NEWS CAPSULES

• Suzlon Energy, among the top five wind turbine manufacturers in the world, posted a net profit of Rs 314.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 on a consolidated basis, 32 per cent lower than the Rs 464.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The losses are mainly on account of foreign exchange loss of over Rs 300 crore, a blade retrofit programme costing Rs 103 crore and mark-to-market losses on foreign exchange transactions worth Rs139 crore.
• Allahabad Bank decided to slash its benchmark prime lending rate by 25 basis points from July 1.
• Wockhardt and Biocon have come under the drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) scanner for allegedly violating pricing norms. NPPA has initiated an investigation against two insulin analogue brands, Wockhardt’s Glaritus and Biocon’s Basalog, for selling the medicine without a price approval.
• Havells India reported a 25 per cent rise in its profit after tax at Rs 49 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009. The company had a profit after tax of Rs 39 crore during the March quarter a year earlier.
• Matrix Laboratories Limited recorded a net profit of Rs 29.99 crore for the financial year 2008-09 as against a net loss of Rs 456.93 crore the previous year. Net income for the fiscal stood at Rs 2,273.85 crore as compared with Rs 1,728.07 crore in the previous year, up 31.58 per cent. In 2008-09, Matrix made a one-time provision of Rs 487.12 crore for 'impairment of goodwill.
• Essar Steel Hypermart, India’s largest chain of steel retail outlets, has opened its first outlet in Orissa in the steel city of Rourkela, in line with Essar Steel’s philosophy of making customised steel products available to end users in geographies that have high steel consumption.