Ashok Leyland’s Q3 profits up over four fold

Revenue up 81% at Rs. 181,553 lakhs

 

 

Hinduja Group flagship, Ashok Leyland has reported more than 450% rise in its Net Profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal, at Rs. 10,463.26 lakhs as against Rs. 1,886.82 lakhs for the corresponding period in the last fiscal, making it a ‘turnaround quarter’ for the Company. Sales revenue was also up 81% at Rs. 181,553.44 lakhs (Rs. 100,449.45 lakhs). Sales volume for the quarter showed an increase of 101% at 16,129 numbers (8,011 nos.) and Parts sales rose by 91%.

 

Profit after financial expenses saw a jump to 659% at Rs. 14,069.70 lakhs (Rs. 1,853.48 lakhs).

 

The phenomenal improvement in profitability is to be viewed in the context of a near collapse situation that prevailed during the corresponding period in the previous year.

 

Despite a 220% increase in production volume at 19,411 vehicles (6,060 vehicles), financial expenses at Rs. 1,621.29 (Rs. 3,940.86) have reduced considerably by 59%, thanks to prudent working capital management, shift from credit sale to ‘cash-and-carry’ system and an appreciable reduction in inventories.

 

 

Employee costs showed a rise of 42% to Rs. 17,361.74 lakhs (Rs. 12,252.69 lakhs) owing largely to the fact that in the corresponding period of the previous quarter, the Company had cut working days and employees had taken a voluntary salary cut.   The current year also has the impact of wage settlement at Hosur Units.

 

For the nine months ended December 2009, even with a 10% drop in sales revenue at
Rs. 430,567.03 lakhs (Rs. 476,295.24 lakhs), net profit showed an improvement of 47% at Rs. 20,101.02 lakhs (13,668.13 lakhs). 

 

“This quarter signals the return to normalcy.  The common theme in the results is the improved profitability even though sales volume recovery is not quite complete”, said    Mr R Seshasayee, Managing Director.  “Out of the near-5,100 vehicle orders that we had bagged from various STUs under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the Company has delivered more than 2,000 buses by end-Dec 09. We hope to deliver most of the balance vehicles before March ’10.” he added. 

 

On the prospects for the year, Mr Seshasayee said, “A rebounding economy, anticipated industrial growth and renewed activity in the areas of infrastructure development and construction will help drive demand. The Government’s stimulus package has certainly helped in improving the sentiments. I hope Government will continue the stimulus for the Commercial Vehicle industry until growth momentum take stronger roots”.

GINDALBIE - Sinosteel midwest corporation announce SIGNing of INFRASTRUCTURE-SHARING AGREEMENT

Mid west miners establish innovative collaborative framework agreement 

encompasses accommodation, rail access, water & environmental information  

Two of the Mid West region’s major iron ore developers, Gindalbie Metals Limited (ASX: GBG – “Gindalbie”) and Sinosteel Midwest Corporation, are pleased to announce the signing of a Cooperation Agreement, providing a framework for sharing access to key items of infrastructure and mine services to realise mutual benefits for their neighbouring projects in Western Australia’s emerging iron ore province.

The agreement, between Sinosteel Midwest and Gindalbie’s joint venture company Karara Mining Limited, is designed to enhance project economics and unlock synergies between the Karara Iron Ore Project and Sinosteel Midwest’s nearby Koolanooka/Blue Hills Project.

The agreement includes key items such as spur line rail access, use of on-site accommodation facilities, shared access to the new Karara airstrip, water infrastructure and sharing of environmental data.

The agreement is one of the first of its kind in the Mid West region and sets a benchmark for collaboration between resource groups in the region with strategically located assets and aligned infrastructure development strategies, helping to facilitate the growth of the region as a major new mining hub.

Both groups will gain mutual benefits from the arrangement, which will reduce capital costs and lead to lower operating costs through economies of scale, especially in relation to ore transport.

Avoiding the duplication of infrastructure will also reduce the size of the combined projects’ overall environmental footprint and the level of vegetation clearing required.

