RIM Unveils New OS to Challenge Apple, Google

HUGO MILLER TORONTO

Research In Motion (RIM), looking to spur consumer interest in its devices after losing sales to Apple and Google, unveiled a new operating system for its Play-Book tablet computer and new smartphones.
The software, called Black-Berry BBX, combines features of RIM’s existing Black-Berry operating system and its newer QNX program, cochief executive officer Mike Lazaridis said on Tuesday at RIM’s BlackBerry developer conference in San Francisco. RIM is banking on the new software to encourage developers to build more programs for its devices as consumers increasingly use mobile devices to watch video, listen to music and browse the Web. The Waterloo, Ontariobased company’s BlackBerry phones have lost market share to Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android software, which offer a wider selection of applications. RIM’s PlayBook has sold fewer units than some analysts estimated.
RIM rose 2.2% to $22.90 at 12:32 p.m. New York time. It had lost 61% this year before Tuesday.
RIM’s US smartphone market share fell to 20% in the quarter through August from 25% three months earlier, according to ComScore Apple rose 0.7 percentage points to 27.3% while Google’s Android platform climbed to 44% from 38%.

Manesar Resumes Swift Rollout

Maruti Suzuki has begun production of its best-selling Swift hatchback from its strike-crippled Manesar plant in Haryana, the company said on Tuesday.
The carmaker rolled out 350 units of Swift from the plant that was shut for 10 days following a sit-in protest by employees demanding reinstatement of 1,100 casual workers. Workers had started moving out of the factory on Friday following a court order, which enabled Maruti to resume partial production at the plant on Monday.
“The entire focus is to get the production normalised. We have over one lakh Swift customers waiting and we want to deliver the cars as soon as possible,” a company official said. Between the Gurgaon and the Manesar plants, the company produced 480 Swift cars on Tuesday.
The Gurgaon plants were able to raise output by 50 units to 1,750 vehicles, against its capacity of 2,800 cars a day. Production at the plants was affected due restricted supply of diesel engines and transmission from Suzuki Powertrain India, an affiliate. Three strikes at carmaker since June have cost it a production loss of about 60,000 cars. The company held two more rounds of talks with the agitating workers on Tuesday.
“There was a round of meeting in the morning and one in the evening. There are positive signs from the negotiations, but its too early to comment which way the talks end,” people close to the development said.
Maruti shares have fallen 16% since the start of the first strike on June 13. On Tuesday, the stock was 0.07% up at . 1052.3. The company has a booking order of over 110,000 Swift cars. Low production has pushed its waiting period to five to six months. On Tuesday, Maruti strengthened the workforce at its Manesar plant to 400 and said it had repaired and made operational the weld and press shops it claimed were damaged by workers.

JLR to Assemble 2 More Models Here

ON INDIAN ROADS SOON: Range Rover Evoque 

 

