ABG Shipyard jumps12.5%; looking to sell 51% stake

The company is at an advanced stage of negotiations with interested parties for a strategic investment into the company, which will see the management divesting its majority control, according to reports.

ABG Shipyard jumped 12.5% to Rs.51.15 on BSE. The company is at an advanced stage of negotiations with interested parties for a strategic investment into the company, which will see the management divesting its majority control, according to reports. The deal is expected to be announced by March-end.

The scrip opened at Rs. 48 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 54.2 and Rs. 48 respectively. So far 716351(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 245.03 crore.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 260 on 10-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 39.5 on 12-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 47.55 and Rs. 39.5 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 38.57 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 10.67 % and 50.76 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

Bank of Baroda surges 4%

The scrip opened at Rs. 141.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 145.8 and Rs. 141.9 respectively.

Bank of Baroda Ltd stock was higher by 4% at Rs. 144. Report says that given the backdrop of the Bank of Baroda's Rs. 6,000 crore illegal remittance case, CBI will be engaging with Indian Banks Association to have look into economic and banking offences being reported from large number of banks and come up with preventive measures.

The scrip opened at Rs. 141.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 145.8 and Rs. 141.9 respectively. So far 3329194(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 31866.53 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 216.25 on 18-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 109.45 on 12-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 142 and Rs. 109.45 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 59.24 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 33.71 % and 7.06 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Cipla completes acquisition of generic businesses in US

The acquisition was made by Cipla (EU) Ltd through a wholly owned special purpose vehicle which would merge into InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. after the acquisition.

Cipla, a global pharmaceutical company which uses technology and innovation to meet the everyday needs of all patients, today announced that its UK arm, Cipla (EU) Limited has closed the transaction to acquire two US-based companies, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc. The acquisition was made by Cipla (EU) Limited through a wholly owned special purpose vehicle which would merge into InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. after the acquisition. The combined revenue for the two companies for the year-ended 2015 is over USD230 million.

This acquisition is the second landmark acquisition in Cipla’s 80 year history – the first was Cipla Medpro, South Africa. This acquisition will give scale to Cipla’s US business - currently 8% of total revenue as well as providing a launch pad to introduce Cipla’s pipeline of products in respiratory and injectables, among others, in the coming years. Combined with the pipeline of InvaGen products, the overall portfolio will be wide-ranging and will cover chronic therapies like CVS, CNS, respiratory, oncology and diabetes among others.

The acquisition of InvaGen pharmaceuticals also provides Cipla with about 40 approved ANDAs, 32 marketed products, and 30 pipeline products which are expected to be approved over the next 4 years. In addition, InvaGen has filed 5 first-to-file products. Dosage forms include immediate release, modified release and extended release tablets and capsules. With a manufacturing footprint of ~350,000 sq.ft of GMP area, InvaGen has 3 units located in Long Island, NY, with a total production capacity of 12 billion tablets and capsules per annum and about 500 employees. With this acquisition, Cipla will have more relevance to wholesale and retail customers. Commenting on the acquisition, Mr. Umang Vohra, Global Chief Operating Officer, Cipla Limited said, “The acquisition will further strengthen Cipla’s presence in the US pharmaceutical market. InvaGen’s balanced portfolio, robust manufacturing base and strong R&D capabilities will act as lever to expand Cipla’s reach in the US market.

Motherson Sumi Systems eyes Wilbur Ross company IAC for $800 mn buyout

Presently, 84% of MSSL's revenues come from overseas, with Germany being the biggest contributor.

Motherson Sumi Systems is in advance negotiations with billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to buy one of his portfolio companies International Automotive Components (IAC) Group for $750-800 million as the restructuring guru seeks to cash out of the low margins business following aborted attempts of an IPO,according to media reports.

Presently, 84% of MSSL's revenues come from overseas with Germany being the biggest contributor. The company aims to get 30% of its revenue from Americas alone in the next 5 years.

The company reportedly said the acquisition, if completed successfully, will help Vivek Chand Sehgal, co-founder and chairman of the Motherson Group diversify further into newer product categories in the auto interiors space and more importantly break into key markets like US where it has so far shopped only once - the wiring harness business of Stoneridge in 2014-15.

Stock view:

Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd ended at Rs. 223.2, down by Rs. 3.2 or 1.41% from its previous closing of Rs. 226.4 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 226.1 and touched a high and low of Rs. 227 and Rs. 211.2 respectively. A total of 7460458(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 29526.66 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 395.85 on 06-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 211.2 on 17-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 245.9 and Rs. 211.2 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 65.61 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 23.38 % and 11.01 % respectively.

The stock traded above its 200 DMA.

