CHENNAI, OCT. 31:
Cement stocks have been on the rise on hopes that demand will pick up in the second half of current fiscal. Expectations that manufacturers might announce another round of price hike have also boosted the sentiment for these stocks.
According to a Mumbai-based broker, marketmen have already discounted the July-September quarter financial performance, which they feel would be muted.
UltraTech Cement last week announced a 59 per cent sequential decline in net profit for the September quarter to Rs 279 crore and a 11 per cent fall in net sales to Rs 3,910 crore. However, its net profit more than doubled year-on-year, mainly due to the low base effect.
“Though we expect that companies' numbers are likely to miss the street expectation, cement firms will see a rebound in the coming quarters, due to pick up in demand,” he added
“India's cement market is expected to see demand growth rate double and pricing power improve in FY13-14, post a bottoming out of utilisation rate in FY-12,” says a research report from Anand Rathi.
STILL CAUTIOUS
However, some scepticism still persists on cement sector. A report from Spark Capital says: “We expect supply and costs pressure to percolate in the coming quarters for the cement sector and maintain our negative stance on the sector. For the earnings season, we expect south-based players, India Cements and Madras Cements, to report better set of results. This is on account of higher realisations due to pricing discipline in Southern region coupled with low-base effect in Andhra Pradesh region.”
According to Mr Shailendra Chouksey, whole-time Director of JK Cement, though sales were up and cement prices were better during the July-September quarter of this fiscal from the year-ago period, they did not reflect the bottomline due to higher raw material and freight costs. The company, on Monday, reported a 13-per cent rise in net profit for the September quarter.
MINING TAX WORRY
The proposed new mining tax could be another blow to cement companies as it would increase the limestone mining costs by Rs 75-80 a tonne. Further, given Coal India's strong pricing power, there could be a price hike to compensate for the higher incidence of mining tax on Coal India. This could result in downside risks to the profitability of cement producers, said HDFC Securities in a research report.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
US prosecutors seek maximum prison term for Rajaratnam
NEW YORK, AUG 10:
Seeking maximum prison term for Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager convicted of running America’s biggest insider trading scam, US prosecutors have recommended that he should be sentenced to as many as 24 and a half years for his “extensive criminal activities’’.
Federal prosecutors had yesterday filed a 56-page ‘Government’s Sentencing Memorandum’ recommending a “very substantial term of imprisonment proportionate to the historic nature of his crime’’.
Separately, the defence submitted its own 79-page memo asking for a lenient prison term “substantially below” the recommended guidelines saying a lengthy prison term would “seriously threaten his well-being” and would be “a death sentence.”
The defence memo also referred to Mr Rajaratnam’s health problems, describing them as “a unique constellation of ailments ravaging his body’’.
Federal prosecutors termed Sri Lanka-born Rajaratnam, 54, as the “modern face of illegal insider trading” saying “he is arguably the most egregious violator of the laws against insider trading ever to be caught’’.
Their memo said the court should impose the maximum sentence of 235 to 293 months established for his crime under non-binding sentencing guidelines, a ruling that will “deter others in the hedge fund and money management world from engaging in a crime that is far too rampant’’.
The memo was submitted to Judge Mr Richard Holwell, who is scheduled to sentence Mr Rajaratnam on September 27.
Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyers argue that he should get a lenient sentence because he was “already keenly aware that the consequences of insider trading can include the destruction of one’s business and reputation, exposure to scorn and public obloquy and the complete loss of personal dignity and privacy to government surveillance and the media’s microscope’’.
However, the Government countered saying Mr Rajaratnam reaped at least $64 million in illegal profits from insider trading.
Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate because Mr Rajaratnam’s “criminal conduct was brazen, arrogant, harmful and pervasive’’.
“Such a sentence is necessary to punish Rajaratnam for his extensive criminal activities, and to send a clear and unambiguous message to hedge funds and money managers that insider trading will not be tolerated,” said Mr Jonathan Streeter, an assistant United States attorney, in the memo.
Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyers, on their part, said their client had been portrayed “as the poster child for every wrongful act that has ever been associated with Wall Street’’.
“Rajaratnam understands that he has been convicted of serious offenses. But the evidence at trial showed that Rajaratnam was not the ‘mastermind’ of an insider—trading network, as the government and the press have painted him,” Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyer Mr John Dowd said.
Seeking maximum prison term for Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager convicted of running America’s biggest insider trading scam, US prosecutors have recommended that he should be sentenced to as many as 24 and a half years for his “extensive criminal activities’’.
Federal prosecutors had yesterday filed a 56-page ‘Government’s Sentencing Memorandum’ recommending a “very substantial term of imprisonment proportionate to the historic nature of his crime’’.
Separately, the defence submitted its own 79-page memo asking for a lenient prison term “substantially below” the recommended guidelines saying a lengthy prison term would “seriously threaten his well-being” and would be “a death sentence.”
The defence memo also referred to Mr Rajaratnam’s health problems, describing them as “a unique constellation of ailments ravaging his body’’.
Federal prosecutors termed Sri Lanka-born Rajaratnam, 54, as the “modern face of illegal insider trading” saying “he is arguably the most egregious violator of the laws against insider trading ever to be caught’’.
Their memo said the court should impose the maximum sentence of 235 to 293 months established for his crime under non-binding sentencing guidelines, a ruling that will “deter others in the hedge fund and money management world from engaging in a crime that is far too rampant’’.
The memo was submitted to Judge Mr Richard Holwell, who is scheduled to sentence Mr Rajaratnam on September 27.
Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyers argue that he should get a lenient sentence because he was “already keenly aware that the consequences of insider trading can include the destruction of one’s business and reputation, exposure to scorn and public obloquy and the complete loss of personal dignity and privacy to government surveillance and the media’s microscope’’.
However, the Government countered saying Mr Rajaratnam reaped at least $64 million in illegal profits from insider trading.
Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate because Mr Rajaratnam’s “criminal conduct was brazen, arrogant, harmful and pervasive’’.
“Such a sentence is necessary to punish Rajaratnam for his extensive criminal activities, and to send a clear and unambiguous message to hedge funds and money managers that insider trading will not be tolerated,” said Mr Jonathan Streeter, an assistant United States attorney, in the memo.
Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyers, on their part, said their client had been portrayed “as the poster child for every wrongful act that has ever been associated with Wall Street’’.
“Rajaratnam understands that he has been convicted of serious offenses. But the evidence at trial showed that Rajaratnam was not the ‘mastermind’ of an insider—trading network, as the government and the press have painted him,” Mr Rajaratnam’s lawyer Mr John Dowd said.
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