MARUTI Q1 NET PROFIT GROWS 4.4% TO RS 1,556 CRORE
Maruti Suzuki, the country’s top-selling car maker, posted a quarterly profit that missed estimates even though sales grew steadily, as a rise in commodity prices and the impact of a new nationwide sales tax ate into earnings.
The company, majority-owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp , announced on Thursday a profit of Rs 1,556.40 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, up 4.4 per cent from the year-ago quarter.
This was below the Rs 1,701 crore average estimate of analysts.
Maruti, which provides the bulk of Suzuki Motor’s revenues, sold a total of 3,94,571 vehicles during the quarter, up 13.2 per cent from the year-ago period. Total income jumped 17 per cent to Rs 20,460 crore.
Maruti dominates the small car market in India and has been expanding its net by launching more premium vehicles to compete better with newer and planned entrants such as Kia Motors and SAIC Motor Corp. Higher sales of premium models such as the Brezza SUV and Baleno hatchback helped its bottomline in the March quarter.
In the latest quarter, the company absorbed a one-time cost paid to dealers to compensate for the tax loss incurred on vehicles in stock during the transition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), rolled out on July 1. The amount was not disclosed with the quarterly results.
Maruti also said its profit was hit by higher commodity prices and costs from sales promotion and marketing.
The automaker also incurred a deferred tax expense of Rs 185 crore, more than four times the amount it spent last year.
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HCL TECH NET PROFIT GROWS 6.1% TO RS 2,171 CRORE FOR FIRST QUARTER
NEW DELHI: India’s fourth-largest software services exporter HCL Technologies on Thursday reported 6.1 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,171 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2017.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,047 crore in the year-ago period, HCL Technologies said in a BSE filing.
Consolidated revenues grew 7.2 per cent to Rs 12,149 crore in April-June 2017 as against Rs 11,336 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17.
Shares of the company rose by over 3 per cent to Rs 918.90 in early trade on BSE after the results.
In dollar terms, the company’s net profit increased 10.3 per cent to $ 336.7 million in the reported quarter, while revenues grew 11.4 per cent to $ 1.88 billion.
HCL Technologies maintained its revenue growth guidance of between 10.5-12.5 per cent in constant currency terms.
“We continue to propel forward on our Mode 1-2-3 growth strategy, delivering a revenue growth of 2.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 12.2 per cent year-on-year in constant currency terms in Q1 FY2018,” HCL Technologies President and CEO C Vijayakumar said.
This quarter, HCL Technologies also expanded EBIT margins from 20 per cent to 20.1 per cent, through continued superior execution in core business, integration and assimilation of the acquired entities, as well as IP investments, he added.
HCL Technologies CFO Anil Chanana said the share buyback of Rs 3,500 crore was successfully concluded during the quarter.
“…together with the dividend per share of Rs 2 this quarter, is demonstrative of our balanced capital allocation focus,” he added.
HCL Tech reported broad-based growth across all revenue segments with the Americas and Europe growing by 16.9 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, year-on-year.
Financial services grew at 19.2 per cent, manufacturing at 17.1 per cent, lifesciences and healthcare at 10.6 per cent, public services at 6.4 per cent, retail and CPG at 7.1 per cent. However, telecommunications, media, publishing and entertainment posted 2.7 per cent y-o-y decline in constant currency.
For the June quarter, HCL Technologies had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 1,226 crore.
During the quarter, 13 transformational deals were signed across service lines, industry verticals and geographies.
Total headcount stood at 117,781 at the end of June 2017, with a gross addition of 9,462 people.
The attrition for IT services on LTM (last twelve months) basis stood at 16.2 per cent. The company has announced a dividend of Rs 2 per share.
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1.5CR SIP A/CS INFUSE RS 4.9K CR JUST IN JUNE
MUMBAI: In the life cycle of a product, at times it gains so much popularity that the brand name becomes generic. In the past, LIC was synonymous with life insurance, Xerox meant photocopying and people asked for Bisleri when they meant mineral water. The mutual fund industry is witnessing a similar trend — SIP, the acronym for systematic investment plan, is often being identified, even by well-off people, as an asset class rather than being just a route to invest in an assets like equity, debt or gold.
“A few weeks ago in an international flight, a CEO of a manufacturing company told me he doesn’t invest in mutual funds. His banker has advised him to put money in SIPs and he’s happy doing that,” a top official at a mutual fund house told TOI. And this is not a rare case. MF distributors in the field say that they often hear people say, “Humein shares mein paisa dalna hai, SIP mein dalna hai, mutual fund mein dalna hai aur sona bhi kharidna hai (I want to invest in stocks, in SIPs, in mutual funds and I also want to buy gold).”
This journey of SIP from being a totally alien facilitator to a hugely popular investment route has taken about two decades. Latest data show in June 2017 alone 1.5 crore investors brought in nearly Rs 4,900 crore into the MF industry’s fold. In comparison, FIIs have put in Rs 3,600 crore. During these years, from regulators to banks, fund houses to distributors and investors — all have played important roles, fund veterans said.