Sensex, Nifty to open on a positive note

The outlook is a positive start. The Nifty did stage a strong recovery but has not yet managed to surpass the high of “Bearish Engulfing” candle stick pattern which is placed at 7204 formed on Tuesday.

Caution and optimism go hand in hand as markets world worry about something unknown to fear. The known fears are probably priced in the prices of most stocks. IIFL Global Investor's Conference ­ Enterprising India VII is underway in Mumbai with over 100 companies presenting to domestic and international fund managers.  Indian economy in 2014 bottomed out and now it's in sweet spot for the coming years. Inflation is declining and RBI is behind the curve, hence the central bank needs to cut interest rates aggressively to support the economy, says Jim Walker of Asianomics who was the keynote speaker at IIFL’s conference on the first day.

The outlook is a positive start. The Nifty did stage a strong recovery but has not yet managed to surpass the high of “Bearish Engulfing” candle stick pattern which is placed at 7204 formed on Tuesday. The positive momentum is likely to continue only if Nifty manages to surpass multiple hurdles of 7204 and 7240. The currency movement will be closely tracked after it hit multi-year lows on Wednesday. The rupee is not too far away from hitting 70 to the dollar and could slump even further to a new record by the end of the year, according to an ET Poll.

US stock indices rallied on Wednesday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting indicated that the central bank will likely take time before raising interest rates further. The majority of Fed officials agreed that the best policy would be to wait for additional economic data before making any further attempts to raise interest rates in 2016.

Asian markets are in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 257.42 points, or 1.6%, to end at 16,453.83. The S&P 500 index advanced 33.25 points, or 1.7%, to close at 1,926.83 - recording its first three-day winning streak this year.  The S&P has gained more than 5% since Thursday’s close - its biggest three-day gain since August. The Nasdaq Composite index surged by 98.11 points, or 2.2%, to finish at 4,534.06.

Oil futures jumped 5.6% to end at US$30.66 a barrel, driven by talks between Iran and OPEC to freeze oil production to boost prices. Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said he supported efforts to calm oil markets.

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs has approved construction of six Railway Lines and a Railway bridge to cater to both increased passenger and freight needs in various areas of the country. The proposals will cost over Rs.10,700 crore and most part of the expenditure will be met through extra budgetary resources (Institutional Financing).

Quick Heal shares will be listed on the BSE and NSE on February 18. The company has raised Rs. 451 crore through its initial public offer (IPO).

National Highways Authority of India is planning to add around 50,000 km of road network in the next five to six years with an investment potential of nearly USD 250 billion (about Rs 17 lakh crore), according to reports.

YES Bank ties-up with Ultracash Technologies

This partnership will enable Ultracash to issue YES BANK sponsored mobile wallets and employ YES BANK’s innovative IMPS payments platform to enable processing of instant proximity transactions. Ultracash utilizes a patent-pending technology, where payment data is securely transferred from one device to the other using unique ultra high frequency sound waves.

YES Bank announced its collaboration with Ultracash Technologies to launch payments processing through Sound Waves. Ultracash utilizes novel, first of its kind technology to enable merchant and person to person proximity payments. 

This partnership will enable Ultracash to issue YES BANK sponsored mobile wallets and employ YES BANK’s innovative IMPS payments platform to enable processing of instant proximity transactions. Ultracash utilizes a patent-pending technology, where payment data is securely transferred from one device to the other using unique ultra high frequency sound waves. This innovative technology ensures that Ultracash’s ‘Tap and Pay’ works on all devices and doesn’t need any special hardware to make the payment and there is no need of special NFC chips.

With over 1 Billion mobile connections resulting in 75% market penetration, India is a country poised for the mobile payments revolution. There are about 200 million estimated smart phone owners in the country. However, the limited internet connectivity is restricting the proliferation of mobile payments. Ultracash’s sound wave technology enables mobile payments to be done without the need for Internet connectivity using any of the options such as bank account and debit/credit cards. In addition, Ultracash will now be issuing YES BANK branded digital wallets to the consumers to aid quicker, seamless and friction free payments. Ultracash will be riding on the IMPS payments APIs of YES BANK to allow merchant as well as person to person payments.

This launch is expected to fuel proximity payments in India with the usage of a Smart Phone as an acquiring instrument for the merchants. Currently, there are only about 1 million POS terminals in the country for a merchant population of over 25 million. With this offering, YES BANK and Ultracash are together expecting to bring a change in the way proximity payments are done in the country.

UltraCash, which was launched in Bangalore in August 2015 is changing the way Bangaloreans pay. In this short span, UltraCash has more than 60,000 active app users who have done more than 1.2 Lac transactions amounting to Rs.10 crore in transaction value. UltraCash is currently present in more than 1000 merchants across various offline and home delivery segments.

