Vedanta will have a 58.5 per cent stake in Cairn India. However, Cairn Plc will continue to retain a significant stake of 21.7 per cent in its Indian subsidiary, said a company announcement.

    Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Resources company has already acquired 18.5 per cent stake in Cairn India — 10.4 per cent — in a block deal from Petronas (at Rs 331 per share) and 8.1 per cent through the open offer (at Rs 355 per share) that ended on April 30. Vedanta paid Rs 6,547 crore to Petronas and spent Rs 5,502 crore in the open offer. Vedanta will pay another Rs 30,811 crore to Cairn Energy for a 40 per cent stake.
   

Muthoot Finance debuts with 12% premium on NSE

      Muthoot Finance, a non-banking finance company, engaged in the gold loan business, made a strong debut on the NSE today, opening with a premium of over 12% vis-a-vis its issue price of Rs 175.Shares of the company debuted at Rs 196.60 apiece, up 12.34% from their issue price on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Within minutes of trade, the scrip saw some profit booking and was trading at Rs 177.15.On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the scrip debuted at Rs 180 a piece over the issue price, reflecting a jump of 2.85%.In terms of volume, over two crore shares of the company changed hands on the bourses within first one hour of trade.

     Muthoot Finance had entered the capital market with a price band of Rs 160-175 a share under its IPO of 5.15 crore equity shares.The company raised Rs 901.25 crore through the issue of 5.15 crore equity shares, which will be mainly used to augment its capital base for meeting future capital needs, to fund of loans and for general corporate purposes.

NSE, BSE extend trading for gold ETF on Akshaya Tritiya

    The NSE and BSE will conduct trading in Gold ETF till 9 pm in Gold ETF on Akshaya Tritiya, considered an auspicious day for buying the yellow metal.Seeking to cash in on the investor demand for gold on the festive day, the country's top bourses said they have jointly decided to conduct extended live trading session on Friday — on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya — for trading in gold exchange traded fund (Gold ETF) securities.

The trading will begin at 9 am, as on other days.Trading in other segments of the two bourses will start and stop at the usual hours.Akshaya Tritiya is observed on the third day of the Hindi month of Vaishaka and this year it falls on May 6. Last year Akshaya Tritiya had fallen on a Sunday and the exchanges had kept trading open till 5 pm.Trading in gold ETFs allows investors to buy or sell gold in electronic mode and not in the physical form.

The traded value of gold ETFs on NSE surged to Rs 4,074.30 crore in 2010-11, as against Rs 1842.36 crore in the previous year. The traded value on NSE for 2006-07 stood at Rs 13.95 crore, which grew to Rs 478.8 crore in 2007-08 and to Rs 1,172.30 crore in 2008-09.

There was only one asset management company offering gold ETF in 2007, as against about 10 now. These include Axis, Benchmark, UTI, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Kotak, Quantum, Reliance, Religare and SBI mutual funds.

EGoM on fuel to meet on May 11

    The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee-headed Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on fuel would meet on May 11 to review diesel prices and discuss ways to cut the rising losses of oil marketing companies.The meet could lead to a diesel price increase of around Rs 2 per litre, after a gap of nearly 11 months. A Rs 2-3 increase in the price of petrol, which had been freed from government control last June, is also on the cards immediately after polling in the last phase of Assembly elections is completed on May 10.

    The OMCs — Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum — which purchase crude oil at market rates, are required to sell diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at government-subsidised prices, resulting in losses.The companies incur an under-recovery or revenue loss of Rs 8.50 on every litre of petrol, Rs 16.17 on every litre of diesel, Rs 29.69 on every litre of kerosene and Rs 330 for every LPG cylinder.The diesel price has not been raised since June 26 last year. At these rates, the OMCs could end the current financial year with an all-time high loss of Rs 180,000 crore.