Gindalbie, through its 50/50 Joint Venture with the leading Chinese steel company Ansteel, recently commenced construction of the Karara Project, which is located 500km north-east of Perth, and is targeting first production in 2011. Clearing of the Karara concentrator site has been completed, preliminary earthworks for the processing plant are underway and the 300-person Lochada Camp is being commissioned and will be occupied early this month, allowing for the rapid build-up of the Karara workforce.

Sinosteel Midwest Corporation received final approval for its Koolanooka/Blue Hills Project in January 2010 and is targeting the commencement of mining before the end of February at a rate of up to 1.5Mtpa of hematite ore. The Company also has advanced production opportunities for iron ore at its Weld Range, Jack Hills and Robinson Range Projects, also located in the Mid West region.

The agreements are contingent on the successful construction of each of the infrastructure items, and are subject to attaining the necessary government permits and licences. They are also subject to terms and conditions agreed between the two parties.

Gindalbie’s Managing Director, Mr Garret Dixon and Sinosteel Midwest’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Giulio Casello, said the Cooperation Agreement between Karara Mining and Sinosteel Midwest represented a significant achievement for the development of a mining industry in the Mid West region and set a new benchmark for strategic cooperation and infrastructure-sharing between mining companies in Australia.

 

“We are very pleased to have signed this Infrastructure Sharing Agreement between our two organisations, which we believe represents a genuine win-win for both groups given the close proximity of our iron ore operations and the significant synergies that can be realised by taking a sensible and pragmatic view of some of the important new infrastructure that will be developed in the region over the next 12 months,” they said. 

“I look forward to building a mutually beneficial long term relationship with Sinosteel Midwest in the years ahead, and working closely with them as our neighbours to implement the key terms of this agreement,” Mr Dixon added.

“We hope that this agreement will prove to be an example for other companies in the Mid West region – and maybe even other iron ore provinces – as to how effective and constructive infrastructure-sharing arrangements can deliver genuine benefits and help to unlock investment, growth and new opportunities,” Mr Casello concluded.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Says Economic Recovery Linked to Global Stability and Peace

January 31, 2010

In his keynote address to the 10th Annual Herzliya Conference in Tel Aviv, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the world economy was reviving faster than expected, but the recovery was still fragile. “Domestic demand, mostly in advance countries, is still driven by the public sector stimulus. Private demand is still rather weak,” he warned.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn noted the global economy is experiencing a multi-speed recovery with emerging countries, mainly in Asia, having recovered almost fully. He said Asia was leading the way. “It shows the Asian part of the world is now close to total recovery. The question of dealing with different speeds in the economy… is something to which we need to give great attention.”

He also advised countries to be careful how quickly they withdraw stimulus measures used to combat the financial crisis. “If you exit too early, then the risks are much bigger. Private demand must have recovered before the stimulus is withdrawn.”

Mr. Strauss-Kahn stressed that the global crisis had created a problem of fiscal sustainability for many countries that could take decades to fix because of the huge debts built up during the crisis, especially in developed countries. “The fiscal sustainability problem is going to be one of the biggest, maybe the biggest problem for the coming ... several years,” he stated. “But at this stage, what's important is for countries to announce a credible strategy to bring their debt back to more sustainable levels.”

Linkage Between Economic Insecurity and Peace

In this context, Mr. Strauss Kahn pointed to the linkage between global economic recovery and political stability. “History is replete with examples of how economic and financial insecurity stoke social tensions, which in turn can undermine political stability, and even result in war,” he said.

“Getting the economy right—and addressing threats to its stability—can play an essential role in fostering the conditions for peace,” he said.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn noted that the IMF helps strengthen economic security. IMF financing, for example, can help avert economic collapse in times of crisis. It can also allow governments maintain social spending.

He added that the IMF is exploring new ways to help countries suffering from shocks, conflict, or other fragilities. Mr. Strauss-Kahn explained that “this could be used in periods of conflict, instability, or as an immediate response to severe shocks, where the threats to economic security are the greatest.”

Outlook for the Middle East

In discussing the situation in the Middle East, Mr. Strauss-Kahn remarked that “the good news is that the near-term economic outlook is encouraging.” Most economies were not heavily affected by the financial crisis, in part due to a strong policy response. For 2010, growth is forecast to rise modestly, as the global recovery boosts oil prices.