Co plans to roll out Jaguar XF and Range Rover Evoque SUV within 12-18 months

KETAN THAKKAR MUMBAI

Tata Motors-owned British marquee Jaguar Land Rover is revving up to assemble two more models in India, which will increase its competitiveness in the fast-growing domestic luxury automotive market.
JLR is looking to roll out locallyassembled Jaguar XF sedan and Range Rover Evoque SUV within 12-18 months, a vendor familiar with the matter told ET. The company’s India spokesperson declined to comment.
The new offerings will beef up JLR’s presence in the segment where German rivals BMW, Mercedes and Audi hold sway. The company currently sells the SUV Freelander 2 assembled at its factory in Chikhale, Maharasthra while the rest of its portfolio comprises completely-built units or fully-imported vehicles.
Assembled cars attract a lower import duty of 10-30%, while imported vehicles are slapped a duty of more than 100%. JLR organised a meeting of vendors last week in Pune, the first time such a meet was held outside Britain, where 20 key vendors from India and 20-30 vendors from UK participated, along with the company’s CKD head Mark Wallace, three vendors who were invited said. They added that Ian Harnett, JLR’s directorpurchasing said at this meet that the company will assemble more products and eye at least 20% market share in the next three years. “JLR feels India and China will be the key growth drivers in the next five-10 years. Therefore, the company envisages a bigger assembly operation in India and joint venture partner in China to boost its overall growth,” a key supplier said, requesting anonymity.
Experts say the Jaguar XF will take on the Mercedes Benz E Class, BMW 5 Series and Audi A6, while the Range Rover Evoque will compete with the BMW X3 in terms of price, though it is as compact as the BMW X1.
The domestic luxury car market, roughly defined as comprising vehicles priced at more than . 20 lakh, is estimated to be growing at 35%-40% annually, ranking India among the fastest-growing markets in the world.
It is expected to clock sales of 23,000 units this fiscal. BMW, which overtook Mercedes Benz in 2009, dominates the segment, with Audi emerging as an aggressive third player. In 2010, BMW raced ahead with 6,246 units, while Mercedes Benz clocked sales of 5,819 units and Audi trailed with 3,003 units sold. JLR sold 891 units in 2010-11, but it aims to more than double the figure this fiscal. According to vendors, the company plans to ramp up its outlets tenfold to 100 over the next five years.
The MD and chief executive of Mercedes Benz, Peter Honegg recently named JLR as their biggest competitor in the long run. JLR will need to sell at least 3,000 units a year to break even, says Mahantesh Sabarad, auto analyst with Fortune Broking. “With the assembly of models in India, the pricing will come down and it will boost volumes. And larger the volumes, the better the profitability,” he said. Though the 2 litre-2.2 litre engines fitted in the Evoque are ideal for Indian conditions, the company will have to overcome stiff competition from the German rivals to appeal to the typical Indian buyer who is aged over 40, he said. 

Patni Computer Net Falls 38% to . 90 cr

Patni Computer Systems’ profits fell 37.5% to . 90.2 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as compared to . 144.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, but the decline was less than analysts’ expectations. Patni, which was acquired by iGATE in January, saw revenue grow 4.5% sequentially to . 914.3 crore and 7.6% year on year.
“While we do not see any cutback in existing projects, we still retain a cautious outlook for the 2012 budgets in some verticals,” chief executive Phaneesh Murthy said in a statement. The share of revenue from its top-10 clients decreased from 48.5% to 46.4%, the statement said.
Patni employs 17,853 people. Its shares closed at . 337.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 15.8 % on Tuesday.
“Our integration efforts with iGATE are progressing smoothly. Measurable outcomes like attrition rate and pipeline building are trending in the right direction,” Murthy said. Earlier, Murthy had said the company’s results are expected to stabilise in 2012 after integration expenses and accounting charges related to the acquisition have evened out.

HCL Tech Q1 Profit Rises 49% to . 497 cr

Co misses revenue expectations, but crosses $1-billion mark in quarterly sales

OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI

HCL Technologies, the country’s fifth-largest software exporter, missed revenue expectations but crossed the $1-billion mark in quarterly sales to post a 49% growth in net profit for the July to September period.
The company, which counts companies such as Xerox, Mecom, Microsoft and the controversial News of the World among its clients, grew revenues for its first quarter ended September by nearly 25% to . 4,651 crore. Its net profit grew 49%to . 497 crore during the review period.
The company will credit the equivalent price of its five shares in the payroll of its 80,500 employees for this month’s salary, on achieving the billion-dollar-sales mark. Net profit for the company since last quarter, however, declined in dollar terms by 6% on account of a 12-14% salary hike, currency movements, and a capital expenditure incurred in its first quarter ended September 30 to open new centres overseas.
The Noida-based company’s stock declined 8.5% on the BSE on Tuesday in a weak market. HCL’s bigger rival TCS which had posted weaker-than-expected results on Monday, declined 8.2%, making the IT indices tumble.
“The macro-economic situation is bad. But it is not necessarily translating into weaker business. A lot of churn in the existing deals in the market is translating into new business for us,” said HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar. The company won 12 new deals in the quarter, from companies like EMI Music, Vancouver City Savings Union and renewed existing ones such as Deutsche Bank.
“The world IT budgets are either static or declining. The industry is operating at billing rates pre-recession in 2008. Its time IT services moved into a declining cost scenario as with IT hardware and electronics which become cheaper every year,” he added.
The company has about $500 million in cash, and a hedge position of $713 million. It incurred an impact of about $3.8 million on forex losses. HCL Tech has projected $230 million to be spent in capex for this year.
The stock options programme will cost the company about . 25 crore. Analysts remain underweight on IT sector. and companies.

