NEW DELHI, May 1: VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) today said it recorded 14.8 per cent rise in sales at 4,213 units in April, 2012.
The company, which is a joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, had sold 3,669 units in the same month last year.
Domestic sales increased to 3,963 units in April from 3,353 units in the year-ago period, an increase of 18.2 per cent, VECV said in a statement.
Exports, however, fell to 250 units last month from 316 units in April 2011.
Further, VECV, year-to-date 2012 sales stood at 18,408 units as compared to 16,174  units last year, representing a growth of 13.8 per cent. (PTI)

LONDON, May 1: British bank Lloyds warned of a ‘long and difficult’ path to economic recovery as it set aside an extra 375 million pounds ($609 million) to compensate people mis-sold insurance, but cheered investors with lower bad debts.
Lloyds, 40-percent owned by the government after a bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, said on Tuesday it was making progress in reducing its loan book, cutting costs and reining in bad debts – all key parts of its recovery plan.
But its planned sale of 632 branches is dragging on, underscoring the tough market facing sellers of British banking assets, and it struck a downbeat tone about the UK economy, which tipped back into recession last quarter.
‘We think that the economy will be reasonably flat this year, but it is going to be a long and difficult recovery,’ Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said.
‘We expect it to recover to growth in 2013 and expect unemployment to peak at close to 9 percent by early next  year.’
Lloyds said it made a first-quarter statutory pretax profit of 288 million pounds, down from 316 million in the previous quarter, but significantly better than a 3.5-billion-pound loss in the first quarter of 2011.
Britain’s biggest retail bank in terms of customers said it was taking an extra 375-million-pound provision to cover compensation for the mis-selling of insurance products following a spike in complaints received in February and March.
British banks have set aside billions of pounds after losing a court case on the way they sold payment protection insurance to millions of customers.
Lloyds had already set aside 3.2 billion pounds last year, which analysts thought was conservative. British rival Barclays also increased its provision last week.
BRANCHES DISPOSAL DRAGS ON
Lloyds said last week it might start talks with new banking venture NBNK about its planned sale of 632 branches after an exclusivity period with The Co-op ended. It is also considering an initial public offering for the  branches.
‘At the moment we have three options on the table,’ Horta-Osorio told reporters.
He ruled out the sale of the group’s insurance arm Scottish Widows, dismissing reports of a possible deal.
Bad debts fell 36 percent from a year ago to 1.7 billion pounds and the bank cut its non-core assets by 12.4 billion pounds in the quarter, shrinking its bad loans faster than expected.
At 0755 GMT, Lloyds shares were up 1.8 percent at 31.58 pence, with Oriel analyst Mike Trippitt relieved the bad debt charge was not as bad as feared.
Loans as a percentage of deposits fell to 130 percent at the end of March, from 135 percent at end-December, and the bank said it had reduced its target to 120 percent.
The banking net interest margin – the difference between what Lloyds receives in interest and pays out, a key revenue driver – fell to 1.95 percent from 1.97 percent in the previous three months and 2.16 percent a year ago.
The bank had warned the margin was under pressure due to higher funding costs, and said that guidance was  unchanged.
Stripping out the provision for payment protection insurance, some 108 million pounds of costs linked to the branches sale, and other one-off items, Lloyds said its profit was 628 million pounds, from 284 million a year  ago.
($1 = 0.6158 pound)
(AGENCIES)

NEW YORK, May 1:  Google Inc has cancelled certain stock options and stock units granted to its Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora and will instead pay him USD 8 million in cash.
Arora had received certain Google stock options and stock units in April this year which were scheduled to vest on April 25, 2015.
When employees are given stock options or restricted stock, they often do not gain control over the stock or options for a period of time, known as the vesting period.
The leadership development and compensation committee of Google Inc has approved a compensation arrangement for Nikesh Arora, as per which certain awards of stock options and Google stock units previously granted to him in April 2012 were cancelled with effect from April 27, 2012.
