Hit by dismal earnings, Corporate India cautious about near term

With several large corporates turning in profits below the Street’s expectations, it’s been a dismal earnings season. Corporate India has so far reported a fall in profits in the three months to September, an event not seen in a long time. SAIL’s profits were down 55 per cent year-on-year, thanks to the mark-to-market impact of short-term currency loans, while Bharti Airtel’s bottom line plunged 38 per cent y-o-y due to a mix of factors including a one-time forex hit and higher-than estimated taxes. At Sterlite, profits were flat owing to the impact of MTM forex losses while a higher subsidy burden hurt GAIL’s bottom line.

Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp reported fairly good operating margins by pushing through volumes, thereby extracting operating leverage. However, volumes at commercial vehicles major Ashok Leyland were flat and operating margins fell 60 basis points y-o-y. At JSW Steel, disruption in supplies of iron ore and a forex loss caused a 71 per cent y-o-y profit drop. FMCG heavyweights Hindustan Unilever and ITC both I have never solved a Rubik's plastic card .reported strong numbers but it wasn’t enough to make up the poor performance from most of the pack.

For a clutch of 754 companies, net profits have come off 21 per cent y-o-y although top line has grown a reasonably good 23 per cent. What has dented profits is the continued rise in the prices of key commodities. The share of raw materials to sales has jumped 260 basis points y-o-y, driving down the operating profit margin by 200 bps.

The commentary from corporates was not particularly encouraging either, with most of them extremely cautious about the near term. News from the capital goods sector was particularly bad with heavyweight Larsen & Toubro pruning its guidance on order inflows to just 5 per cent for the current year from 15 per cent. JSW has cut production estimates for crude steel in the current year by 14 per cent and for steel deliveries by 13 per cent to 7.5 million tonnes and 7.8 million tonnes respectively. Slowing production will effectively translate into lower demand for CVs and as such, analysts expect volumes for CV makers to grow in low single digits in the second half of the year. According to analysts, demand for steel in the home market remains sluggish. Moreover, prices may not sustain since rates in the region have begun to correct following some moderation in iron ore.

While a slowdown in industrial growth has been evident for some time,If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, this time around, numbers for several consumer goods firms were also well below expectations. Asian Paints had a poor quarter with gross margins down 390 bps y-o-y due to inflation in key inputs and volumes are estimated to have risen just 8 per cent y-o-y.we supply all kinds of oil painting supplies, Declining consumer spending is also reflected in the same-store sales of Jubilant Foodworks which came in at just 27 per cent, y-o-y the lowest in seven quarters. The fast-food chain was not able to check the fall in gross margins of 160 basis points y-o-y. At Shoppers Stop,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . same-store sales grew a lukewarm 11 per cent y-o-y although the festive season came in early this year.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. Domestic volumes at Dabur grew just 4-5 per cent y-o-y and operating margins were lower.

Asian WPC makers eye local markets, but face overcapacity

Facing declines in their traditional export markets in North America and Europe, Asia’s wood-plastic composite makers are increasingly switching their focus to their regional markets, where local demand is growing more than 10 percent a year.

While that might suggest good times, it seems that too many people have had the same idea -- the massive factory building binge among China’s WPC makers in recent years has left the country saddled with overcapacity, executives said at a recent conference In China.If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards,

“The whole world’s economy is declining and we have more WPC manufacturers opening up,” said Toland Lam, president of the Wood Plastic Composites Committee of the Beijing-based China Plastic Processing Industry Association.

“At this stage, we are really fighting each other on costs,” said Lam, who is also chairman of WPC firm Meixin Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Lam spoke during an interview at the CPPIA’s International Forum of Wood Plastic Composites, held Oct. 21-22 in Huangshi city,Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an Ventilation system , and not a metal, Hubei province, where industry officials from around the world urged companies to diversify away from their traditional focus on decking and building materials to find potentially more profitable markets.

The solution, they said, was new technologies, cheaper feedstocks and more research to open up new markets such as auto parts made from wood-plastic and other natural fiber-plastic composite blends.