 Ritesh Pai, Senior President and Country Head – Digital Banking, YES BANK, said “Indian payments market is at a cusp of revolution and YES BANK has been at the forefront along with partners such as Ultracash to lead innovations which will be widely adopted by consumers. With this collaboration, we are expecting to change the way Merchant payments are done across the country and lead the proliferation of the digital and mobile payments to the 25 million small scale retailers.”

Vishal Lal, Co-Founder UltraCash said “UltraCash is committed to working towards moving India to a less-cash economy using technology and innovation. Our vision is to empower every merchant in this country to accept digital payment seamlessly without any hardware dependence and allow every consumer to pay in a simple and secure manner using her mobile phone from the payment instrument of her choice. We are very excited to partner with Yes Bank in this endeavor to bring about a positive change in our country and help in widespread use of digital payments.”

L&T Finance Holdings President & Whole-time Director, N Sivaraman retires

Sivaraman joined L&T in 1982 and during his tenure spanning more than 3 decades, he has worked across functions including Internal Audit, Finance and Accounts, Treasury, Investor Relations and Mergers & Acquisitions.

After a long and successful career with the Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Group,N. Sivaraman, President and Whole-time Director of L&T Finance Holdings Limited, has decided to retire from the services of the Company on attaining the age of 58.

Sivaraman joined L&T in 1982 and during his tenure spanning more than 3 decades, he has worked across functions including Internal Audit, Finance and Accounts, Treasury, Investor Relations and Mergers & Acquisitions. He was a key team member of the demerger process of L&T’s Cement business.He was part of the leadership team that strategized L&T’s foray into Financial Services back in 2005. He subsequently led the Company’s successful acquisitions into three new business lines – Housing Finance, Two Wheeler Finance and Asset Management. In 2011 he was elevated to the position of President of L&T Finance Holdings Limited. That year he also led the Company’s IPO.

TCS launches Digital reimagination studio in Silicon Valley

This new facility brings a start-up culture to large enterprise clients, expanding TCS’ current footprint in Santa Clara by leveraging the best of world class creative, design, engineering, and business domain experts.

Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced the launch of its Digital Reimagination Studio in Santa Clara, designed to help customers and partners rapidly ideate bold new innovations and build industry changing concepts.

This new facility brings a start-up culture to large enterprise clients, expanding TCS’ current footprint in Santa Clara by leveraging the best of world class creative, design, engineering, and business domain experts. With digital and disruptive forces fundamentally changing most global sectors – at unprecedented speeds –  new models of business transformation and client engagement are needed. The TCS Digital Reimagination Studio enables customers to maximize the benefits of digital technologies via rapid product prototyping in Silicon Valley style garages and workspaces that foster creativity and extremely agile collaboration.

“Digital is now pervasive and an unstoppable force that is changing many industries we know today. The creative-led teams and processes we are pioneering in our new TCS Digital Reimagination Studio in Silicon Valley will set the standard for our industry,” said N. Chandrasekaran, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services. “We are pleased to extend these capabilities to our customers and look forward to many Digital Reimagination™ client engagements in the months and years to come.”

The TCS Digital Reimagination Studio will create meaningful innovations by leveraging a human-centered  systemic approach to reimagining industry business models, products and services, customer segments, channels, business processes, and workplaces. The proprietary creative process used in the Studio guides the joint TCS-Customer and partner teams through Discover, Define, Refine, and Deliver phases. The rapid-prototyping methods, combined with continuous iteration, will create bold new innovations to not only meet customer needs, but impact industries in unique and novel ways.

Punj Lloyd gains on winning oil & gas EPC orders

The company announced winning oil & gas EPC orders worth Rs 2070 crore from Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) and Oman Gas Company (OGC) which are owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC.

Punj Lloyd is currently trading at Rs. 22.7, up by Rs. 0.25 or 1.11% from its previous closing of Rs. 22.45 on the BSE.The company announced winning oil & gas EPC orders worth Rs 2070 crore from Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) and Oman Gas Company (OGC) which are owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC.

The scrip opened at Rs. 22.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 23.4 and Rs. 22.45 respectively. So far 678478(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 745.56 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 40.75 on 28-Feb-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 20.75 on 20-May-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 24.9 and Rs. 21.7 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 36.93 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 9.84 % and 53.24 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

United Breweries plunges 8%

The company has reportedly said that Punjab National Bank has declared the company as a "willful defaulter".

United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd stock was lower by 8% at Rs. 18.The company has reportedly said that Punjab National Bank has declared the company as a "willful defaulter".

The scrip opened at Rs. 20.3 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 20.3 and Rs. 18.25 respectively. So far 180750(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 134.64 crore.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 35.8 on 10-Nov-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 17 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 24.7 and Rs. 19.6 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 52.34 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 4.88 % and 42.78 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 100 DMA.