Infratil Ltd, the bidder for Royal Dutch Shell Plc, hopes healthy performance by the refining and fuel retailing unit of Shell in the coming quarters.

Infratil Chief Executive Officer Marko Bogoievski said, “(It) is an opportunity to put business improvement through that organization and also to optimize really an integrated downstream New Zealand business.”

The troubled finance company, Hanover Finance reported a half year loss of $102 million. Its operating loss for the year ended June 30, 2009 stood at $283.2 million given to increase in operating costs.

Slump in the property development sector adversely hit its business due to mismatch between property valuations and the market value of assets during the reporting period.

The directors of the firm added that firm’s results were also impacted by changes in International Financial Reporting Standards.

In the third quarter of 2009, European aerospace giant EADS, which is the owner of Airbus, lost 87m euros ($130million) as the weak US dollar affected its results. Back in the July-September quarter a year ago, the company made a profit of a 679m Euro.

In the economic recession, EADS has also seen orders for its aircraft decline.

Many of the firm’s costs are paid in euros however many of its aircraft are being paid for in dollars, as a result a fragile dollar against the euro reduced the profit for the company.

The second biggest house-builder in Britain, Persimmon, experienced a recovery in sales volumes. The company explained that this indicated that its order book for 2010 was 50 per cent ahead of this time last year.

It should be noted that last year, the York-based property group sold just above 10,000 homes and it has already managed to take £500 million for house sales due for completion next year along with selling all its new-build properties that will be ready in 2009.

It was specified by Persimmon via a trading statement, “The encouraging rate of sales achieved through the summer months was maintained during the autumn period with prices holding steady and even edging up in some regions.”

A 9% rise in profits was recently forwarded by online fashion retailer ASOS for the first half. The company explained that it is confident for the rest of the year and is not bothered by slower sales growth. In the six months to 30th September, pre-tax profits of £4.4 million were reported by the firm, which was higher from £4.05 million last year, bolstered by international sales and tighter cost controls.

The comparison site Moneysupermarket.com has received a jump in the visitor numbers, the credit of which goes to an advertising campaign featuring Peter Jones of TV show Dragon's Den. The group saw a healthy Q3 that covered the three months to September 30, since internet revenues grew nearly 15% on the first half, even when this was lower 15% on the same period 2008.  

In a trading update, Moneysupermarket said, “The marketing push featuring Mr Jones meant visitor numbers were up on the same period last year and against the second quarter.”

UAE-based Dana Gas has reported an increasing trend in its gross profit for third-quarter. The company has registered handsome growth of 64% in its third-quarter gross profit as compared to the similar period in 2008.

In a declaration, the company said that its revenues have witnessed an upward trend of 12% at Dh359 million (USD 97.74 million) in the reporting quarter.

As per last financial statements, the company has posted a net profit of Dh26 million in the third three month period of fiscal 2008.

Singapore - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) on Wednesday said net profit for the second quarter of its fiscal year rose 10.1 per cent from a year ago, led by robust performance in its markets in Singapore and Australia.

Net profit for the second quarter ending September 30 reached 956 million Singapore dollars (688 million US dollars), up from 868 Singapore dollars a year earlier, SingTel said in a statement.

Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited, has signed a JV pact with New Millennium Capital Corp (NML) and LabMag Limited Partnership for development of the Direct Shipment Ore (DSO) Project in Canada.

Under the deal, Tata Steel Group would invest 300 million Canadian dollars for development of an iron ore project in North America. However, the group takes final decision to invest within 180 days on completion of feasibility study.

ExlService Holdings, leading BPO services firm, has registered an increasing trend in its net profit which stood at around USD 4 million for the quarter ended September 30. In Q3 ended on September 30, 2008, the company has clocked a net loss of USD 1.08 million.

The revenue of the firm during third quarter of current financial year stood at USD 48.2 million, as compared with $46.6 million recorded in the corresponding period a year ago.

Chennai-headquartered Ucal Fuel Systems net profit during the quarter ended September 30, 2009 reveals higher performance compared to corresponding period last year. Company’s net profit during the quarter under review has witnessed substantial jump of 100% to Rs 1.94 crore.

