Reliance Communications announced its third quarter result posting growth in net profit of 198 per cent to stand at Rs 924 crore on a year on year basis. The company also witnessed a growth in revenues of 26 per cent and stood at Rs 3,755 crore. This was backed by an increase in wireless subscriber base of 4 million during the quarter. This amounts to more than 1.3 miilion subscribers a month. Also, the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 76 per cent. Earlier this month Bharti Airtel also announced an increase in profits by 123 per cent. The share price of Reliance Communication rose by 1.3 per cent to close at Rs 461.2.Ashok Leyland net profit doublesNew Delhi: Ashok Leyland saw its profit doubling from Rs 54.5 crore in the quarter ended December 2005 to Rs 105 crore in the quarter ended December 2006. The company also saw its top-line growing at 48 per cent to stand at Rs 1,783.9 crore. In a period buoyed by rising input costs the company saw a rise in operating margin of 68 per cent. The credit for this goes to the expansion in volumes and operating economies of scale, said R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland. Efficient working capital management helped the company to bring down its financial expenses from Rs 7.9 crore to Rs 2.6 crore. Further, for the nine-month period April- December the company has seen a rise in net sales revenue and net profit of 39 per cent. The share price for the company rose impressively by 1.9 per cent during the day to close at Rs 48.4.Mahindra & Mahindra underperforms New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra saw a slim rise in its net profit of 3.5 per cent at Rs 241.7 crore against a profit of Rs 233.45 crore for the same quarter last year. The total income though saw an increase of 16.5 per cent at Rs 2,617.3 crore. The company is positive in its outlook for the year though is concerned about the volatile exchange rates and rise in input costs. Its underperformance led to a fall in share prices by 2.6 per cent and the stock closed at Rs 901 as against its previous close of Rs 925.Hero Honda dips on profitsNew Delhi: Hero Honda saw its profits dipping by 20 per cent at Rs 209 crore. The sales for the company though rose by 14.8 per cent to stand at Rs 2,699 crore as against Rs 2,350.8 crore in the same quarter 2005-06. The company points out that the significant investment in marketing and the rise in prices of raw material have been instrumental in keeping the operating margin low. Hero Honda share prices closed without any change from its previous close of Rs 716.Non-cigarette biz propels ITC growth New Delhi: Tobacco major ITC posted an increase in turnover by 24 per cent and an increase in profits of 23 per cent. The company saw its non-cigarette business growing by 31 per cent to constitute 52 per cent of its net turnover. The key drivers of growth in this segment were agri-business and strong hotel business.The sales of branded packaged foods grew by 65 per cent with Sunfeast and Aashirvaad doing well. On the similar lines lifestyle retailing business grew by 38 per cent. The company plans to launch 15 new stores in addition to existing 39 stores of Wills Lifestyle over the next few months. The hotel business also witnessed an increase in revenues by 28 per cent to stand at Rs 282 crore and the PBIT rose by 55 per cent to touch Rs 118 crore. The agri business for the company also saw a growth of 20 per cent. The PBIT for the segment touched Rs 22 crore witnessing a growth of 45 per cent. The impressive results saw the ITS shares closing with a gain of 1.7 per cent to close at 174.6 though during the day the share touched a high of Rs 178.5.
