Stiff Competition | SilverScorpio.Com

UPDATE 1-India’s Bharti surges over 10 pct after stock upgrade

July 10, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, July 9 (Reuters) – Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), India’s leading mobile operator, rose more than 10 percent on Friday to its highest level in nearly three months after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock citing stable call tariffs.

India, the world’s fastest-growing mobile market, is signing up new mobile subscribers at a monthly average of 16 million, but call prices have fallen to as low as 0.4 U.S. cents a minute amid stiff competition in the crowded 15-operator market. Credit Suisse, which upgraded Bharti to “outperform” from “neutral”, said tariffs had been stable in the last eight months and high cost for 3G mobile spectrum had crimped mobile operators’ ability to go for further price war.

At 11:16 a.m. (0546 GMT), the stock was trading 8.7 percent higher at 305.25 rupees, after rising as much as 10.4 percent to their highest since April 15. The stock is still down 5.7 percent so far this year.

Rival Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) was up nearly 3 percent at 193.30 rupees, while the Mumbai market .BSESN was trading 1 percent higher. Reliance Communications and the main index are up 13 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, in 2010.

India’s three biggest carriers — Vodafone’s (VOD.L) India unit, Bharti and Reliance — each won key licences in May to offer 3G services in Delhi and Mumbai — the biggest markets in the country.

The auction yielded the Indian government $14.6 billion in revenues, nearly twice what it had expected. [ID:nSGE64J07X]

“Revenue market shares are steady, high auction prices could force most players to avoid competitive actions and regulatory risks could be exaggerated,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in the research report.

“Reasonable valuations could protect downside and lead to a favourable risk-reward profile. We are, therefore, turning positive on the sector.”

Bharti, which completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait’s Zain (ZAIN.KW) last month, trades at 13 times its one-year forward earnings compared to 14 times in Reliance Communications, according to Starmine data. ($1=46.8 rupees) (Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 3g Services, Auction Prices, Bharti Airtel, brti, Credit Suisse, Indian Government, market shares, Mobile Market, mobile operator, Mobile Operators, mobile subscribers, Mumbai Market, price war, Regulatory Risks, reuters, Risk Reward, rupees, Stable Call, stiff competition, Vod

Vodafone cuts down value of Indian venture by a third

May 19, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, May 19 (ANI): A price war triggered by stiff competition and future payments for spectrum has forced telecom giant Vodafone Group to cut down the value of its Indian venture, Vodafone Essar, by 3.2 billion dollars.

Prices in India, where Vodafone has added nine million customers in three months, have come down by a third.

Vodafone is also unhappy the Indian authorities’ plans to charge firms more for 2G licenses they already hold and make takeovers harder, The Sun reports

Vodafone’s Chief executive officer Vittorio Colao said: “I don’t think these rules (on consolidation and spectrum) make sense. India needs investment. India is a vast country with a vast population still not fully able to communicate. What India needs is investment and good technology and this will not come in an environment with too many operators and fragmentation of investment.”

The company had acquired an economic interest of 67 percent in the asset from Hutchison for 11.1 billion dollars in 2007, but its current value is merely 8.2 billion dollars, Vodafone said on Tuesday.

The world’s largest private mobile phone firm may find that its difficulties in India are far from over, the paper said.

Finance chief Andy Halford insisted though that India was still a huge asset. The company has 100 million customers there, more than in Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK combined. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 1 billion dollars, 2g, chief executive officer, current value, Economic Interest, finance chief, Giant Vodafone, Good Technology, halford, hutchison, indian authorities, Indian Venture, investment india, Mobile Phone Firm, price war, stiff competition, takeovers, telecom giant, Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group

Morgan Stanley bows out of Atlantic City project

April 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley is bowing out of the Revel casino in Atlantic City, a move that will result in a “substantial loss” of its $1.2 billion investment in the partially built property.

U.S.

The financial services company said in a filing on Thursday that its board authorized a “plan of disposal” for Revel Entertainment Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley that has been developing the beachfront casino-hotel on the boardwalk.

“The company will consider various alternatives to effect the full disposition of Revel, which may include a direct sale to a third party or an auction process,” the company said.

Morgan Stanley did not say why it was withdrawing from the project in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company was not immediately available for comment.

The bank’s departure comes as Atlantic City faces stiff competition from slot parlors in neighboring states. The $2 billion Revel casino was widely viewed as a project that would lure more gamblers and tourists to the city.

But the project, which began in 2007, has faced challenges. In January 2009, Revel slowed construction on the project, focusing solely on the exterior, and laid off workers.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Atlantic City, auction, Boardwalk, Casino Hotel, challenges, faces, Financial Services Company, gamblers, Group Llc, morgan stanley, paschal, reuters, Revel Entertainment Group, securities and exchange, securities and exchange commission, stiff competition, subsidiary, Substantial Loss, third party, tourists

U.S. Navy captures pirates in clash off Seychelles

April 1, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Thu, Apr 1 08:26 PM

A U.S. warship captured five suspected pirates on Thursday after an exchange of fire in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles, the U.S. navy said.

“USS Nicholas captured suspected pirates on Thursday after exchanging fire, sinking a skiff, and confiscating a suspected mother ship,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement. It did not say whether the pirates were Somalis.

After the clash, the American ship chased the suspected pirate ship, which had been damaged, until it stopped, it said.

It said it captured three pirates on the skiff and another two on the mother ship. The United States said that it expected pirates to increase attacks on merchant vessels due to better weather from March through May.

Pirate sources and a maritime source said that a Taiwanese ship had also been hijacked on Thursday.

Pirates operating off Somalia have stepped up hijack attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, despite the presence of foreign navies off the coast of Somalia.

