Jay Shree Tea to close Assam timber unit: Jay Shree Tea & Industries is closing its timber unit in Assam and moving most of the plant and machinery to its unit in the Andamans, chairman BK Birla told shareholders at the annual general meeting in Calcutta on Tuesday. Birla said the company had decided to close down the unit because the Supreme Court had ordered that timber mills would have to procure timber only from the Assam government and its associated companies. "This would make business prospects quite unviable in the region, and thus we have taken the decision to expand our Andaman unit," said Birla. According to the chairman, the company has been sustaining a labour force of almost 300 at its Assam unit until now. Some decision has to be taken, he said. The Andamans would be an ideal place to expand as there were no regulations relating to procurement of local timber, said Birla.Hindustan Oil net rises to Rs 5 cr: The net profit of Hindustan Oil Exploration Company has increased almostten-fold to Rs 5.08 crore for the year ended March 1998, from Rs 55 lakh last year. This was mainly generated by the PY-3 field. The profit is net of the exploration cost of Rs 8.69 crore, and inspite of lower international crude prices. Turnover increased from Rs 7 lakh last year to Rs 25.68 crore. Gross profit has jumped to Rs 21.26 crore (Rs 2.68 crore).
IBM launches solutions in India: International IT giant IBM has added business-intelligence solutions to its portfolio of activities in India. Solutions such as data warehousing, data mining and decision-support systems were increasingly becoming important tools for decision-making, Tata IBM president Mukesh Aghi said.
Cellular majors to bid for MTNL's mobile network: Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Ericsson are among the global cellular majors who have shown interest in setting up MTNL's proposed mobile-telephone network in Delhi and Mumbai.
VIP unit lockout: VIP Industries has informed the stock exchange that one of itsmanufacturing units, engaged in the production of soft luggage at Jalagon, has declared a lockout with effect from June 21, 1998. It has also informed the exchange that there is also a disruption of production due to labour unrest in the unit producing hard luggage. These units contribute nearly 10 per cent of the annual sales. Alternative arrangements to meet the luggage demand has been made by the company.
Swaraj Engines payout up: Swaraj Engines has announced an increase in dividend to 100 per cent for fiscal 1997-98, as against 65 per cent paid in 1996-97. Total revenue for the year stood at Rs 83.7 crore, an increase of 15.4 per cent over the previous year. The firm's expansion programme took off during '97-98.
BPL Sanyo Utilities: BPL Sanyo Utilities and Appliances has informed the stock exchange that the company board has decided to opt out of the proposal of re-organisation of business of BPL group companies.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
