Micro Technologies - A Multibagger In The Making

Micro Technologies Forays Into The Middle East

Micro Technologies India Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has come with an Understanding with Lazer Technology Solutions granting rights for the distribution of its selected security products in the Middle East and Egypt. It has been observed that there are fluctuations in the exchange rates but these fluctuations would not lay an impact in the net revenue of the Company and on the contrary this arrangement is expected to bring added benefit to the Company even during the current scenario.

Micro Products are already growing rapidly across India. The Company has started up with the distribution in Egypt and has received an overwhelming response in the Middle East. The Company being ranked No 2 in the recently concluded GITEX Technology Week where roughly 3,300 exhibitors from 82 countries spread out over 64,000 square meters of floorspace participate In itself speaks the success story of the Company in the Middle-East. Gitex 2007 is held in Dubai from the 8th to 12th, of September every year and is the Middle East's largest and most popular technology exhibition.

The safety and security products industry In Egypt is growing steadily and is governed by the Ministry of Interior, Government of Egypt. The Egyptian Government is looking for specialized Companies working in the field of security and other related business to become acquainted with the most up-to-date security technology available and the Company is well positioned to get into the market with its high-end technology.

The Company is a Leading provider of the much-needed range of security devices, life support systems and web-based software solutions to the global audience. The Company over the period of years have incepted some of the high-end security products, which address areas of concern right from mobile security to automobile security & Monitoring Systems. The Company got into the domain of security much before security was considered to be a major market and need was perceived. The Company products are globally recognized through its innovation, perfection and quality.

Lazer Technology Solutions has been a leading provider of IT solutions and services in several key domains. Its state-of-the-art software, technology and dedicated development team enable users to accomplish complex-tasks in web centric environment with relative ease with the aim of maximizing their business performance by providing seamless access to data. The focus is to provide an in-depth coverage of the customer's business requirements. They possess a strong world-class Infrastructural background with development centers in USA, India, UAE and sales offices around the world. Lazer Technology Solutions focused, strategic agenda crafts an environment where creative ideas flow and conversations generated informed and intelligent decisions.

Source : Bombay Stock Exchange

Suven Life Sciences - Keep Heart

Suven, US Firm To Develop Cardiovascular Drugs

Hyderabad-based drug developer Suven Life Sciences will soon sign a formal agreement with a top US-based pharma company to jointly develop new drugs for cardiovascular diseases. As part of this, Suven will soon expand its drug development centre to accommodate about 500 scientists.

The company already has a drug discovery alliance with another US-based drug company, Eli Lilly.

“We are in talks with an MNC for drug development in the area of cardiovascular diseases and hope to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) within a few months. We are, now, not in a position to disclose the identity of the partner,” said Venkat Jasti, chairman and managing director.

The two firms would develop drugs from the pre-clinical stage, including drug discovery, screening, identification and optimisation of potential clinical candidates.

Suven will expand its drugs discovery centre in Hyderabad with an investment of $25 million. Currently, the centre employs about 150 scientists. With the new drug discovery deal in place, the total strength will be increased to 500. The infrastructure would be in place within two years, he said.

Apart from this, Suven is likely to expand its drug discovery alliance with Ei Lilly for target discovery of more molecules in various therapeutic areas. Currently, Suven and Eli Lilly are working to develop drugs targeted for central nervous disorder (CNS) drugs.

Suven is one among the few drug discovery companies in India to rope in alliances with big pharma companies for joint drug research.

Suven has a rich pipeline of drugs under development for CNS disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and depression and other neourological disorders.

The other major deals in this space include Ranabaxy-GSK alliance to develop drugs for infections, metabolic and respiratory diseases and cancer, Biocon’s tie up with Bristol-Myers Squibb for various disease areas, Advinus and Merck’s collaboration to develop drugs for metabolic disorders, Nicholas Piramal-Eli Lilly programme to develop drugs for metabolic disorders and GVK Biosciences alliance with Eli Lilly to provide basic drug research services.

Its first Investigational New Drug (IND), SUVN-502 for Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia, is currently undergoing the first phase of clinical trials in India.

Source : Business Standard

Simplex Infra - Plans To Foray Into Power Sector

Simplex To Grow Through Power And Oil Drilling

Simplex Infrastructures, one of the top-five infrastructure solutions providers in the country, plans to foray into power transmission EPC business in India and abroad. For this, it is looking for a joint venture with established companies in the field.