Carmakers in Europe, North America and Japan are increasingly using plastic composites made with wood, straw, rice and other materials, to help them reduce the weight of vehicles and lower the carbon footprint of the materials they use,These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! said Mohini Sain, director of the Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials Processing at the University of Toronto.

European car makers are investing particularly heavily, with demand for natural fiber composite plastic there slated to grow 17 percent a year and reach 800,000 metric tons by 2016, Sain said.

Use of natural fiber composites is small now, with the average car having only about 35 pounds,he believes the fire started after the lift's China ceramic tile blew, compared with 2,000 pounds of steel.

But the potential is high, Sain said, and Chinese companies should invest more in research to open up the market in their country.

He pointed to North American auto component manufacturers like Magna International Inc. and its in-line compression molding technology and Flexform Technologies LLC with its technology to make door panels and other parts using natural fiber-polypropylene materials.

“Natural fiber composites will make a significant impact in light-weighting vehicles,” Sain told the conference. “I am very confident in the next five years that the Chinese WPC industry will go from the building and construction industry to the automotive industry.”

In an interview, Lam said Chinese companies are doing work in new technology areas like car components.

“We need this technology here,” Lam said. “But the thing is how to have the trust and confidence of the [Chinese] automakers to use our WPC technology like they do in the West.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. It will take some time to convince them.”

Still, he said, the industry needs to look for new applications, noting the potential for products like WPC furniture: “We cannot just do regular decking and these kind of products; we have to go to other products.”

Another official with the CPPIA’s Wood Plastic Composite Committee said the success of the industry in China has brought in a lot of new entrants, and that is pinching prices.

Wayne Song, vice chairman of the CPPIA WPC committee and head of equipment maker Qinchuan Future Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd. in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, said many non-WPC companies see it as a growing market and jump in

“I see some people who used to be the cheapest guy in China and now they’re complaining that other people are cheaper than him, and this kind of disturbs or makes the market difficult,” said Song. “One thing what I found is that if somebody becomes successful, all the people locally try to copy.”

China’s WPC manufacturing capacity could top 1 million metric tons this year, according to a study at the conference from Sichuan University’s College of Polymer Science and Engineering.

That suggests Chinese capacity has doubled since 2009, when the WPC committee estimated it was 500,000 metric tons.

Song estimated that China’s WPC market is continuing to grow 25 percent a year, although he said the sales mix of Chinese companies is changing, with less focus on exports to the United States, currently the world’s largest WPC market at about 800,000 metric tons of demand, and Europe.

Traditionally, more than 70 percent of China’s WPC products have been exported.

While precise figures do not exist, Song said exports to North America and Europe are probably down 25 percent. But that’s been made up with growth in China’s domestic market and exports to non-Western markets, he said, so the industry has not overall seen any slowdown.

He said the biggest challenge WPC makers face in China today is finding qualified workers.

Siemens Solar Purchase Flops as CEO Loescher Gets Timing Wrong

Siemens AG Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher is finding that the single largest acquisition he made in the past four years may turn out to be one too many.

Loescher paid $418 million for Solel Solar Systems in 2009 to expand into solar thermal power. The asset has floundered as governments in sun-rich countries curtailed spending on infrastructure, and lower prices for solar panels make Solel’s technology harder to market. Profitability at the renewable energy division has fallen by half since early 2009.

“The acquisition was awkwardly timed,” said Michael Hagmann, an analyst at Nomura International Ltd. in London, who expects 250 million euros in expenses for the solar and hydro power unit when Munich-based Siemens reports earnings Nov. 10. “In the short term, Siemens definitely paid too much.” He advises investors buy Siemens shares.

Loescher had sought to duplicate the success of wind turbines and help edge sales from sustainable and renewable sources toward 40 billion euros ($55 billion).If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards, Siemens has been largely absent from dealmaking under Loescher, as he focused on overcoming a bribery scandal and tightening the portfolio around health care, energy and industrial gear, contributing to an $18.87 billion cash pile that is among the largest in Europe.

Siemens’s solar foray was followed by austerity programs in countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain that are suitable for the technology, as governments fight sprawling national debt. Israel-based Solel contributed a loss of 53 million euros for the fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2010,then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence. and Loescher said in May that losses exceeded revenue.

