BPCL, HPCL, IOC gain on Rs 3000 crore compensation
01 Nov 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: Shares of oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil Corporation were in action on reports that the government has agreed to give additional Rs 3000 crore as subsidy to compensate for losses they incurred on the sale of fuel during the first half of the current fiscal. At 10:20 am; BPCL was at Rs 745.50, up Rs 15.30 or 2.10 per cent. The scrip touched a high of Rs 748.50 and low of Rs 734 in trade so far. Around 23,000 shares were traded in the counter on the BSE. Shares of HPCL moved 2.43 per cent higher to Rs 498.65. The scrip touched intraday high of Rs 499 and low of Rs 491. Around 23,000 shares were traded in the counter on the BSE. IOC advanced 1.92 per cent higher to Rs 426.60, up 1.92 per cent on the BSE. The stock gyrated between high of Rs 427.50 and low of Rs 420 in trade so far. Over 11000 shares were traded in the counter.
Qatar diverts additional LNG to China, India -minister
01 Nov 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:SINGAPORE: Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, will send an additional 7 million tonnes of LNG annually to China and another 5 million to India, the country's oil minister said on Monday. "We are starting to divert cargoes to Asia, to China 7 million tonnes and 5 million to India," Qatar Oil Minister Abdulla Al-Attiyah said on the sidelines of the Singapore Energy Summit on Monday. The original planned exports of liquefied natural gas to China had been just 5 million tonnes and 7.5 million tonnes to India, the minister said. "Today LNG and the whole of natural gas has some challenges," Attiyah said. "It's a tough market now". With shale gas becoming a challenge in the United States, Qatar was in talks with additional customers across North and South America, as well as nearer home in the Middle East, he added. "We are discussing with other potential consumers in the Gulf, Canada, Argentina and Chile," he added.
31 Oct 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India today reported a 4.95 per cent rise in its second-quarter net profit at Rs 598.2 crore, compared to Rs 570 crore a year earlier, on the back of record auto sales. The country’s largest car manufacturer, however, admitted profit margins were under pressure during the three months to September due to increase in commodity prices, higher royalty payments and currency volatility. Maruti Suzuki India’s Managing Director and CEO, Shinzo Nakanishi, said, “In the second quarter, our sales grew 32.93 per cent in the domestic market, due to the successful launch of new as well as refreshed models. The momentum should continue in the second half, but last year’s base effect should be kept in mind.” Between July and September, the company launched the 1,000cc version of its best-selling car, Alto. It also introduced factory-fitted CNG variants of Alto, Estilo, WagonR, Eeco and SX4, along with an automatic version of A-Star. It sold 27.4 per cent more vehicles at 313,654 units, compared to 283,324 units last year. Total income from operations rose 26.98 per cent to Rs 9,147.27 crore from Rs 7,203.84 crore. However, Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins fell to 10.7 per cent from 13 per cent. “In the second quarter, steel prices went up by 10 per cent. Besides, royalty payments increased to 5.3 per cent of net sales, compared to 3.7 per cent in the corresponding quarter last financial year, due to the appreciating yen. This had an impact on our margins,” said Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth. It doled out Rs 471.6 crore for royalty payments to the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, compared to Rs 257.9 crore last year. The cost of consumption of raw materials and components went up to Rs 6,938.88 crore from Rs 5,254.89 crore. On the exports front, the company will continue to focus on non-European markets. “Markets in Europe continue to be dull, with the scrappage scheme coming to an end. We will focus on non-European markets to match our last year’s export levels. Sixty per cent of our total exports came from these markets, compared with 20 per cent last year,” Nakanishi said. In 2009-10, it exported 140,000 units. The company has no plan to raise prices to meet the increase in commodity prices. “We are working on absorbing the rise in input costs internally by improving efficiency. There are no plans to hike prices as of now,” said Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer (marketing and sales).