SIP was introduced in 1996, a couple of years after foreign players were allowed into India’s MF sector. At that time, closed-ended funds were the most popular MF products in which investors came in only during bull rallies. “That was the time when we were searching for some product that could be sold in all markets, and which could also take care of excessive market volatility,” said Suraj Kaeley, group president (sales & marketing), UTIMF. “Then we borrowed the concept from the US’ dollar-cost averaging method and 401K pension investments, and introduced SIP to Indian investors,” Kaeley, considered to be the man who pioneered the concept in India, said.
One of the main reasons for the spread of SIP culture is that the timing of investment through this route matches perfectly with the earning cycles of salaried people. “Salaried people earn on a monthly basis and through the SIP route they invest on a monthly basis. Here, investors’ inflow of funds and outflow for investment is in perfect rhythm,” explained the head of SIPs at a domestic fund house.
Over the years, markets also helped in popularising SIPs. “Soon after the 2008 market crash, a lot of investors stopped their SIPs. But as the market rallied to a new peak in less than three years, they realised their mistake. People remember that lesson and now most investors don’t stop SIP due to market volatility,” the fund house official said. In the last five years, the relatively low returns from gold, real estate and declining rate of interest on FDs also prompted investors to invest in the stock market through the SIP route.
According to industry veterans, it was Franklin Templeton MF that launched SIP in India. It was subsequently picked up by other private fund houses like Birla MF and Kothari Pioneer MF, with more joining in. That was the phase when investors signed 12, 24, 36…post-dated cheques in one go to start an SIP mandate.
The second phase of SIP’s growth began in 2003, when banks — helped by technology innovations in the financial sector — started offering direct debit facility to their customers. A few years later, along with RTGS and NEFT facilities, came SMS and email alerts for investors to track their investments. This made the process of investing through SIP much smoother and safer.
The third phase of growth started in late 2012, when Sebi allowed all fund houses to spend 2 paise on investor education from every Rs 100 invested with them. “Most of that extra money was spent on educating investors about the virtues of long-term investment through the SIP route,” Kaeley said.
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As fund houses picked up pace to educate investors, after some nudging as well as tough words from Sebi, the results were visible in numbers. By the start of fiscal 2015, there were nearly 68 lakh SIPs, which contributed about Rs 1,950 crore to the fund industry. In two years, the corresponding numbers had more than doubled: In March 2017, from about 1.35 crore SIPs, the industry got an inflow of about Rs 4,300 crore. And by June, the total SIP numbers were close to 1.5 crore, which together infused about Rs 4,900 crore into the market. About 85% of this inflow is mandated to go into equity funds, A Balasubramanian, chairman, AMFI, the mutual fund industry trade body, said.
Success stories of investors from across India, who achieved their life’s financial goals by investing through the SIP route, also helped in popularising this concept. Hari Kamat, a financial adviser from Goa, helped a close friend to invest through the SIP route for 11 years. The corpus was used to meet the wedding expenses of the investor’s daughter. Over the years, Ashok Bhatia, a financial adviser from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, has helped several defence personnel to fulfil their life goals by investing through this route.
Such stories of financial planners and advisers, who helped their clients to fulfil their life dreams by investing through the SIP route, also had a strong demonstration effect on people around them, industry veterans said.
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SUGAR PRICES DOWN BY RS 50 PER QUINTAL ON WEAK DEMAND
New Delhi, Jul 27 () Sugar prices drifted lower by Rs 50 per quintal at the wholesale market in the national capital on Thursday following reduced offtake by stockists and bulk consumers amid increased arrivals from mills.
Marketmen said the fall in sweetener prices was due to reduced offtake by bulk consumers and stockists in view of approaching month-end along with increased supplies from mills mainly brought down the sweetener prices.
Sugar ready M-30 and S-30 prices drifted lower by Rs 50 each to end the day at Rs 4,000-4,100 and Rs 3,990-4,090 per quintal.
Likewise, mill delivery M-30 and S-30 prices also settled lower by Rs 20 each to end at Rs 3,660-3,840 and Rs 3,650- 3,830 per quintal.
In the millgate section, sugar Dorala, Dhanora, Sakoti, Khatuli and Chandpur dropped by Rs 30 each to Rs 3,740, Rs 3,720, Rs 3,700, 3,790 and Rs 3,700 per quintal.
Prices of Budhana, Thanabhavan, Ramala, Baghpat and Morna also slipped by Rs 25 each to Rs 3,735, Rs 3,730, Rs 3,675, Rs 3,690 and Rs 3,675 per quintal, respectively.
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SELECT PULSES REMAIN WEAK ON MUTED DEMAND
New Delhi, Jul 27 () The wholesale pulses market remained weak on Thursday as select pulses led by gram and urad drifted further lower by Rs 100 per quintal on lower demand from retailers.
Traders said besides fall in demand from retailers, sufficient stocks position, mainly kept pressure on gram and other pulses prices.
In the national capital, gram, gramdal local and best quality fell further by Rs 100 each to Rs 5,100-5,900, Rs 5,700-6,100 and Rs 6,100-6,200 per quintal, respectively. Kabuli gram small variety followed suit and shed Rs 100 to Rs 9,300-10,500 per quintal.
