UPDATE 1-Cello Group sees double-digit oper profit growth in H1

(Reuters) – British market research firm Cello Group Plc (CLL.L) said it would show double-digit operating profit growth in the first half, driven by rising income from its international blue-chip client base, particularly from the United States. The company, which carries out direct marketing campaigns and user satisfaction surveys, said it had good revenue visibility for the next quarter and that it was optimistic for a good full-year outcome.

Cello said income from UK clients had held up well, with several notable private sector wins.

However, there are likely to be further declines in UK public sector income over the coming months as expected, it said.

“The like-for-like income growth achieved, combined with a lower cost base as a result of proactive action taken in 2009, are expected to lead to a healthy improvement in profitability in 2010,” the company said in a statement.

Cello Group shares were indicated up 1.4 percent at 36 pence at 0642 GMT. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

UPDATE 1-Hilton Food sees progress in H2 on volume growth

(Reuters) – Meat-packaging firm Hilton Food Group Plc (HFG.L) said on Thursday it continued growing volumes in the first half and that it would make further progress in the second half.

The company, which caters to international food retailers like Tesco (TSCO.L) and Ahold (AHLN.AS), said trading for the 28 weeks ended July 18 was in line with its expectations, driven by volume growth across both Western and Central Europe.

Hilton Food also said raw material pricing remained relatively stable across most of its markets.

The company said it remained on schedule to start production at its new facility in Denmark in the second quarter of 2011.

“We will continue looking to grow our business with our existing customers and also by exploring geographic expansion prospects,” Hilton Food said in a statement.

Shares in the company closed at 250 pence on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

UPDATE 1-Speedy Hire stays cautious on recovery in UK

July 20 (Reuters) – Tool-hire firm Speedy Hire (SDY.L) said on Tuesday it maintained a cautious view about recovery prospects in the United Kingdom for the remainder of this year.

The company, which provides support services to construction, manufacturing, industrial and rail sectors, said the timing of recovery within private sector construction and the government’s autumn spending review will be critical to future performance.

However, Speedy Hire said first-quarter revenue and adjusted pretax profit were in line with its expectations.

The company said it would enhance its banking facilities to invest in its Middle East operations and take a one-time cash charge of 3.5 million pounds in the first half of this financial year.

Net debt at the end of last week closed at 134.9 million pounds ($205.4 million), the company said.

Shares of Speedy Hire closed at 22.5 pence on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6567 Pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) ((juhi.arora@thomsonreuters.com; within UK +44 207 542 7717; outside UK +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: juhi.arora.reuters.com@reuters.net))

UPDATE 1-E2v sees FY performance at upper end of its view

July 19 (Reuters) – British electronic component maker e2v Technologies Plc (E2V.L) said trading since March 31 was ahead of last year and it expected performance for the current financial year to be at the upper end of its estimates, helped by strong demand and order book.

The company said its order book for delivery over the next 12 months as on June 30 stood at 146 million pounds ($223.2 million), compared with 127 million pounds last year.

The increase in order book reflects improved underlying demand from certain sectors, e2v said.

Although overdue orders have reduced, they are still at an unusually high level and should return to normalised levels during the third quarter of this financial year, the company said in a statement.

Shares of e2v were up 0.8 percent at 63 pence at 0717 GMT on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) ((juhi.arora@thomsonreuters.com; within UK +44 207 542 7717; outside UK +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: juhi.arora.reuters.com@reuters.net))

UPDATE 1-Fenner sees Q3 sales, underlying profit up

July 19 (Reuters) – British industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner (FENR.L) said it expected third-quarter underlying operating profit and revenue to be well ahead of a year ago, helped by a recovery in U.S. industrial markets.

The company, whose belts are predominantly used in the mining industry, said while trading in its advanced engineered products exceeded its own view, its seals business benefitted from good levels of demand from the oil and gas sector.

“The conveyor belting division, which was largely unaffected by the economic downturn, has continued to perform well,” Fenner said in a statement.

The company, which generates 75 percent of its revenue from outside Europe, remained confident about its short- and longer-term outlook on encouraging order flows.