In exchange for the cancelled stock options and stock units, Arora will receive a cash payment of USD 4.7 million along with a discretionary cash bonus payment of USD 3.3 million on or about May 11, Google said in a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
If Arora’s employment with Google terminates for any reason after the payment date and prior to April 25, 2015, then he will be required to repay to Google, “the full value of the cash awards either before or after applicable tax withholdings, depending on when the termination occurs”, the filing said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, May 1: TVS Motor Company today reported a growth of 4 per cent in its total sales at 1,74,455 units in April 2012.
The firm had sold 1,67,744 units during the corresponding month last year.
Domestic sales rose by 7 per cent from 1,41,619 units in April 2011 to 1,51,181 units in April 2012, the Chennai-based company said in a release.
Exports registered total sales of 22,272 units in April 2012, against 25,275 units in the same month of the previous year.
Total two wheeler sales increased by 4 per cent in April 2012 with sales of 1,71,551 units, compared to 1,64,183 units recorded in April 2011.
The company’s scooter sales stood at 35,833 units in April 2012, a growth of 2 per cent against 35,074 units in the same month of the previous year.
Motorcycles sales accounted for 67,966 units in April 2012 against 69,573 units in April 2011.
The company sold 2,904 units of three wheelers in April 2012 against 3,561 units in the same month of the previous year. (UNI)

LONDON, May 1: Oil producer BP reported a bigger-than-expected drop in profits on Tuesday, despite an increase in crude prices, as production fell after it was forced to sell fields to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
London-based BP added it would continue its disposal programme, putting some smaller fields in the Gulf of Mexico on the block. A spokesman said the group was not pulling back from the area but was seeking to focus on larger fields there.
Europe’s second-largest oil group by market value said its replacement cost (RC) net profit was $4.93 billion in the quarter, compared to $5.61 billion in the same period last year.
BP said oil and gas production, excluding its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, was down 6 percent at 2.45 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company said tough conditions in the refining business led to a drop in profits at its downstream  unit.
Stripping out one-off items such as the profit on asset sales, the result was down 13 percent to $4.80 billion, below an average forecast of $5.10 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc last week reported a 16 percent rise in underlying profits, while U.S. Rival ConocoPhillips reported a 1 percent drop and industry leader Exxon Mobil reported an 11 percent drop.
Brent crude prices averaged $118.60 per barrel last quarter, up from $105.43 in the same period a year before.
RC earnings strip out unrealised gains or losses related to changes in the value of inventories, and as such are comparable with net income under U.S. Accounting  rules.
(AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI, May 1: The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India today reported 3.4 per cent increase in sales to 1,00,415 units during April, 2012.
The company had sold 97,155 units in April last year.
The domestic sales were up 3.6 per cent at 90,255 units last month, compared to 87,144 units in the same month last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.
The exports increased 1.5 per cent to 10,160 units in April, from 10,011 units in the year-ago period, MSI added.
Total passenger car sales in the domestic market declined by 1.3 per cent to 72,939 units last month from 73,905 units in the same month of 2011, it added.
Sales of mini-segment cars, including the M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR, fell by 26.4 per cent to 30,720 units during the month, as against 41,744 units in April, 2011.
However, in the compact segment (comprising the Estilo, Swift and Ritz models), MSI witnessed a 43 per cent jump in sales to 26,072 units, from 18,227 units in the same month a year ago.
Sales of MSI’s DZiRE model last month increased by 31.5 per cent to 15,510 units, from 11,797 units in April last year.
MSI’s mid-sized sedan SX4’s sales slipped by 69.8 per cent to 634 units from 2,102 units in the year-ago month.
Luxury sedan Kizashi witnessed 91.4 per cent fall in sales at 3 units as against 35 units in the same month last year. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, May 1: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today reported 49 per cent increase in car sales at 14,378 units during April, 2012.
It had sold 9,681 units in April last year, TKM said in a statement.
TKM, a joint venture between the world’s largest carmaker Toyota and the Kirloskar Group, said however that consumer sentiment does not appear to be positive.
“The Etios series, Innova, Fortuner continue to register growth in April. However, the market sentiments seem to be low with the enquiry levels having gone down across the industry,” TKM Deputy Managing Director (Marketing) Sandeep Singh said.