    The OMCs incurred a gross under-recovery of over Rs 47,000 crore for the first three quarters of the last financial year. The under-recovery for the last quarter is estimated at about Rs 37,000 crore.These losses are partly compensated through a mix of cash subsidy from the government and discounts from upstream companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India and partly absorbed by the OMCs.

Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills reports 17% drop in its FY11 net profit

    Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills has reported results for the year ended March 31, 2011.The company has registered a drop of 17.07% in its net profit at Rs 44.94 crore whereas the same was at Rs 54.19 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010. Its total income has increased by 21.22% at Rs 792.64 crore for the year under review whereas the same was at Rs 653.91 crore for the previous year.Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills has recommended a dividend of Re 1 per share of Rs10 each for the year ended March 31, 2011.

Shoppers Stop’s subsidiary opens new stores

    Shoppers Stop’s subsidiary company - Crossword Bookstores has opened one “Crossword" store at Central-Bangalore. Further, the company has also opened one franchises store of “Crossword” at Vapi, Gujarat. With the opening of these 2 stores, there are now 73 'Crossword' stores.

    Recently, Crossword Bookstores has opened one “Crossword” store each at Shoppers Stop, Indore and at R Mall, Thane.

Silver falls to one-month low after COMEX margin hike

    Silver prices fell 1% on Thursday to a one-month low, after the CME Group hiked margin requirement on COMEX silver again, while gold held steady.
    Spot gold was little changed at $1,516.29 an ounce by 0042 GMT, after falling for three sessions straight.COMEX gold futures edged up $1.30 to $1,516.60.COMEX silver futures fell 1.2% to a one-month low of $38.91. Spot silver fell by 1% to $38.92.

    The CME Group set successive hikes on COMEX silver futures margin, pushing margin up 84% in just eight days.As COMEX silver tumbled under the weight of surging margins, the iShares Silver Trust , the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, experienced a near 5% fall in its holdings.
    Mexico massively ramped up its gold reserves in the first quarter of this year, buying over $4 billion of bullion as emerging economies move away from the ailing US dollar, which has dipped to 2-1/2-year lows.

Bharti Airtel Q4 net slips 31% at Rs 1,401 cr

    Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile phone carrier, on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected 31.5% fall in quarterly profit, hit by losses at its African operations.

     The company’s net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 has decline by 13.70% at Rs 1837.90 crore as compared to Rs 2129.70 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. Its total income has increased by 10.20% at Rs 9856.60 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 8944.30 crore in the  corresponding previous quarter.

   The company has registered fall of 18.13% in its net profit for the year ended March 31, 2011 at Rs 7716.90 crore as compared to Rs 9426.20 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010. Its total income has increased by 6.80% at Rs 38128.70 crore for the year from Rs 35699.20 crore in previous year.

On consolidated basis, the group’s net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 was down by 31.49% at Rs 1400.70 crore as compared to Rs 2044.40 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. Total income for the quarter has increased by 51.38% at Rs 16304.20 crore as compared to Rs 10770.50 crore for the corresponding previous quarter.

For year ended March 31, 2011 on consolidated basis, the group’s net profit for the year was down by 32.64% at Rs 6046.70 crore as compared to Rs 8976.80 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010. Total income for the year has increased by 42.19% at 59601.80 crore as compared to Rs 41916.90 crore for the previous year.

14% decline in Hero Honda net profit

    Hero Honda Motors has announced the results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2011.The company has posted a net profit of Rs 501.61 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 as compared to Rs 598.81 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, down 16%. Its total income has increased from Rs 4191.81 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 to Rs 5465.27 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

    For the year ended March 31, 2011, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 1927.90 crore as compared to Rs 2231.83 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010, down 14%. Total income of the company has increased from Rs 16096.14 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010 to Rs 19669.29 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011.Meanwhile, the board of directors of the company has recommended a final dividend of 1750% i.e. Rs 35 per equity share of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2010-11.