Fenner, which raised about 36.3 million pounds via a share placing in April, said it would continue looking for growth through acquisition for its service business.

Shares in the company were up 0.3 percent down at 216.5 pence at 0721 GMT on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Aditi Samajpati in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

UPDATE 1-SThree profit falls; makes strong start to H2

July 19 (Reuters) – British recruiter SThree Plc (STHR.L) posted a 35 percent drop in first-half adjusted pretax profit, due to a reduction in permanent placements, but said it made a strong start to the second half as some of its markets started improving.

The staffing company, which counts finance, oil and gas, and pharma recruitment among its niche areas, said although some markets staged a robust recovery, others were still subdued by normal standards.

“Having a strong sense of where the market is heading remains difficult, but on the basis of the currently available data we remain cautiously optimistic,” Chief Executive Russell Clements said in a statement.

For the six months ended May 30, the company said its pretax profit before exceptional items fell to 7.3 million pounds ($11.2 million) from 11.2 million pounds last year.

Revenue fell 21 percent to 221.7 million pounds, while permanent placements fell 14 percent to 2,842.

The company maintained its interim dividend at 4 pence.

SThree shares closed at 293 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 POUND) (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

UPDATE 1-Kewill says eyeing acquisitions; still in offer talks

(Reuters) – British software firm Kewill Plc (KWL.L) said on Monday it was looking to expand geographically through acquisitions while still remaining in offer talks.

In May, the company received an approach that valued the software provider to freight forwarders, distribution firms and express parcel groups at 116.8 million pounds ($178.6 million). [ID:nSGE64D0DE]

Kewill said it traded in line with its own view since end-March and continued to get new customer contracts.

While the sales pipeline remained solid, the longer sales cycles were in line with the difficult economic environment, it added.

Shares in the company closed at 112.50 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 Pound) (Reporting by Aditi Samajpati in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

ICICI Venture hires former Babcock India chief

June 17 (Reuters) – ICICI Venture, the private equity arm of No. 2 Indian lender ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO), has hired Manikkan Sangameswaran, former chief of Babcock & Brown Infrastructure’s BBI.AX India unit, to head its infrastructure business.

Private Capital | Financials

Sangameswaran will head the private equity arm’s soon-to-be-launched infrastructure fund, ICICI Venture Chief Executive Vishakha Mulye said. [ID:nSGE64A0DN].

ICICI Venture also appointed Partha Dey, the head of ICICI Bank’s project finance business, to the fund.

Prior to his role in Babcock, Sangameswaran was the head of ABN Amro’s mergers and acquisition business in India. He was also part of some of the largest M&As involving Indian companies including Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus. (Reporting by Indulal P.M.; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Citi names Rahul Shukla head of India corp banking

June 15 (Reuters) – Citigroup (C.N) said on Tuesday Rahul Shukla will take over as head of India corporate banking, the unit that manages financing needs of the bank’s corporate clients.

Financials

Shukla, who had joined Citi in 1991 and was most recently heading the bank’s telecom, media and technology practice in the Asia Pacific, will report to Ravi Kapoor, Citi’s global banking head in India. (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

India oil min: seeking fuel price panel meet Thursday

June 15 (Reuters) – India’s Oil Ministry is seeking a meeting of a panel of ministers on Thursday to discuss fuel pricing, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters on Tuesday.

“Better to have it on Thursday as the cabinet is there,” Deora said.

The decision to free up fuel prices is a tough test of the government’s ability to carry out reforms. Freeing up prices will help beleaguered state-run oil firms and improve the country’s fiscal health as fuel accounts for a quarter of an estimated subsidy bill of $25.6 billion. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Qualcomm says looking for partners for India broadband

June 11 (Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), which won broadband spectrum in four of India’s 22 zones, is looking for one or more local partners, a senior company official said.