“We are talking to a few players in India and abroad to join us as technical partners to form a joint venture. We are working on the construction of about five power plants in India and are bidding for the contracts of about 20-25 power plants coming up in India and abroad. Power and oil drilling will be a major area of growth for us in future,” said Amitabh Mundhra, director, Simplex Infrastructures.

Indian manufacturers such as RPG group-promoted KEC International and Kalpatharu are already among the largest transmission EPC players in the world.

The Rs 1,712 crore Simplex has an order book worth over Rs 7,000 crore, with over 25 per cent of the projects coming from the industrial infrastructure sector. The company was hopeful of achieving a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore by 2010, said Mundhra.

The eight-decade-old Simplex, with the heritage of executing the works of the Supreme Court and the Howrah bridge, had forayed into oil drilling a few months ago by bagging a $22 million contract from Oil India. Amitabh Mundra said the company had bought an oil rig from China with an investment of Rs 50 crore and would soon start drilling in Assam and Orissa. Soon, the company plans to bid for more drilling projects in India and abroad and add more rigs to emerge as a major Indian player in this field.

Currently, Simplex is executing refinery projects in Qatar, and four others in India, including a major contract for Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery.

Recently, Simplex also bagged the civil works for the liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at Dahej. Works on the two-year project worth Rs 200 crore had taken off a few days ago, he said.

The Rs 300 crore civil work for the Kudamkulam nuclear power project is on schedule and will be completed by December.

A 500X2 mw, coal-based power plant in Raigad in Maharashtra, promoted by the Jindal group, a 660X2 mw coal-based power plant in Orissa by Vedanta Resources and a Rs 180 crore hydroelectric project awarded by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) are among the major power projects executed by Simplex.

Source : Business Standard

Gitanjali Gems - Launches Ivida Technologies

Gitanjali Gems Launches IT Company

Gitanjali Gems, a Rs 1,250 crore jewellery company, today announced its foray in the information technology (IT) sector. The company has floated Ivida Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary, to launch its software, technology and telecom business.

The subsidiary will be essentially engaged in web development, infrastructure management and enterprise resource planning (ERP). Explaining the rationale behind the move, Sam George, director, Ivida Technologies, said, "The company intends to tap opportunities in the retail boom and the IT sector in general."

He also mentioned that technology will play a key role in Gitanjali’s expansion plans as the company is looking at automating all its retail operations.

Apart from addressing the IT requirements of the group company, the subsidiary will also cater to its independent clients. George said, "The company has bagged some US-based jewellery clients for the web portal operations. We are also in talks with companies to be their enterprise resource planning (ERP) partners in India." He further said that the third area of immediate concern for Ivida would be hardware and networking.

The company is also looking at partnering with solution providers like JDA, SAP and others for specific retail solutions. Subsequently, Ivida also aims to focus on media and graphics and knowledge processing outsourcing operations. Currently, it has a team of 30 people, which would be scaled upto 75 by the end of the first operational year.

Source : Business Standard

Genus Overseas - Electricity Goes Pre Paid

Genus Launches RFID Based Electric Meters

Genus Overseas Electronics Ltd has announced that it has come out with a RFID based contactless smart card Pre Paid meter, which has distinct advantages over the conventional key paid based or plug in type card based Pre Paid Meters. The new developed product is in line with the 11th Power Plan recommendation on Pre Paid Meters.

The new product will ensure advance revenue collection for the utilities and with the Government policies aligning to promote the concept will have a huge market potential in coming years.

The pilots for the technology have already started in India and the product is getting an international acceptability. Recently Genus pre paid meters have been approved by Brazalian Utilities.

Genus is providing the complete infrastructure in terms of vending station, servers and relevant software and in all probability will ensure a better revenue recovery model for Electricity Utilities.

Genus is expecting very good orders for the aforesaid new product from State Electricity Board and Private Utilities.

For over a decade "Genus" has been providing Technically advanced Metering Products and Solutions through which Electricity Distribution Utilities have been able to control and reduce the Electricity theft and have also been able to improve the revenue recovery.