Turning to Israel, he noted that the economy “had weathered the financial crisis exceptionally well—it was amongst the last to be affected, amongst the mildest hit, and one of the earliest to recover.” Timely and appropriately strong macroeconomic policies played an important role, as did the stability of the banking sector and high household saving. This year, the IMF expects growth to continue to rebound strongly, and rise above trend in 2011.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was of the view that “there is still important work to be done in the region to bolster economic and financial stability—and thus to increase the chances of securing lasting peace.” Many regional governments face “enormous economic and social challenges.” Unemployment is very high, especially for those people under 25, and poverty remains a major problem. Over the next two decades, an additional 80-90 million jobs would need to be created for young people entering the labor market.

The IMF has also sought to promote economic cooperation between the Palestinian Authority, the government of Israel, and the international community. “Enhanced cooperation amongst these parties has played a critical role in supporting growth,” he said.

 

 

 

Rural Piped Water Supply – An Emerging Small Scale Service Industry

 

 

To ensure people’s access to safe drinking water free from arsenic, the Government of Bangladesh along with the support of the World Bank, has undertaken the Bangladesh Water Supply Program Project (BWSPP) to expand the provision of drinking water supply services in selected rural villages and small towns. The project aims to contribute to Bangladesh’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Water Supply and Sanitation by 2015 and has introduced innovative service provision measures including piped rural water systems.

Rural piped water scheme is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. The 21 rural piped water schemes involving 18 private sponsors under implementation represent a potential promising service industry. These schemes are implemented through local Public – Private Partnerships i.e. community - private sponsor partnerships to partly finance, implement and/or operate the schemes. The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives is implementing the BWSPP which is funded by the World Bank (IDA Grant of US$ 18.29 million).

The project implementation progress is satisfactory in all three major project components: rural piped water supply, Pourashava water supply and rural non-piped water supply. All the key contracts are in progress and in the remaining months before project closure in April 2010, the focus will be on completing all ongoing contracts. The project is also supporting cyclone reconstruction works and ensuring access to safe water in cyclone affected areas.

The project has demonstrated significant advancement, particularly in rural piped water supply schemes involving partnerships between community and local private sponsors. The innovative approach requires higher investment costs, new institutional management, operations and maintenance frameworks and hence it has to be closely monitored, while technical and business advice and support has to be provided to ensure improvement of future schemes. It is therefore critical that the lessons and experiences from piloting this innovative service provision measures are incorporated into similar initiatives.

Instinet Continues Australian Growth with Procurement of Full ASX Membership

License will allow the global agency-only brokerage to establish institutional sales and trading desk onshore to accompany the firm’s existing clearing business.

SYDNEY – 1 February 2010 – Instinet Incorporated, a global leader in electronic trading and agencyonly brokerage services, today announced the establishment of Instinet Australia Pty. Ltd., a full Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) member. With the membership, which is effective immediately, Instinet is now able to service its domestic Australian clients through a new onshore sales and trading desk, located at 88 Phillip Street in Sydney.

Previously, Instinet was able to trade for domestic Australian institutions through its Hong Kong-based Instinet Pacific Limited subsidiary by virtue of its remote ASX membership. Instinet was the first firm to be granted such a membership when it obtained the license in 2007. Additionally, Instinet has been a member of the ASX Settlement and Transfer Corporation (ASTC) since 2008.

Glenn Lesko, CEO of Instinet in Asia, said the new full ASX license represents a new phase of growth for the company. “Since being granted the first remote participation license in September 2007, we’ve grown to become the 11th largest institutional broker in Australia,” said Lesko. “With our electronic trading tools, sales trading capabilities, and access to global liquidity, we are clearly gaining momentum in Australia, and by coming onshore we have realised the next step in our plans for growth.”

John Fildes, COO of Instinet in Asia, said the onshore licence would give Instinet clients the local

advantages of trading with an Australian-based company. “By coming onshore and being closer to our clients we have realised the next step in our plans for growth here,” added Fildes. “Our Australian equities trading team that has operated out of Hong Kong since 2007 will now move to Sydney, while we expect to add several new traders in the coming months.” On November 30, 2009, Instinet traded 3.7 percent of Australia’s total equities value, and Mr. Lesko expects the growth to continue in 2010.