Stocks | Global Markets | Technology | Telecommuncations Services

Kanwalinder Singh, president for Qualcomm’s Indian and South Asian operations, said the company was looking for partners among the firms that won third-generation (3G) spectrum in a recently concluded auction. (Reporting by Sanjeev Choudhary; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

India’s Hind Unilever board OKs share buyback

June 11 (Reuters) – Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HLL.BO), India’s largest household products maker, said on Friday its board had approved a share buyback at a maximum of 280 rupees per share.

Cyclical Consumer Goods | Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods

The company will spend up to 6.3 billion rupees ($134 million) on the share buyback, it said in a statement.

Ahead of the announcement, shares of the company closed marginally higher at 252.50 rupees in the Mumbai market. ($1=46.9 rupees) (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Reliance to pay Infotel broadband spectrum fee -source

June 11 (Reuters) – Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), India’s largest-listed conglomerate, will pay Infotel Broadband Services’ broadband spectrum fees, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

Energy | Telecommuncations Services

Unlisted Infotel Broadband Services is paying 128.48 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) for the spectrum, the government says, after it became the only firm to win broadband spectrum in all 22 zones in India in an auction that ended on Friday.

Reliance Industries said on Friday it agreed to buy Infotel for about $1 billion. (Reporting by Pratish Narayanan; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Indian shares provisionally close up 0.7 pct

June 11 (Reuters) – Indian shares provisionally closed 0.7 percent higher on Friday, with energy giant Reliance Industries (RELI.BO) leading the gains, helped by firm world stocks and strong industrial output data.

Financials

The 30-share BSE index .BSESN provisionally ended up 0.71 percent, or 120.20 points, at 17,042.28, with 18 components gaining.

The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed up 0.7 percent at 5,114.20 points. (Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Indian shares provisionally close up 1.7 pct

June 10 (Reuters) – Indian shares provisionally closed 1.7 percent higher on Thursday, lifted by gains in Asian and European equities, with Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) and Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO) leading the gains.

Financials

The 30-share BSE index .BSESN provisionally ended up 1.66 percent, or 276.12 points, at 16,934.01 points, with 28 components gaining.

The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed up 1.6 percent at 5,082.35 points. (Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Infosys BPO unit sees FY11 revenue up 15-20 pct

June 10 (Reuters) – The back-office outsourcing arm of Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO), India’s No. 2 software exporter, expects revenue to rise 15-20 percent in this fiscal year to March 2011, a top company official said on Thursday.

Technology

The company sees net profit margins at 20-22 percent in 2010/11, D. Swaminathan, chief executive of Infosys BPO told reporters.

Infosys BPO, which was set up as a separate unit of Infosys in 2002 and employs about 16,400 people, posted an 11 percent rise in revenue in the last fiscal year on net margins of 22 percent.

The unit offers finance and accounting, human resource and legal services outsourcing. (Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

India’s Bharti Airtel rises more than 3 pct

June 10 (Reuters) – Shares in India’s Bharti Airtel rose more than 3 percent on Thursday, extending gains for the second day after the top mobile operator said on Tuesday it completed its $9 billion acquisition of Zain’s (ZAIN.KW) Africa operations.

Telecommuncations Services

On Wednesday, a top official had told Reuters that Bharti will offer affordable rates in Africa to boost usage but has no plan to launch a price war. [ID:nSGE6580JD]

The stocks was up 3.03 percent at 280.40 rupees by 0551 GMT, while the main stock index .BSESN was up 0.7 percent.

Bharti shares had closed 5.6 percent higher on Wednesday, logging their best single-day percentage-point gain in more than six months. (Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

India’s L&T gets orders worth $159 million

June 10 (Reuters) – Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO), India’s top engineering and construction firm, said on Thursday its unit had won orders worth 7.47 billion rupees ($159 million) from customers including Coal India and Hindalco Industries. ($1=46.9 rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair))

‘Appropriate decision’ on oil prices at next meet-secy

June 8 (Reuters) – India is likely to take an “appropriate decision” on fuel price reforms at the next meeting of the panel of ministers, which will debate whether petrol and diesel prices should be raised to international levels, Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan told reporters on Tuesday.

The panel, which put off a decision on the reforms at its first meeting on Monday, is expected to meet again next week. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)