TKM’s Etios registered a 21 per cent growth with sales of 5,624 units compared to 4,657 units in April 2011.
The New Innova sold 6,582 units last month against 3,464 units in April last year, a growth of 90 per cent.
The New Fortuner sold 1,270 units, up 72 per cent over 739 units in the same month last year, while the Corolla Altis sold 881 units. (PTI)

UNDATED, May 1: Aircraft lessor Air Lease Corp said on Monday it had ordered eight new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft worth $1.8 billion at list prices for lease to Vietnam Airlines.
Deliveries of Boeing’s new lightweight carbon-composite aircraft are schedued for 2017 and 2018, the Los Angeles-based company said in a statement.
Air Lease Corp had already placed an order for four 787-9s in December last year, according to the Boeing  website.
The company was founded in 2010 by Steven Udvar-Hazy, widely considered the pioneer of modern aircraft leasing.
Udvar-Hazy co-founded International Lease Finance Corp in 1973, later sold it to U.S. Insurer AIG and resigned to run his current company in February 2010.
Air Lease announced the 787 order shortly after it also emerged as a previously unidentified buyer for Boeing’s latest model, a revamped medium-haul jet called the 737 MAX.
The deal is expected to involve 60 of the fuel-efficient jets and is worth some $6 billion at list prices. It is already included in a Boeing list of commitments that still must be converted to firm orders, according to the two sources who asked not to be named because negotiations remain confidential.
The MAX, which will feature new fuel-efficient engines when it comes to market in 2017, competes with the upcoming Airbus A320neo, which also will have new  engines.
Neither Air Lease nor Boeing would comment on the 737 MAX order.
Air Lease also has a pending provisional order for 36 A320neo-family aircraft and plans to close an order for a further 16 in January 2013.
Industry experts believe Air Lease could announce the MAX order at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK in  July.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Air Lease was close to a deal to finalize the 737 order.
Udvar-Hazy has criticized decisions, first by Airbus and then by Boeing, to upgrade their best-selling medium-haul jets with new engines rather than completely redesigning them.
A redesign would have generated greater fuel efficiency but taken longer to bring to market.
Boeing and its European competitor have notched up more than 2,500 firm and provisional orders between them for the revamped jets, which aim to provide 12-15 percent fuel savings.
Speaking at a conference last week, Udvar-Hazy conceded  neither manufacturer was likely to build an all-new model in the crucial 100- to 200-seat market soon, and indicated the leasing companies would throw their weight behind the new models.
‘For the time being, what we have is what we know,’ Udvar-Hazy told the AFCA air finance conference in  Barcelona.
Udvar-Hazy said he saw most demand for aircraft at the higher end of the 100- to 200-seat category, corresponding to the 180-seat Airbus A321 and the Boeing 737 MAX 9.
‘The large end of the narrowbody spectrum is where most sales will occur,’ he said, adding the average number of seats per airline departure was gradually rising.
Leasing companies tend to place orders where they think there will be most liquidity in the market.
However, analysts say many buyers will wait for further clarity on the design of the 737 MAX before completing orders.
So far, Airbus leads the race to sell the new fuel-efficient variants. It has won 1,289 firm orders and 266 provisional ones, including the 36 Air Lease A320neo jets waiting to be finalized.
Boeing, which considered a new plane but decided to catch up with Airbus by re-engining the 737 last summer, has sold 451 MAX aircraft. It has won provisional orders for 135 more from declared customers and over 400 that remain unidentified.
United Continental is finalizing a deal with Boeing to buy at least $10 billion worth of revamped and current models after Airbus was bumped out of the race, industry sources say.
Continental, an all-Boeing airline which merged with United in 2010 to form the world’s largest carrier, already operates the larger 737 models.
The founder of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, meanwhile said on Twitter that the Malaysian low-cost carrier was set for further expansion this week, prompting speculation that it could buy conventional A320s to ensure its short-term  expansion.