In the like period a year earlier, the conglomerate had registered a net profit of Rs 90.97 lakh.

The total income of the conglomerate during the said three month period stood at Rs 96. 73 crore as compared to Rs 86.62 crore in the similar period year ago.

Ahluwalia Contracts (India), a long-established construction contractor, has posted a net profit of Rs 237.76 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2009, up 64 per cent against Rs 145.15 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2008.

The company's income improved by 14.76% to Rs 3,483.20 crore as compared with Rs 3,035.04 crore in the year-ago period. Presently, company's order book stands at Rs 4870 crore, which is 4.21% times its sales of Rs 1156.64 crore for the year ended March 2009, giving strong revenue visibility.

Consumer durables major Videocon Industries has registered a sharp decline in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended September 2009.  

During the quarter, the company’s profit has dropped by 15% to Rs 149.26 crore, from Rs 175.53 crore in the same quarter previous year.

In addition, Videocon’s net sales for the quarter dipped marginally at 0.18% to Rs 2621 crore, while total income for the quarter fell marginally by 0.09% to Rs 2628 crore, as compared with the prior year period.

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) reported 6 per cent increase in its net profit for the second quarter ended September 30. The company’s net profit stood at Rs 808 crore during the second quarter as compared to Rs 762 crore in the same period last year.

The firm hopes that demand in the steel segment would surge in next quarter as market has started to show signs of recovery.

JSPL reported 14 per cent decline in sales to Rs 2,445 crore as demand from the construction segment did not remain healthy. Over all steel prices declined almost 40 per cent till date, affecting all steel manufacturers in India.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK), leading healthcare company, has registered a growth of 6.9 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 141.08 crore during the third quarter ended September 2009 from Rs 131.97 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

However, company’s net sales has grown up by 12 per cent during the quarter, at Rs 511.8 crore against Rs 457 crore in the same period last year.

For the first nine months ended September 2009, the drug maker’s net sales increased by 10.4 per cent to Rs 1,426 crore from Rs 1,292 crore in the similar period of last year.

Anil Ambani Group-controlled Reliance Infrastructure has posted a net profit of Rs 307 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, up 6%, against net profit of Rs 289 crore over the corresponding period last fiscal.

The company's total income rose to Rs 2812.82 crore during the July- September quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 2674.86 crore in the same period last year.

Net sales for the quarter rose 8.82% to Rs 2649.56 crore, while total income for the quarter rose 6.69% to Rs 2812.82 crore, when compared with the prior year period.

Financial services company Reliance Capital, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has reported a 44 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 109 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 195.3 crore during the same quarter last year.

However, company’s total income has increased from Rs 671.41 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, up 1.47 per cent to Rs 681.32 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

Godrej Industries, a subsidiary of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Limited, has registered a consolidated net profit of Rs 66.67 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, up 244 per cent, compared to net profit of Rs 19.4 crore in the same period last year.

However, the company witnessed a decline of 7 per cent in its total income, which dropped to Rs 896.17 crore in the quarter ended September 30, against total income of Rs 965.27 crore in the same period last year.

Public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra has posted a net profit of Rs 86.68 crore for the July-September quarter, up 22.86 per cent against Rs 70.55 crore reported over the same period a year back.

The Pune-based bank's revenue jumped 14.64 per cent during the second quarter this fiscal to Rs 1,302.69 crore as against Rs 1,136.38 crore posted during the same period last year.

During second quarter of FY 2009-10, the total expenses stood at Rs 254.84 crore as compared to Rs 208.34 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, has registered a growth of 10.18 per cent in its Q2 net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

The bank posted a net profit of Rs 2490 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, as against Rs 2260 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The state-owned lender said its total income for the quarter under review has grown up by 14.19 percent at Rs 17776 crore as compared to Rs 15567 crore in the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008.

On a standalone basis, the bank posted a net profit of Rs 2490.04 crore on a total income of Rs 21,301.04 crore.