Stocks to watch: Sesa Goa, Century Textiles, ESS Dee Aluminium, Tata Motors, HCC, Alfa Laval India, Jyoti Structures

MUMBAI: Indian rupee opened lower against dollar Wednesday. At 9:10 am, the partially convertible rupee was at 46.41 against previous close of 46.11. Sesa Goa’s consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September fell sharply to Rs 166 crore from Rs 337 crore in the same period last year owing to lower prices of pig iron and metallurgical coke that was partly offset by lower input costs. Sales during the quarter fell sharply to Rs 534.1 crore, from Rs 869.2 crore last year. Century Textiles and Industries, part of the BK Birla Group, plans to start commercial real estate development at its Worli mill land and will float a separate division to control it. The company is fighting a legal battle with the Wadias for control of 10 acre of land on the same Worli mill property. Century has 40 acre land in Worli, including the 10 acre leased to it by the Wadias. Ess Dee Aluminium which recently acquired India Foils, is close to making its first major global acquisition in Europe. Th deal is likely to be sealed within the next one or two months. Tata Motors announced acquisition of full control of Spanish bus and coach maker Hispano Carrocera by purchasing the remaining 79 per cent stake in the foreign firm. The deal is pegged at nearly Rs 14 crore. Alfa Laval India has won an order from PetroVietnam Group of Vietnam for supply of equipment and engineering solutions for their proposed process plant. The order value is about Rs 65 crore. HCC has bagged an EPC contract for pumped water supply scheme from Kesaria to Sonariya from Gujarat Water Infrastructure. The contract value is Rs 167.67 crore and will be completed in 18 months. A consortium of Areva T & D and Jyoti Structures recently signed a long term agreement with Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company for the turnkey design and construction of 220KV and 132KV substation and associated lines. Jyoti Structures’ portion of contract for supply and execution of transmission lines, to be executed over a period of three years, is worth approximately Rs 833 crore. Results diary: Adhunik Metaliks, Agro Tech Foods, Chambal Fertilisers, Everonn Systems, Hero Honda, Jaiprakash Associates, Lanco Industries, Mukand,Omnitech, Pidilite Industries, Sakthi Sugar, YES Bank, Zuari Industries.