01 August 2009;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, today reported a 33.36 per cent jump in sales at 78,074 units in July. It had sold 58,543 vehicles in the same month last year. Sales in the domestic market grew by 27.63 per cent to 67,528 units in July from 52,911 units in the same month last year. Exports rose by 87.25 per cent to 10,546 units compared to 5,632 units in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. During the month the company crossed the 50,000 units export mark for its A-Star which was introduced internationally in January this year, it added. Sales of the company's oldest and once bread-and-butter model M800 declined by 43.55 per cent at 2,796 units compared to 4,953 units last year, while A2 segment (comprising Alto, Wagon R, Zen Estillo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz) witnessed a growth of 38.28 per cent at 48,115 units compared to 34,795 units in the same month last year. Sales in the A3 segment (consisting of SX4 and DZiRE) increased by 51.47 per cent to 9,101 units compared to 6,009 units in the corresponding period last year, the company said. MSI's passenger car sales rose by 29.43 per cent at 67,314 units against 52,010 units in the same month in 2008, the statement said.
31 July 2009;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: India's crude production will rise by a quarter in phases starting next month when Scottish explorer Cairn Plc's Indian arm, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, begins pumping from the Mangla field of its Rajasthan acreage. At an optimum production level, the acreage is estimated to reduce India's oil import bill by $6.8 billion, or 7%. "We are operationally ready to commence oil production in August," Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir said. In its various filings to the government, Cairn has indicated that production will quickly touch 30,000 bpd (barrels per day) by the end of third quarter this year and reach a plateau of 175,000 bpd (8.75 million tonnes a year) in 2011. Goldman Sachs, however, has pegged the peak output at 190,000 bpd (9.5 million tonnes a year). The Rajasthan acreage, where flagship explorer ONGC holds 30%, will be the biggest oilfield to come on stream since the state-run company's Gandhar fields started pumping over two decades ago. Dhir said pricing negotiations for selling the initial output had been concluded at a 10-15% discount to Brent with refiner-marketer IndianOil Corporation and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, ONGC's refining subsidiary. A Cairn statement said the government has approved the revised plan to bring the Mangla field into production, including the laying of a heated pipeline to carry crude to the Gujarat coast for onward shipment and higher capacity of 205,000 bpd for cleaning up the oil before putting into pipeline. The first plant for cleaning 30,000 bpd is ready and the second unit will be ready by the fourth quarter of 2009. The third unit of 50,000 bpd capacity will follow the second unit, work on which is progressing on schedule to meet the Mangla plateau production of 125,000 bpd by the first half of 2010.
30 July 2009;economictimes.indiatimes.com:MUNICH: BMW is pulling out of Formula One at the end of this season, the second car maker to leave the series within a year as severe global
economic downturn hits new car sales and forces manufacturers to cut costs. The company announced the decision at a news conference Wednesday, saying it wanted to use the significant F1 budget in other areas. It will remain involved in other forms of motor sport. “Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer said at the news conference. He said the Munich-based car maker would use the resources previously spent on the F1 team to advance “sustainability and environmental compatibility.”
Since entering F1 as a team by taking over the Sauber team ahead of the 2006 season — it had previously acted as an engine supplier — BMW had posted just one race win, at last year’s Canadian Grand Prix. Touted as a championship contender for the 2009 season, BMW had been very disappointing, lagging well off the pace of the leading teams.
Klaus Draeger, the board member responsible for development, said the team was “unable to meet expectations in the current season.”
The decision came before the signing of the new Concorde Agreement, the document that governs the sport, expected this week. BMW’s withdrawal followed that of Honda ahead of the 2009 season, illustrating the growing pressure upon car makers to cut costs amid the economic downturn.
Their withdrawal lent credence to efforts by the FIA to significantly reduce F1 costs in order to retain existing teams and attract new entrants. The FIA, motor racing’s world governing body, said it hoped BMW was the last manufacturer to leave the series.
“The FIA regrets the announcement of BMW’s intended withdrawal from Formula One, but is not surprised by it,” it said in a statement. “It has been clear for some time that motor sport cannot ignore the world economic crisis. Car manufacturers cannot be expected to continue to pour large sums of money into Formula One when their survival depends on redundancies, plant closures and the support of the taxpayer. This is why the FIA prepared regulations to reduce costs drastically.”
30 July 2009;business-standard.com:New Delhi: combination of lower raw material costs and record sales helped the country’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles, Hero Honda, to post a 83 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 500.1 crore for the first quarter ending June. The net profit for the April–June period of last year stood at Rs 272.9 crore. Net sales for the three-month period was Rs 3,811 crore, a 34 per cent rise against the Rs 2,843.5 crore earned for the same quarter last year.“Factoring the company’s spending on the IPL and the T20 (cricket) series, the net profit posted has surpassed expectation,” says Deepak Jain, Analyst at Edelweiss Securities. At the Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, deprciation and amortisation) level, gross profit surged by about 97 per cent to Rs 604.5 crore.
Oil extends losses on surprise rise in US crude stocks
30 July 2009;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:SINGAPORE: Oil prices extended their losses in Asian trade today amid renewed worries about energy demand in the United States where data showed an
unexpected jump in national crude reserves, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery fell 29 cents to $63.06 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for September delivery was off eight cents to $66.45 a barrel.
Both contracts had closed weaker yesterday after the weekly energy reserves report from the US Department of Energy (DoE) surprised market watchers who predicted a drawdown in crude reserves.
Investor sentiment continued to remain under pressure from the DoE figures released yesterday, analysts said.
"Inventories are extremely high, demand is weak and we are still in a recession," said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citi Futures Perspective in New York.
"Why would you want to buy a commodity that is this abundant?" he said.
The DoE said US crude oil inventories surged 5.1 million barrels in the week ended July 24.
Most analysts had expected a decline of 1.2 million barrels and the huge increase highlighted surprisingly weak demand in the recession-mired US, the world's largest energy user.
Underscoring the weakness of US demand, the DoE said that consumption fell 4.1 per cent over the past four weeks compared with the same period in 2008.