Source : Bombay Stock Exchange

Elder Pharma - Going To Bulgaria

Elder Pharma Buys 51% In Biomeda Of Bulgaria

Mumbai-based Elder Pharmaceuticals has acquired 51% stake in Biomeda Group in Bulgaria for euro 5 million (around Rs 28 crore) in an all-cash deal. Biomedia has a turnover in the range of euro 10-12 million.

With the acquisition, Elder will see the launch of many more products in Europe. Biomeda is Elder’s second acquisition in less than 45 days. Earlier, Elder bought 20% stake in London-based NeutraHealth through subscription of shares worth about Rs 47 crore.

"Biomeda is an unique acquisition. It is a manufacturer of oral dosage formulations. The acquisition will provide us the right entry vehicle to enter the Bulgarian market, leveraging Elder’s robust EU product portfolio and pipeline. Elder will enjoy a pan-European presence, covering all the key markets of Europe," said Alok Saxena, director (international), Elder.

"The Bulgarian market's skilled labour, which has an advantage in terms of lower labour cost compared to other European countries, attracted us. Being a member of the European Union, patent rules are in line with EU standards. Corporate tax and VAT are among the lowest in central and eastern Europe with low production costs."

Suashish - Diamonds Are Forever

Suashish Diamonds Triples Its Net Profits In Q2 2007

Suashish Diamonds Limited, one of India’s leading diamond and diamond jewellery manufacturing and exporting groups, declared its financial results for the 2nd quarter ending 30th June 2007.

During the quarter, the company achieved a turnover of Rs.182.56 crores and tripled its PAT (profit after tax) from Rs.8.37 crores in 2006 to Rs.26.33 crores in 2007. in terms of year to date (YTD) H1, the company has also witnessed a topline growth in excess of 10% from Rs. 374.08 crores to Rs. 412.94 crores.

Ashish Goenka, Managing Director of the Suashish Diamonds said, “the company has performed exceedingly well, inspite of a marginal drop in y-o-y topline, the company continues to strengthen its bottom-line. we continue to focus on driving operational efficiencies, and enhance efforts to build our proprietary business”.

The decision of going downstream with higher focus on jewellery sales through retail chains and through its brand Ishi’s has paid rich dividends in the form of increased customer loyalty and substantially better-margins. suashish is a vendor partner to 5 out of the top 10 jewellery retailers in the world and is emerging as a leader in jewellery exports from india.

In India the local diamond jewellery segment has also grown by over 26% in 2006. the brand ‘ishi’s’ is well positioned to take advantage of growing consumer spends in the country’s changing retail environment. over the past year Ishi’s has done very well and is now available in over 130 outlets, spread across India and The Middle East.

The company is continuously investing in scaling up its operations and building infrastructure for sustainable growth.

Inox Leisure - Multiplexes In Fashion

INOX Leisure Records 31% YoY Increase In Net Profit

Financial Highlights:

• 33% YOY growth in total revenues for Q12007-08 at Rs. 54.07 crores versus Rs. 40.53 crores in the same quarter of the previous year.
• EBITDA for Q1 is at Rs. 17.48 crores compared with Rs. 13.56 crores in the same quarter of previous year, a growth of 29 % .
• PAT has increased to Rs 10.96 crores versus Rs. 8.37 crores in Q1 2007, a growth of 31%

Operational Highlights:

• Properties under operation up to 15 in Q1 2007-08 from 11.
• Screens under operation up to 54 in Q1 2007-08 from 41 .
• Footfalls up 38% to 2968373 in Q1 2007-08 from 2153818

The Board of Directors of INOX Leisure Limited (ILL) announced its results for the first quarter of the financial year 2007-2008, following its meeting on Monday, 30 July 2007 in Mumbai. For the quarter ended 30th June 2007, INOX reported a 34% increase in total revenues from Rs. 40.53 crores in 2006-07 to Rs. 54.07 crores in 2007-08.

The profit after tax for the quarter ended 30th June 2007 amounted to Rs. 10.96 crores, as compared to Rs. 8.37 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year – an increase of 31 %. EBITDA saw a growth of 29% from Rs. 13.56 crores in 2006-07 to Rs. 17.48 in 2007-08.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Deepak Asher, Director - INOX Leisure Ltd. said, “Our results reflect INOX’s ability to maintain its profit leadership position along with a high growth momentum. Going forward we remain focused on creating India’s largest network of world class multiplexes across the country."