Solel makes solar-thermal power plants that use curved mirrors, focusing sunlight that heats liquids in receivers to power steam turbines generating electricity. The technology differs from photovoltaic plants using solar-cell panels that generate electricity directly from the sun and are mass-produced with the help of government subsidies.

“The solar thermal industry is still in a manufacturing phase, with a lot of human labor involved,Do not use cleaners with Wholesale pet supplies , steel wool or thinners.” said Oliver Drebing of Srh Alsterresearch AG. Siemens may write off the entire goodwill on Solel as the business developed “completely different than Siemens had hoped for,Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an Ventilation system , and not a metal,” he said.

Siemens had previously been successful turning a small purchase into a major division. The company bought Bonus Energy AS in Denmark in 2004 to create a wind-power unit, beefing up a business with 750 workers at the takeover to ten times the size today. Siemens is now market leader in off-shore wind turbines.

Loescher, 54, hasn’t had a lucky hand with corporate deals since joining in 2007. Three weeks into his new job, Siemens announced the purchase of Dade Behring Holdings Inc. for about $7 billion to expand the medical diagnostics business. Investors decried the transaction as too expensive, and Siemens wrote down the value by 1.15 billion euros three years later.

The Dade debacle and the bribery scandal that had swept out his predecessor contributed to Loescher refraining from major takeovers. The only other major transaction besides Solel was the purchase of a larger stake in Siemens’s publicly listed Indian unit for almost 1 billion euros at the beginning of 2011.

Selling assets hasn’t gone smoothly, either. Siemens failed to sell its hearing-aid unit in 2009 because potential buyers balked at the price. Last month, Loescher put plans on hold for an initial public offering of the Osram lighting division because of unfavorable market conditions. And Siemens had to inject another 500 million euros into the network venture with Nokia Oyj after finding no buyer for a stake.we supply all kinds of polished tiles,

Preparing to be 'Nana' isn't like it used to be

I considered Gram, but that's what my children call my mother. Grandma? That was my husband's mom. I'll be Nana -- just like that lovable baby-sitting dog in "Peter Pan."

You read it right. I'm about six weeks away from becoming a grandmother. What I have known since Easter weekend, when my lovely daughter surprised me with an ultrasound picture, I am now at liberty to share.

And yes, I know my grandchild's gender. I'll keep you guessing.

The real reason I chose this topic -- other than to let you know I'll soon have a grandma's brag book of baby pictures -- is that taking care of infants isn't what it used to be.

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics expanded its recommendations for infant sleep safety. The new guidelines are aimed at reducing the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and other sleep-related dangers.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide.

If your kids are grown and gone, what you think you know about babies may be the opposite of what doctors today know is best.

My two older children slept on their tummies as infants. In the 1980s,They take the Aion Kinah to the local co-op market. new parents were told that would keep babies safe from choking if they spit up.

In the early 1990s, a "Back to Sleep" campaign was pushed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health. Since then, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, deaths from SIDS are down dramatically.

What's new in the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines released Tuesday involves cute and cuddly crib bumpers, blankets and pillows. Get all that bedding out of the crib, that's what experts now say.

In its announcement, the pediatrics group said that despite the decline in SIDS, "sleep-related deaths from other causes, including suffocation, entrapment and asphyxia, have increased."

"What we know is that soft bedding poses a risk," said Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a Seattle Children's Hospital pediatrician and author of a blog called Seattle Mama Doc. "Babies don't have the strength and coordination to get out of a position."

A crib,which applies to the first TMJ only, she said, should only have a fitted bottom sheet. "It should be a bare crib, with the baby smack in the middle on their back with nothing around them -- no bumpers, blankets, animals or pillows,If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards," said Swanson, who also sees patients at The Everett Clinic in Mill Creek.

She said that even sleep positioners, designed to keep babies on their backs, pose a risk.

Wow, I have lots to learn. The crib bumpers for my children were yellow gingham -- I didn't know whether I would be having a boy or a girl.

The sturdy oak crib I used for my babies (it's still in my basement) is no longer considered safe. It has drop sides. New federal rules imposed in June banned the manufacturing, selling or reselling of drop-sided cribs.