The airilne placed a record order for 200 Airbus A320neo aircraft at the Paris Air Show last summer, but those enhanced jets will not enter service until 2015.     (AGENCIES)

SEOUL, May 1: South Korean exports fell in April for the third time this year, hit by crisis-battered Europe and prompting the government to warn of a downgrade of its target for exports, the main engine of growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Exports shrank 4.7 percent in April from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy showed on Tuesday, a bigger drop than the 1.5 percent fall forecast in a Reuters survey and following a revised 1.4 percent decline in March.
The government’s projection for about 7 percent growth in exports for the whole of this year will now need to be lowered, a deputy minister told reporters, citing the euro zone crisis and a slowing Chinese economy.
Analysts said the depressed exports and separate data on Tuesday showing that inflation in April eased to a 21-month low, also short of forecasts, put pressure on South Korea’s policymakers to shift their focus further toward fostering growth and away from fighting consumer price rises.
South Korea’s economic growth has been lacklustre, at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, while the central bank and private economists have lowered full-year forecasts as concerns mount over the uncertain global economic outlook.
TROUBLES IN EUROPE
‘We initially didn’t expect the EU fiscal crisis to deteriorate further and thought our exports to China would hold up even if economic growth there slows. But China’s exports are falling substantially,’ Deputy Minister Han Jin-hyun said.
‘Because of factors like the EU fiscal crisis, China and the base effect from (high exports to) Japan, we think (exports and the trade surplus) will be smaller than initially expected.’
The ministry has said overseas sales by the world’s seventh-largest exporter would increase to $595 billion this year from $555 billion in 2011, while the trade surplus would be $25 billion versus $31 billion last  year.
Exports to the European Union fell 16.7 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier, more than eclipsing small rises in exports to China and the United States. Those three markets account for 44 percent of South Korea’s exports.
Inflation in April eased for a second consecutive month to 2.5 percent on a year-on-year basis, the slowest pace since July 2010, led by farm products, although some costs for travel and private education rose.
‘Although the economy didn’t weaken sharply, momentum remains weak, and so there is an increased possibility that the Bank of Korea will prioritise growth over inflation,’ said Lee Sang-jae, chief economist at Hyundai  Securities.
Still, he said the Bank of Korea, whose official rhetoric has until now put its policy priority on lowering inflation expectations, would likely adopt a wait-and-see stance for some time while assessing the global economy’s  performance.
Financial markets in Seoul were closed on Tuesday for Labour Day.
The Bank of Korea has left the policy interest rate, its 7-day repurchase agreement rate, steady at 3.25 percent for 10 consecutive months after raising it by a total of 125 basis points between July 2010 and June  2011.
Its next policy review is on May 10 and the market consensus is that the central bank will stay on hold at least for the remainder of the year.
(AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI, May 1: Telecom tribunal TDSAT has held that sports broadcaster Neo Sports is entitled to 7 per cent increase in subscription fee for its channels from ADAG group firm Reliance Big TV, which provides Direct-to-Home service.
“Petitioner (Neo Sports) is entitled to 7 per cent increase on the subscription fee on and from January 1, 2009,” said a TDSAT bench headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) further said that BiG TV “must allow the Petitioner to audit its system within two weeks from date” for calculation of the average number of subscribers.
Big TV had subscribed to the sports broadcaster’s two channels – Neo Cricket and Neo Sports – for its DTH platform.
The TDSAT’s direction came over the plea of Neo Sports, which had entered into an agreement with the ADAG group firm in June 2008.
As per the terms and conditions, Reliance Big TV had to pay the bouquet rates (at 50 per cent of the one fixed by sectoral regulator Trai) for Non-CAS areas, which came to about Rs 19.37.
However, in December, 2008, Trai brought out new regulations and allowed broadcasters a hike of seven 7 per cent from January 2009.
Following that, the Neo Sports bouquet rate came to Rs 20.73. Later, based on the SMS records submitted by Big TV, Neo Sports raised invoices.
However, dispute arose over the payability of subscription fees as per the terms of their agreement. Neo also questioned the subscriber number given by Big TV.
Neo Sports had approached TDSAT on March 31, 2011 seeking directions to Big TV for paying Rs 6.2 crore along with 18 per cent interest. (PTI)