Jairam Ramesh clears Posco project

    After five long years, India's largest FDI investment has got a nod from the environment ministry on Monday. Environment Minster Jairam Ramesh gave clearance to South Korean steel giant Posco on the steel project in Orissa, although with 60 additional conditions.The conditions include the likes of ensuring tribal rights, compensatory afforestation are few of the 60 conditions laid down. Posco will have to bear the cost of regeneration of degraded forest land.

Glenmark gets final US FDA nod for generic Cutivate lotion

    Glenmark Generics Inc, the US arm of India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, has received final approval from US Foods and Drugs Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Fluticasone Propionate skin lotion.Glenmark’s Fluticasone Propionate is the generic version of US pharmaceutical company Nycomed’s Cutivate lotion.Nycomed had in 2008 filed a patent infringement lawsuit in relation to Glenmark’s ANDA for fluticasone propionate lotion. Glenmark filed a paragraph IV certification that involves a patent challenge with the US drug regulator for its generic version.
    Nycomed’s Cutivate lotion had sales of about USD 48 million in 2010 in the US market.

RBI hikes key rates by 50 bps

    In a bid to clamp down on resurgent inflation, the Reserve Bank of India, in its first monetary policy review of 2012, raised repo and reverse repo rates by 50 basis points,while lowering the economic growth projection to 8% for the current fiscal.The RBI has also increased the saving bank rate by 50 basis points to 4% to give higher returns to depositors in the wake of high inflation.RBI Governor D Subbarao announced these measures as part of annual credit policy to contain inflation, which is hovering around 9%, and sustain economic growth in the medium-term.
    RBI has pegged GDP growth rate for the current fiscal at 8% against the government's projection of 9%. The economy grew by 8.6% in FY11.The reverse repo, the rate at which bank park funds with RBI, has been raised by 50 basis points to 6.25%. CRR remains unchanged at 6%.Savings rate has been increased to 4% from 3.5% for the first time since 2003.Inflation forecast for FY12 has been kept around 6% with an upward bias.Six-months comply to banks over 10% invesment in Mutual Fund liquid funds

ARSS Infra bags Rs 45.54 cr order

    ARSS Infrastructure Projects has received two new work orders from the Executive Engineer (R&B) Division, Bhubaneswar aggregating to Rs 45.54 crore.Recently, the company had bagged new work order from Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC), Bhopal for construction of Road from Damoh - Bhatiagarh - Hirapur on BOT basis. The total length of the road was about 69.60 kms.

Zuari Industries resumes Urea production

    Zuari Industries has resumed the production of Urea which was affected due to the fire at the Zuarinagar’s factory premises. Earlier, Zuari Industries had reported fire incident outside the factory premises near the parking shade of DAP Gate. The cause of the fire was due to rupture of the Naphtha pipeline which supplies naphtha to the company's plant at Zuarinagar. The company’s factory premises caught fire on April 18, 2011 and it had reported an incident of fire on April 19, 2011 due to which the Urea production was stopped.

Bajaj Hindusthan’s Q2 net profit jumps 129%

    Bajaj Hindusthan has announced the financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.The company has reported a jump of 129% in its net profit at Rs 72.82 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 against Rs 31.79 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. The company has reported net sales / income from operations of Rs 1252.49 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 against Rs 567.44 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.The company has reported an EPS of Rs 3.19 for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 as compared to Rs 1.66 for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

Andhra Sugars 60.35% surge in its Q4 net profit

    Andhra Sugars has reported results for the quarter and the year ended March 31, 2011.The company’s net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 has surged by 60.35% at Rs 20.22 crore as compared to Rs 12.61 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. Its net sales / income from operations rose 12.68% at Rs 142.64 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 126.59 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    The company has registered a fall of 47% in its net profit for the year ended March 31, 2011 at Rs 35.38 crore as compared to Rs 66.76 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010. Its sales / income from operations has decreased by 14.79% at Rs 470.03 crore for the year from Rs 551.59 crore in year ago.