Earthquake in Indonesia, Tsunami warning in 28 countries

An earthquake of 8.9 on Richter scale has struck Indonesia. Tremors have been felt in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata.

Indonesia issued a tsunami warning after the huge magnitude earthquake off its westernmost province Aceh, leading panicked locals to scramble out of their houses to seek refuge.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said an Indian Ocean wide tsunami alert was in effect, after a quake that the US Geological Survey said was 308 miles southwest of the province's capital Banda Aceh.

The quake was felt as far away as Singapore, Thailand and India.

The province was devastated by a 2004 tsunami that left 170,000 dead or missing, and that in total killed about 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean nations.

13 IPOs called off in 2012

13 IPOs has already called off in 2012, says Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Strategist & Head of Research, SMC Global Securities Limited.

1. The year 2012 has already seen call-off of 12 IPOs. The probable amount that these 13 IPOs were planning to raise was to an aggregate of Rs 5,603 crore

2. The list of the 13 companies who have called-off their IPOs during 2012 include: Micromax, Embassy Property, Joyalukkas, Lokmat Media, VRL Logistics, Aravali Infrapower, Semantic Space Technologies, etc

3. This is in addition to the call-off of 29 companies during 2011 calendar year. The probable amount that these 29 companies were planning to raise was to an aggregate of Rs 32,400 crore.

4. So, starting 1st January 2011 till date, about 42 IPOs were called off. The total amount they were expected to raise was about Rs 38,001 crore.

5. All these 42 companies had valid SEBI approval in hand for their IPOs. Even then, they couldn't open their IPOs within the validity period of one year from the date of SEBI approval.

6. This surely will impact the Indian corporates ability in fund raising to finance their expansion projects resulting in slow down in capacity building and job creation.

7. Further, the government's disinvestment program which was supposed to bring public issues of several blue-chip PSUs couldn't take off. The recent lukewarm response to ONGC auction can also impact the confidence of the public issue market.

8. The secondary market and global liquidity hold key for the future of IPO market.

Kent Resorts sells 11 lakh shares of Karur Vysya Bank

On April 03, 2012 Kent Resorts Private Limited sold 1,100,000 shares of Karur Vysya Bank at Rs 382 on the NSE. However, Golden Oak (Mauritius) Limited bought 1,100,500 shares at Rs 382 on the NSE. Yesterday the share closed at Rs 378.75

The company touched its 52-week high Rs 479.15 and 52-week low Rs 322.30 on 15 Jul, 2011 and 28 Dec, 2011, respectively. Currently, it is trading -20.78% below its 52-week high and 17.78% above its 52-week low. Market capitalisation stands at Rs 4,068.57 crore.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 35.54 per share. (Dec, 2011). The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 10.68. The latest book value of the company is Rs 198.47 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was 1.91. The dividend yield of the company was 3.16%.

BHEL eastern region turnover rises 24% in FY12

Turnover of eastern region of heavy engineering public-sector unit BHEL increased 24% at Rs 2,700 crore during the financial year 2011-12, a company official said. "The eastern region of BHEL achieved a turnover of Rs 2,700 crore in 2011-12 against Rs 2,174 crore in the previous fiscal", executive director of BHEL, eastern region, Rajiv Kumar said.

Gross profit from the region increased 29% in 2011-12 at Rs 157.87 crore compared to Rs 122.15 crore in the previous fiscal, he told reporters here yesterday. In the next financial year, the targeted turnover is Rs 3,100 crore and gross profit is pegged at Rs 374 crore, Kumar said. He added in the eastern region, 17,000 MW of capacity addition is under execution in various stages.

During 2011-12, BHEL eastern region had added 2,838 MW of capacity addition, the highest ever, he said. The cumulative order position in the eastern region of BHEL in 2012-13 and beyond stood at Rs 7,153 crore. BHEL eastern region was involved in setting up power plants abroad, he said.

Reports on troop movement 'absolutely stupid'

Army Chief Gen VK Singh today dismissed as "absolutely stupid" a report that the Indian government panicked for several hours in the face of unexplained troop movements near Delhi in January.

"This is absolutely stupid," Singh said when asked to comment on the report. The report in Indian Express that said the government was "spooked" on the night of January 16-17, because of the movement of a mechanised infantry battallion from Haryana's Hisar and a sizeable section of 50 Para Brigade created a storm in the government.

In New Delhi yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the defence establishment dismissed as "alarmist" and "absolutely baseless". The Army Chief is in Nepal to attend the three-day Regional Seminar on Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.