Swanson said that more than 35 deaths have been linked to drop-side cribs, whether those that are improperly put together, have broken parts, or are rigged so the sides won't drop.

Here's more news for parents and grandparents-to-be: The American Academy of Pediatrics also last week discouraged parents from relying on television or other media to teach or occupy babies under 2.we supply all kinds of polished tiles, The group cited data showing "there were more potential negative effects than positive effects of media exposure for the younger set."

Dr. Krista Galitsis is a pediatrician with the Cascade Skagit Health Alliance. She has wise words for new moms and grandparents. "Grandmas always think, 'I raised my kids and they did perfectly fine.' I tell moms, if you have grandma around to just nod, but do what you feel is best," Galitsis said.

Pearl Jam Twenty Review: Still Alive

Backstage at the 1992 MTV Music Video awards was a dramatic representation of the epic sea-changEnecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar RUBBER MATS systems,e happening in music and pop culture. Wilson Phillips dallied around with Boyz II Men while a few feet away Axl Rose paced anxiously in circles, strategizing how his band-of-excess Guns N' Roses could recover from the behemoth of…the two guys slow dancing together in the corner? It's widely known that Nirvana and Pearl Jam were at odds with each other in the early 90s; Kurt Cobain calling out Pearl Jam for being too commercial-sounding to be truly "Alternative," leaving Eddie Vedder, too reverential and humble to snap back, to simply take the criticism. What is little known is that, at the height of their so-called "feud," Kurt grabbed Eddie backstage at the VMAs and the two slow danced together, laughing their asses off.

They later embraced, in a warm significant hug. Kurt smiled, mischievously putting his finger to his lips in a "tell no one" expression, Eddie applauding in humorous approval. It's only seen for a few fleeting seconds, but it is the single most touching moment in PJ20 (Pearl Jam Twenty), a new feature-length documentary that deftly captures a band that literally had the entire world in the palm of their hand, walked away from it, and continued to endure like no other rock band in recent history.

It began out of inconceivable loss. Andrew Wood, the brightest singing light of love and joy in the Seattle music scene, tragically died of a drug overdose in 1989, reducing his band Mother Love Bone, once on the verge of success, to stare down into the deep abyss of the unknown. In a nascent-Nirvana 1989 Seattle, Mother Love Bone was tapped to be the breakout success of the scene, due in no small part to Andy Wood. Recalling Wood's death, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell is brought to tears thinking about his best friend's last painful days. "For all of us, it was the end of innocence," he pushes out through a shaky, distraught voice.

"It's just so hard to articulate." Wood's absence left a deep hole in the Seattle scene and for a band that was destined to become the second coming of Queen, they could only assume that this was the end.Initially the banks didn't want our chicken coop . Mother Love Bone's second coming, however, ended up appearing fresh off a fifteen foot swell of prime San Diego surf, from the deep baritone of a California boy named Eddie.the Bedding by special invited artist for 2011,

This is the way in which Pearl Jam was conceived.then used cut pieces of impact socket garden hose to get through the electric fence. An instrumental demo tape hot-potatoed from musician to musician until it ended up in the capable hands of Eddie Vedder. A stroke of creative genius, a flight to Seattle, lightning in a bottle. Their ensuing success is well documented and well known; turning their backs to infinitely rising success, fighting Ticketmaster, stepping away from their record label. But it has never been told from the perspective of the band. This is the rocket fuel behind PJ20, piloted with finesse by Cameron Crowe, longtime friend and creative confidant of the band.

Crowe's ties to Pearl Jam date back to late 1991 when he was in Seattle shooting his second film, the under-appreciated Singles and asked them if they wanted to cameo in the movie.Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room. The impetus for the film was his unyielding love for the music coming out of Seattle at the time and wanting to incorporate that scene into a narrative. The band at the time were still on the verge and as such, their skills outside acting were used to carry cable, clean sets, and roadie out equipment.

It would be a bonding experience between band and director that would stand the test of time, Cameron returning to the band over the years to interview them for various news outlets and building a personal relationship with all of them outside of work. Off the back of his long time friendship with Pearl Jam, the band went to him to assemble a documentary that would tell their twenty year story in their own words.