Urad and its dal chilka local declined by Rs 100 each to Rs 4,250-5,150 and Rs 4,350-4,450 per quintal. Its dal best quality and dhoya followed suit and enquired lower by a similar margin to Rs 4,450-4,950 and Rs 4,850-5,050 per quintal.
In line with overall trend, moth too lost Rs 100 at Rs 3,150-3,550 per quintal.
Following are pulses rates on Thursday (in Rs per quintal):
Urad Rs 4,250-5,150, Urad Chilka (local) Rs 4,350-4,450, Urad best Rs 4,450-4,950, Dhoya Rs 4,850-5,050, Moong Rs 4,600-5,300, Dal Moong Chilka local Rs 5,300-5,500, Moong Dhoya local Rs 5,900-6,400 and best quality Rs 6,400-6,600.
Masoor small Rs 3,650-3,850, bold Rs 3,700-3,950, Dal Masoor local Rs 4,000-4,500, best quality Rs 4,100-4,600, Malka local Rs 4,250-4,450, best Rs 4,350-4,550, Moth Rs 3,150-3,550, Arhar Rs 3,450, Dal Arhar Dara Rs 5,400-7,200.
Gram Rs 5,100-5,900, Gram dal (local) Rs 5,700-6,100, best quality Rs 6,100-6,200, Besan (35 kg), Shakti bhog Rs 2,500, Rajdhani Rs 2,500, Rajma Chitra Rs 7,700-10,000, Kabuli Gram small Rs 9,300-10,500, Dabra Rs 2,700-2,800, Imported Rs 4,700-5,100, Lobia Rs 4,800-5,000, Peas white Rs 2,600-2,625 and green Rs 2,650-2,750.
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ISA TO FLOAT GLOBAL TENDER FOR 5 LAKH SOLAR PUMP SETS
New Delhi, Jul 27 () International Solar Alliance (ISA) said it plans to come out with a global tender this year for price discovery of five lakh solar pump sets.
The ISA is an initiative by India where an alliance of 121 solar resource-rich countries have come together.
“International Solar Alliance is going to make a small global tender for five hundred thousand pump sets. Five Hundred thousand solar pump sets for the farmers in 121 countries means 500 thousand families lives can be changed. The income can go up, employment will come,” ISA interim Director General Upendra Tripathy said here.
The ISA plans to come out with the tender before December 9, 2017, he said.
Tripathy asserted that the tender will not be for purchase but for price discovery.
“We will come out with global tender for price discovery of (solar) pumps….So we are interacting with the manufactures of various countries. We have been in touch with the coutures who want solar pumps. Uganda wants some 30,000 solar pumps. Mauritius wants pumps. So right now we are talking to various countries saying that how many pumps they can actually take during next two years,” Tripathy said.
He was speaking during international conference on solar India organised by Assocham.
“And once you get this aggregated figures of five hundred thousand from our members which are prospecting to be 121 we will go with the global tender,” he added.
Simultaneously, the ISA is now working on the format of the tender with EESL and KPMG, he said.
“So they are the expert people who guide the ISA how to float in…we plan to come out (with tender) and we also presume that the prices will come down by 20 per cent,” he added.
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DR REDDY’S Q1 PAT DIPS TO RS 59.1 CR, DOWN 53 PC
Hyderabad, Jul 27 () Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Limited said its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter ended June 30 was down by 53 per cent to Rs 59.1 crore (as per IFRS), owing to price erosion in the US market and implementation of GST in India.
The city-based drug maker’s PAT was down to 59.1 crore in the quarter ended June 30, as against Rs 126.3 crore in the same quarter last year, it said.
As per Indian accounting standards (Ind AS), the consolidated net profit during the quarter was 66.6 crore as against Rs 153.5 crore during the corresponding quarter last year, a statement from Dr Reddy’s said.
The revenue for the first quarter was up by 3 per cent to Rs 3,316 crore against nearly Rs 3,235 crore during the April-June quarter of FY17.
The company’s co-chairman and CEO, G V Prasad, said the results were below their expectations.
“Our first quarter results of FY18 have been below expectations. While headwinds in the form of price erosion due to the US customer consolidation continue, a lower contribution from new product launches in the US and the GST implementation in India also impacted our performance,” Prasad said.
He, however, said the positive side of the results is they are in their journey of quality maintenance, as several inspections by the US FDA teams have successfully completed.
The company spent Rs 510 crore on research and development during the first quarter.
The sale of generics from North America was down by 4 per cent to Rs 1,495 crore in Q1 of FY18 against Rs 1,552 crore in the same quarter last year.
The sale from Indian market was negatively impacted by 10 per cent to Rs 469 crore against Rs 522 crore in Q1 FY17.
The revenue from pharmaceutical services and active ingredients stood at Rs 465 crore, marginally down by 1 per cent.
As on June 30, 99 generic filings were pending before the US FDA , of which 97 are ANDAs (including 59 Para-IV filings).
The company further said it believes that out of the total Para-IV filings, 26 have “first to file” status.
The shares of Dr Reddy’s were trading at Rs 2,643.85, down 2.46 per cent, on BSE at 1453 hrs. GDK GK.