Grasim Industries Ltd, the Aditya Birla Group flagship company on Tuesday announced that the company has reported a growth of 29% in its net profit to Rs 722 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 against Rs 559 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The consolidated net revenues of the company stood at Rs 4,358 crore, up 19% against Rs 3,668 crore last year.

?The improved performance was propelled by its core businesses, viz., cement and viscose staple fibre (VSF),? the company informed.

Tech Mahi sales rise

Tech Mahindra Limited, one of the largest solution providers in the telecom space, announced a 19% growth in profit after tax and 26% increase in revenue for Q3 FY08 over the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Tech Mahindra reported consolidated net profit after tax, before extraordinary items, of Rs 199.5 crores for Q3 FY 08 as against Rs 167.4 crores in Q3 FY 07. The company’s revenue is Rs 970.4 crores for Q3 FY08 as against Rs 769.2 crores in Q3 FY07. The number of clients increased from 96 in Q2 FY 08 to 105 in Q3 FY 08. The number of clients generating revenue of more than US$ 15 million annually went up from 4 in Q2 FY 08 to 6 in Q3 FY 08.The company derived 20%, 70% and 10% of its revenues in the current quarter from the US, Europe and ROW regions respectively.

Punjab Tractors net up on cost control

Punjab Tractors Ltd on Tuesday reported its October-December net profit rose, despite poor market conditions, helped by cost controls and product mix.

The company said in a statement tractor sales in the quarter rose 8% to 9,032 units, while the overall market fell 5%, helping profit excluding extraordinary income grow by a third to Rs 25.4 crore.

Adjusted net profit was up just 3.2%. In the year-ago quarter, Punjab Tractors had an extraordinary income of Rs 5.6 crore, the Profit & Loss account showed.

Punjab Tractors, 63.3% owned by tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said revenue rose 14% to Rs 3.03 billion in the quarter. The company also said it has improved recoveries by cutting dealers outstanding by 31% in the quarter.

Pantaloons net dips

The Future Group’s Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd net profit for the quarter ending December stood at Rs 31.65 crore as against Rs 43.97 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal. The company registered a turnover of Rs 1, 226.75 crore during the period, a jump of 62.9%. The board of directors also approved the setting up of wholly-owned subsidiary companies for

Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, speciality retail business activities and property and mall management division and transfer the respective businesses of the company on a going concern basis to the respective subsidiaries, subject to the receipt of all requisite statutory and other necessary approvals.

Lupin PAT at Rs 180 cr

Lupin Ltd has posted a consolidated net profit after minority interest of Rs 180.86 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 62.02 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. Total income has increased from Rs 515.32 crore to Rs 860.23 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Amara Raja net zooms

Industrial and automotive battery manufacturer Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL) has recorded a 206% growth in its net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs 29.6 crore as against Rs 9.6 crore during the same quarter last fiscal. The net sales grew 110% to Rs 307.90 crore during the quarter as against Rs 146 crore in Q3 of 2007. “As things stand today, we are well on course in achieving the stated target of Rs 1,000 crore revenue by March this fiscal,” said Jayadev Galla, managing director of ARBL in a press release on Tuesday.

TNPL net up

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL) posted a net profit of Rs 28.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as against Rs 22.30 crore during the same period last year. Total income increased to Rs 238.86 crore from Rs 222.04 crore in the previous third quarter.

Info Edge net up 60%

Info Edge (India) Ltd on Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs 13 crore for quarter ended December 31, 2007, compared to Rs 8 crore for the corresponding quarter in FY07 — a growth of 60%. It recorded total income of Rs 60 crore compared to Rs 37 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, registering a 59% growth. “We continue to witness growth in sales and profits. The fact that profit growth has come in at this level in spite of our new businesses absorbing cash is a good sign,” said Ambarish Raghuvanshi, CFO and director, Info Edge.

India Infoline net up

Broking services firm India Infoline Ltd has posted a more than 250% jump in its October-December net profit as it increased its market share and average daily trading volume, a top official said on Tuesday.

India Infoline has posted a net profit of Rs 651.4 million for the period, compared with Rs 180.7 million a year earlier. The total income for the period was Rs 3.07 billion against Rs 1.12 billion a year ago.

Its market share on the National Stock Exchange has gone up to 3.6% during the quarter, compared with 3.3% a year earlier, Managing Director, Nirmal Jain told reporters.

He also said the average trading volume was around Rs 35 billion.

Inox net grows 30%

Inox Leisure Ltd has announced that the company has reported a growth of 30% in its net profit to Rs 6.29 crore in the quarter ended December 31,2007 as compared to Rs 4.83 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year. The company has also reported an increase of 42% in its total revenue to Rs 60.81 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 42.83 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Gujarat Fluo PAT up

Gujarat Fluorochemicals, which deals in making refrigerant gases, reported a net profit of Rs Rs 82.34 crore as compared to Rs 59.19 crore during the same period last year. Net sales rose from Rs 154.6 crore (in 2006) to Rs 196.68 crore in Dec 2007.

SpiceJet net profit dips 23%

Low cost carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday reported a 22.5% decline in its net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 at Rs 9.3 crore compared to Rs 12 crore during the same period a year ago.

However, the firm?s net income rose by 71% to Rs 438 crore for the third quarter as against Rs 256.14 crore for the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

The board of the company also approved the plan to confirm its options to lease 10 new Boeing 737-800s for delivery from 2011. ?We have till 2011 to pay for them,? Siddhant Sharma, executive chairman, SpiceJet said. The total order size of the 10 new planes will be about $620 million at list price. This is over and above the company?s existing order of 30 aircraft.

The company expects a loss of Rs 50 crore during the fiscal ending March 2008 due to high oil prices, Sharma said.

The ATF prices led to a loss of Rs 25 crore last year.

The company is also preparing to go international and will mainly ply short-haul routes when it finishes the regulatory requirement of five years to be eligible to fly overseas in 2010.

The company made Rs 5 crore from the sale or lease back of two aircraft and another Rs 3 crore from foreign exchange fluctuations.

Around 6% of the revenues came from anciliary operations including on-board branding, credit card and insurance. The company expects to start full fledged cargo operations from February 1 this year and on-board retail sooner than that.

MindTree posts 10% growth in net

MindTree Consulting has recorded 10.4% growth in net profit for Q3 to record Rs 20.81 crore as against Rs 18.85 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year.

The revenue went up by 27% to Rs 186.50 crore as against Rs 146.80 crore during the corresponding previous period.

The company has also revised its revenue guidance upwards in dollar terms from the earlier estimated figures of $178-$180 million to $186 million for the financial year ending March 31. However, it kept the net profit estimates unchanged for the full fiscal at $22.6 million.

MindTree added 23 new clients and had a gross addition of 828 people taking the total headcount to 5,419 employees at the end of December 2007.

“We continue to see high growth potential for our differentiated and value-added offerings. Our customer experience survey conducted during the quarter once again reiterates the high levels of customer satisfaction in MindTree,” chairman and managing director Ashok Soota said.