“The Australian market is becoming increasingly aware of the transparency and cost benefits associated with Instinet’s agency-only model,” he said. “As one of the world’s largest agency brokers, we are perfectly positioned to deliver those benefits to Australian investment firms now that we are fully onshore.” He continued: “2008 and 2009 brought the issues of cost and transparency into sharp focus in Australia.

As the market changes again in 2010, particularly with the predicted opening up of the market to competitive trading venues, these issues will be more important than ever since funds now realise that every basis point saved has a direct impact on the return to its members. Instinet’s ability to reduce these costs has been the central tenet of our business throughout our 40-year history.” 

About Instinet
Instinet is an electronic trading pioneer, having established the world’s first major electronic trading venue in 1969, one of the first recognized U.S. ECNs in 1997 and the first pan-European MTF in 2007. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, Instinet operates two distinct business lines: a global network of agency-only brokers that seek to help institutions lower overall trading costs and improve investment performance through the use of innovative electronic trading products, including smart-routing, algorithms, DMA, dark pools and EMS platforms, and also provide sales trading, commission management services and independent research; and the Chi-X® Global business, which aims to improve the efficiency of capital markets globally by providing high-performance, low-cost alternative execution venues and the technology required to power them. Instinet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc.

 

Anchor Resources Limited (ASX Code: AHR) is pleased to provide its December quarterly activities report. The highlights are as follows:

 

Exploration

*             Resource update at Wild Cattle Creek antimony project (NSW)

*             880,000t at 2.0% Sb containing 17,500t of Sb metal (0.5% cutoff)

*             Resource expansion drilling to commence February

*             High grade rockchip results obtained from along strike reconnaissance

*             High grade rockchips also at Greenvale East project (Qld)

 

Corporate

*             Non-renounceable rights offer closed oversubscribed

*             Over $1 million raised

*             As at 31 December, Anchor held $1.34 million in cash and equivalents

 

Managing Director, Trevor Woolfe, commented that “We were delighted with the strong response to our recent 1 for 5 rights issue. Funds raised will be directed to drilling at the Wild Cattle Creek antimony project, which is set to re-commence in late February with a drill contractor now confirmed. Rockchip sampling has highlighted the potential for further antimony-gold-tungsten rich target zones to the east of the defined resource.”

Rebuilding the Global Economy on a Principled Foundation

• At the 40th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010, participants found that the global recovery is fragile, and now is the moment to rethink values as the world rebuilds prosperity
• All countries in the G20 and beyond should find new pathways to sustainable growth and job creation
• Concretely, Bill and Melinda Gates, Co-Chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a founding partner of the GAVI Alliance, pledged US$ 10 billion to vaccinate over 8 million children in the next decade
• Former US President William J. Clinton announced a joint initiative between the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and the UN to support Haiti’s long-term reconstruction
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, Mexican President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all set forth agendas for global engagement to prevent future crises and to promote sustainability and principled growth
•   

Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 31 January 2010 − At the conclusion of the 40th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, participants pledged to rethink, rebuild and redesign the global economy based on sustainable principles. The sense of the Meeting, echoed by Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the US National Economic Council (NEC), was that the world was experiencing “a statistical recovery and a human recession.” “We are not out of the woods yet,” said Michael Oreskes, Senior Managing Editor of the Associated Press. “The recovery is still very fragile in many developed economies.” Principled leadership is key to stabilization.

“At the end, it’s an interdependent system,” said Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum; and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010. “If you lose the support of society, you are not going to achieve your corporate objectives.”

Job creation is critical to sustainable recovery. There is a role for all to play in job creation, underscored Patricia A. Woertz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010. “And retaining jobs is as important as creating new ones.” The recession also demonstrated that the world must hear better the voices outside of the G8. “The self-confidence of emerging nations is completely different,” said Azim H. Premji, Chairman of Wipro, and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010. He warned that in India and China “if services are put under severe, unreasonable restrictions, you will get tariffs overnight.”

“If you have lost the trust of societies, you cannot just respond technically, you have to respond morally,” said Ackermann. Rowan D. Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, United Kingdom, urged participants to take collective responsibility for the future by being individually responsible now. Living responsibly in the present means living within ecological limits to ensure the security of work and food. "Responsibility for the future means being responsible for a vision of humanity which excites and enlarges us," he added.