Attacks had created a two-year boom for specialist insurance cover, but stiff competition and moves by owners to better protect ships has taken the edge out of insurance costs.

But analysts say the menace of piracy is far from contained, and unchecked growth in the rest of Africa, possible attacks in other key shipping channels and higher ransom demands will keep insurers interested in the long term.

(Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by George Obulutsa and Elizabeth Fullerton)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: american ship, fullerton, gulf of aden, insurance costs., Jack Kimball, Merchant Vessels, mother ship, navies, Navy Captures Pirates, Ocean West, Pirate Ship, Ransom Demands, Shipping Channels, Skiff, somalis, Specialist Insurance, stiff competition, u s navy, Unchecked Growth, Uss Nicholas

Traders get technology update

March 27, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Far west New South Wales businesses have now had a crash course in how stay up to date with technology to compete with competition outside the region.

The Far West Board of Regional Development Australia held a workshop yesterday and addressed about 25 people, including business owners from Broken Hill, Tibooburra and White Cliffs.

CEO Linda Nadge says local businesses are suffering from stiff competition from outside of the region and one of the ways to overcome this is to stay current with technology.

“Technology enables people to access more products in more regions. People locally do understand that it’s getting tougher to stay in business and make a profit,” she said.

“I think generally the people overall who attended the workshop realised that.”

She says if businesses do not keep up with technology they might see technology as a barrier to business, rather than an enabler.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Australia, broken-hill-2880, business owners, ceo, community-and-society, Crash Course, enabler, far west, information-and-communication, internet, local businesses, New South Wales, people, regional development, Small Business, stiff competition, technology technology, tibooburra-2880, White Cliffs, white-cliffs-2836

Jetlite Special Fares – Jet Special Fares – Spicejet Special Fares – Jetlite, Jet, SpiceJet come up with special fares

June 11, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost plunging passenger loads, no-frill carriers JetLite and SpiceJet on Wednesday announced limited period all-inclusive fares.

Jet Airways too announced low fares for premier full-service class travel, excluding surcharges, taxes and airport fees.

Indian aviation industry had witnessed stiff competition on air fares till 2007 end, with no-frill carriers taking the lead in offering low fares and forcing the full- service ones to follow suit. The practice was, however, given up by all airlines once they started feeling the heat of growing losses due to burgeoning fuel costs.

SpiceJet is offering the all-inclusive fare tickets for travel between July 1 and September 15 for all destinations for which the bookings are open till June 12, while Jetlite has announced for the period between July 1 and September 30 and the bookings are open till June 13.

Jetlite has offered the special fares on its Kolkata- Imphal/Guawahati, Delhi-Ahmedabad and Kochi-Hyderabad sectors, Mumbai-Nagpur/Hyderabad sectors, Mumbai-Delhi/Chennai/Kolkata and Delhi-Pune/Hyderabad/Imphal/Kochi sectors, an official statement said.

To avail Jet Airways special fares, passengers would have to book their tickets for relevant sectors between June 11 and June 30, and travel would be effective from June 11.

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: Ahmedabad, Air Fares, array, aviation industry, Chennai, Class Travel, fuel costs, Hyderabad, imphal, indian aviation, Indian aviation industry, jet, jet airways, Jet Airways special fares, Jet booking, Jet Special Fares, Jetairways, JetLite, Jetlite booking, Jetlite Special Fares, kochi, Low Fares, New Delhi, Passenger Loads, Pune, Relevant Sectors, spicejet, spicejet booking, Spicejet Special Fares, stiff competition, taking the lead

Chidambaram moves on from Esteem to Fiesta

June 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

NEW DELHI: Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador, once the preferred choice for ministers and senior bureacrats for official cars, faces stiff competition. Models from companies like Maruti, Hyundai and Ford are fast-replacing the country’s oldest car in the race for official cars.

The latest to opt for change is none other than home minister P Chidambaram, who though has preferred to replace his Maruti Esteem with Ford Fiesta sedan. The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals — a central purchase organisation of Union government under ministry of commerce and industries — places orders for government cars. According to officials of Ford, the company has received oders for around 50 cars from the DGS&D this year of which 10 Ford Ikon models have been dispatched earlier this week for ministry of finance. The official confirmed Chidambaram’s car had been replaced with the Fiesta.

According to officials of Maruti Suzuki, its models are among the preferred cars for government officials. “We sell around 1000 cars mon-thly to the government and these include models like Suzuki Dzire, WagonR and Omni van,” the official said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 50 Cars, cars ford, Competition Models, Dgs, Disposals, ford fiesta, Ford Ikon, government officials, Hindustan Motors Ambassador, Home Minister, Maruti Esteem, Maruti Suzuki, ministry of commerce, ministry of finance, Oldest Car, P. Chidambaram, Preferred Choice, stiff competition, Union Government, WagonR

Aer Lingus chief executive to leave – reports

April 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

The chief executive of Aer Lingus, Dermot Mannion, is preparing to leave the Irish airline, The Sunday Business Post reported.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying the parting was “amicable” and the former state airline will begin an immediate search for a successor.

The Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper also reported Mannion was set to leave.

A spokeswoman for the airline declined to comment.

Mannion has fought off two takeover bids from rival Ryanair since taking over as chief executive in 2005 and the airline has said it was unlikely to make a pre-tax profit this year due to stiff competition and recession.

He was hit by controversy earlier this year when it was revealed his contract had been changed to ensure him a payment of up to 2.8 million euros ($3.74 million) if Aer Lingus was taken over.

The change was later scrapped.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: aer lingus, chief executive, controversy, dermot mannion, irish airline, irish mail, mail on sunday, recession, Ryanair, spokeswoman, state airline, stiff competition, sunday business post, takeover bids, Tax Profit