Suzuki, VW likely to fix India plans by early 2011: Maruti
30 Oct 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: Speaking to analysts in a conference call, Suzuki's subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)'s Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said both the companies are currently discussing various options. "Some time end of this year or beginning of next year, they (Suzuki and Volkswagen) may announce some projects," he said when asked about the progress of the talks between the two global car majors on any India-specific project. He, however, said nothing can be predicted till the negotiations are complete. "We have got no definite information so far," he added. Volkswagen (VW) had last year picked up 19.9 per cent stake in Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) for $2.5 billion, following which the partners have been exploring possibilities of joint production and vehicle design. Early this month, Volkswagen AG Chairman Martin Winterkorn had said that the German firm is likely to finalise a decision by the first half of 2011 on the development of an India-specific small car with the Japanese firm. "Small car, specifically for India, is one of the areas that we are discussing with Suzuki... This decision for India will probably be taken by spring 2011," he had said. Besides, another discussion point between SMC and VW is about bringing in advanced diesel technology into India from the German carmaker's portfolio as MSI lacks in that front. Winterkorn had said that VW and SMC are talking to share technologies to develop diesel engines, which in future may come to the Indian market also. When asked whether MSI has any plans to introduce more diesel variants in addition to the 1.3 litre one, Nakanishi said: "We do not have plans to introduce other types of diesel engines. Right now, we do not have other source of diesel engines." MSI offers diesel variants in hatchbacks Swift and Ritz and in entry-level sedan DZiRE. About 70 per cent of the total Swift and DZiRE sales come from diesel variants, while 55 per cent of Ritz are sold in the diesel option. Earlier in May this year, top officials of MSI and VW India met to explore synergies in joint production, including contract manufacturing, and vehicle design. While SMC is keen to get VW's technology, the German firm is interested in MSI's expertise in high volume production at a very competitive cost and efficiency. A new entrant in India, VW is yet to gain firm ground. In contrast, MSI is the largest brand with just less than 50 per cent share in the 15 lakh units Indian car market.
30 Oct 2010;deccanherald.com:Kochi: Tata Motors is taking a minor price increase on the Tata Nano, effective from Nov 1 this year to partially neutralise the steep increase in input costs in the last two years. The average increase is about Rs 9000/ (ex-showrooms), with prices varying from city to city and model to model, a Tata Motors press release here said. As of now, Tata Motors has announced open sales of the Tata Nano in the states of Kerala (since August this year) and Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (since October). The company has tied up with 39 Banks, NBFC, Cooperative and Gramin Banks to offer customers with loans for purchasing the Tata Nano at attractive rates of interest. More such arrangements are in process. As a result of these tie-ups, the Tata Nano can be owned at an EMI of less than Rs. 3000
30 Oct 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:LOS ANGELES: Japan's top world automaker Toyota secretly bought back some of the faulty vehicles it sold on the market in a bid to hide their defects from the public, the lawyers of clients suing the automaker said Friday. One complaint filed in California and obtained by AFP said that, contrary to the company's statements, Toyota technicians have replicated the sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) problem that led to the recall of millions of its vehicles months ago. "Upon the technicians replicating a SUA event, Toyota decided it was in the customer's 'interest' for Toyota to buy back the vehicle, meaning in reality that Toyota decided to remove this vehicle from the market since it was experiencing SUA incidents that could not be blamed on the driver," said the complaint. "And, to further conceal the defect, Toyota required as a condition of the vehicle repurchase that the owner sign a confidentiality agreement and agree not to sue," it added. The complaint said Toyota deliberately withheld the information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and from its testimony at congressional hearings. "The deeper we dig into the facts that surround Toyota, the more damning the evidence that Toyota was aware of the issue, and failed to act responsibly," lawyer Steve Berman said in a statement. "The revelation that they bought up the cars in question and prevented the owners from talking about their experience is curious at best, nefarious at worst," he added. In a separate statement Toyota said it "quickly and thoroughly investigates any customer reports of unintended acceleration in its vehicles," and that its "engineers were unable to duplicate the (SUA) condition." The company in the past has admitted to repurchasing faulty vehicles from clients, but only to carry out what it said were complementary technical analyses. The new complaints filed Wednesday in a federal court of Santa Ana, California, complete the class action lawsuit brought against the company in the United States. At the height of Toyota's crisis in late 2009 and early 2010, the auto giant made a series of mass recalls of around 10 million vehicles worldwide, undermining the company's once stellar reputation. It led to US congressional investigations and a record 16.4 million dollar fine to settle claims it hid accelerator pedal defects blamed for dozens of deaths. Since then Toyota has seen its US market share shrink by 1.4 points to 15.2 percent for the first nine months of this year. On October 21, Toyota announced yet another safety recall of about 1.5 million vehicles worldwide to fix a brake fluid leak that it warned can gradually diminish braking performance.
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