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.