Hero Moto Net Up 19% on Record Sales

Co confident of maintaining tempo despite inflation

OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI

Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest two-wheeler maker, clocked a better-than-expected 19.3% rise in its quarterly net profit driven by record sales, and said it is confident of maintaining the tempo despite concerns over rising inflation and fuel costs. The net profit of the Munjals-controlled company rose to . 604 crore in the three months to September from . 506 crore a year-ago, the Delhibased company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hero, which donned a new brand identity this quarter after its split with Honda, its partner of 26 years, sold a record 15.44 lakh two-wheelers during the July-September period, a growth of 20% over a year-ago. The festival season, which begins a month-and-a-half before Diwali, boosted sales of Splendor and Passion to a record for the third straight quarter.
Rising inflation and high interest and fuel costs benefit two-wheeler makers as firsttime car buyers hold back their purchases, preferring the cheaper option of a motorcycle or scooter. Two-wheelers sales are expected to grow 12-14% this year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
“Our performance improved despite rising food inflation and fuel prices, which are the two major areas of concern for the industry and might adversely impact consumer spending in the coming months,” said Hero MotoCorp managing director and CEO Pawan Munjal.
The company has targeted sales of over six million vehicles in this fiscal, Munjal had said in July. But analysts say Hero sales may slow in the coming months.
“Hero MotoCorp sales may slow down as the company has itself said that inflation and interest rates are a major concern. It may face pressure on sales with disposable incomes getting hurt by these macro economic indices and RBI's upswing in lending rates,” said Mahantesh Sabarad, senior vice-president, research, Fortune Securities.
Hero's net sales jumped 28% to . 5,784 crore from . 4,511 crore a year ago. During the quarter, it reported a record total income at . 5,909.07 crore, up 27.62% from . 4,630.30 crore a year ago. Its operating margins, an indicator of operational profitability, grew to 17.13% from 15.08%. Munjal said sales are expected to remain buoyant during the festival month of October. The company is betting on new launches to grow demand. Hero launched a new 150cc sports bike on Monday.

Harley-Davidson Falls After Cheaper Bikes Cut Into Margins

MARK CLOTHIER MICHIGAN

Harley-Davidson Inc, the biggest US motorcycle maker, fell as much as 8.9% after profit margins fell with increased sales of lower-priced models and limited availability of pricier bikes. Third-quarter gross margin narrowed to 33.7% from 34.9% a year ago. Sharon Zackfia, an analyst with William Blair & Co., estimated gross margin of 36.8 percent in the quarter. That shift toward lower-priced bikes, such as the $8,000 SuperLow, lowered gross margin by $26.6 million, Harley said in a presentation on its Web site.
“Sales skewed more toward the Sportsters, and of all the possible reasons for a margin decline, mix shift is one of the more innocuous,” Zackfia said in an interview.
The shift toward lower-priced bikes was a product of the reworking of the York, Pennsylvania, factory that makes the brand's high-end bikes. The plant is consolidating from four lines to one, and the new line isn't up to speed yet, so there were fewer of the pricey, high-margin motorcycles to sell.
The changes at York will be “largely complete” by the end of next year, Chief Financial Officer John Olin said in a conference call today. U.S. output will be limited until the end of 2013, he added.
Sales increased 13% to $1.23 billion, short of the $1.28 billion average of 13 analysts' estimates. Harley, the maker of the Fat Boy and VRod motorcycles, sells fewer bikes in the coldweather months. The company has reported quarterly losses in each of the last two fourth quarters, typically its slowest sales period.
Net income in the three months ended Sept. 25 rose 107% to $183.6 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with $88.8 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier, Harley said today in a statement. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 75 cents.
“We are pleased with our sustained progress and we continue to realize strong momentum in the transformation our business,” CEO Keith Wandell said in the statement.
Retail sales rose 5.4% in the US and 5.1% worldwide, the company said. The worldwide sales gain was the second consecutive quarter of increasing deliveries. Before the second quarter, the company last reported an increase in U.S. sales in the fourth quarter of 2006. The company reaffirmed its forecast of 228,000-235,000 motorcycle shipments this year.
Bloomberg