1. India’s Reliance Q2 profit up 16 pct as expected


    A Reuters poll of brokers had forecast net profit of 57.1 billion rupees.Reliance, which operates the world’s biggest refining complex in western India, said gross refining margins were at $10.1 per barrel but did not immediately provide year-ago numbers. The margins had been at $10.3 a barrel in the previous quarter.Shares in Reliance, valued at nearly $58 billion, have declined 18 percent so far in 2011, contributing significantly to a 16.7 percent fall in the main stock index , in which the stock has the heaviest weight. ($1=49 rupees)

  2. Market Chatter — Corporate finance press digest


    * Polyus Gold has moved to redomicile in the UK by early November, paving the way for it to become listed on the London Stock Exchange by the end of the year, the Financial Times said on Friday.* Anglo-Dutch consumer products maker Unilever Plc is close to buying Russian cosmetics company Kalina for about $850 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.* Malaysia’s Felda Global Ventures Holdings will hire investment banks as early as next week to arrange its initial public offering that may be one of the biggest in Malaysia, the Business Times reported.* Beverage and snack food maker PepsiCo Inc is close to setting up a joint venture with German dairy company Theo Muller Group in an effort to break into the fast growing yogurt business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people briefed on the matter.* Private equity investor RHJ is in talks with General Atlantic Partners about reviving its bid to buy Deutsche Bank unit BHF, the Financial Times Deutschland said in an advance copy of its Friday edition.* Vietnam’s stock market and banks have been hit by a 5 trillion dong ($240 million) fraud, a state-run newspaper said on Thursday.* South Korea’s POSCO has decided to slash capital spending this year by about 1 trillion won ($857 million), as steel markets shrink amid the global economic slowdown, local media reported.* Vietnam’s central bank is paving the way for mergers and acquisitions among banks in a move to step up the restructuring of the sector hit by rising bad debt, a state-run newspaper reported.

  3. JPMorgan money managers hit by market downturn


    * Private banking revenue up 10 percent from yr-agoBy Joseph A. GiannoneOct 13 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co said its third-quarter asset and wealth management business earnings were hurt by turbulent markets and customer withdrawals.The bank also offered a muted outlook for the wealth and asset management businesses for the coming year.The first major U.S. bank to report third-quarter results said its asset management and private wealth businesses together generated $389.5 million in profit on $2.3 billion in revenue. Earnings fell 8 percent from a year earlier, reflecting litigation expenses and a bigger payroll.U.S. stocks were hammered by Europe’s spreading debt crisis, a downgrade of the United States’ credit rating and a sluggish economy.The July through September period was the worst quarter for stocks since 2008. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell by more than 14 percent. U.S. equity declines wiped out $2.2 trillion of market value for the broader Wilshire 5000 indexAmong JPMorgan’s institutional, mutual fund and private client money managers, revenue fell by 9 percent while profit slumped 12 percent.Bank officials were not immediately available to comment on the unexplained litigation costs or a one-time investment gain.JPMorgan Chase shares were down 5.7 percent at $31.30 near midday on Thursday.Assets under management across the division fell by $3 billion to $1.25 trillion from a year earlier, reflecting withdrawals from highly liquid funds and stocks, offset by new money for fixed-income and alternative investments.Total assets fell by 7 percent from the end of June, driven by a 17 percent drop in stock assets plus smaller withdrawals from alternatives, such as hedge funds, and cash-like investments.Against that backdrop, JPMorgan said it expects fourth-quarter revenue across asset management to fall, compared with an already-weak third quarter, as shrinking asset values lead to lower management fees. Performance will not rebound next year unless markets recover, the bank said.Business was better at JPMorgan’s three private banking businesses — a private bank for the ultra rich, private wealth management for the regular rich, and the JPMorgan Securities brokerage. Revenue rose 10 percent to $1.3 billion and climbed 1 percent from the second quarter.In private banking client assets under management fell by 5 percent to $276 billion. Assets were little changed from a year earlier. JPMorgan is the world’s 10th-largest wealth manager, according to private banking consultancy Scorpio Partnership.Assets under supervision, which includes those controlled by brokerage clients, under custody and deposits, increased by 6 percent to $738 billion from a year ago, but were down 5 percent in the quarter.The brokerage, formerly known as Bear Stearns Private Client Services, continued its slow growth as broker ranks rose by nine individuals to 446 during the quarter. Client advisers across the division rose by 136, or 8 percent, to 2,418 from a year earlier.

  4. Scrap metal hunt wrecking UK warship graves - veterans


    The Royal Navy ships, HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy, were sunk 22 miles off the Netherlands in 1914 by a German submarine and are the resting place of 1,500 sailors.In a letter to the Times newspaper this week, the veterans’ heads from Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Austria said the “sailors should be allowed to rest in peace.”The seven presidents of the associations of European naval veterans said in the letter that that no such desecration would take place in graves on land.Vice Admiral John McAnally, president of the UK Royal Naval Association, and one of the signatories, said in a separate statement the ship graves “should be treated with due care and respect, and not regarded as a source of profitable scrap metal.”McAnally added: “the fact is sunken ships in international waters are under no jurisdiction. As I am aware, the (British) government shares the same frustration as we do.”The soaring price of metals like copper, aluminum and brass on international markets has made the salvage of scrap a lucrative business.In Britain, there has been a rising trend of copper cabling being stolen from railway tracks, causing misery for commuters who are being increasingly hit with long delays.A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in London said the government “does not condone the unauthorized disturbance of any wreck containing human remains” but had no powers to stop the plunder in this instance.The spokesman said the government could only act against the looters if they were British passport holders or if they were operating from UK-flagged ships.British newspapers reported that two salvage vessels operating from the Dutch port of Scheveningen had used heavy-duty claws on cranes to tear through the shipwrecks.Local divers apparently raised the alarm about the ransacking after seeing the damage being done to one of the North Sea’s most popular dive sites.The MoD said the government was continuing to discuss the issue with the Dutch government.A spokeswoman for the Dutch infrastructure ministry said Britain had requested the return of materials seized from the salvage ships by Dutch customs authorities, such as a bronze cannon, and that it was the intention of the Netherlands to return what it could.”These are crooks destroying cultural heritage. We have asked the police to investigate and we are in the middle of that process,” said Dolf Muller from the Dutch State Service for Cultural Heritage.Muller said it was difficult to maintain the law in such a large area of the sea, protecting British World War One ships and other historic vessels too.”The first step will be to bring the people who have done this to justice,” Muller said.

  5. Bruins sign center Peverley to three-year deal


    “I like his speed and I like his grit,” Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli told reporters. “I like the way his speed backs up the (defense), and I think he’s made us a faster team.”Peverley, acquired from the Atlanta Thrashers in February, had four goals and 12 points during Boston’s run to the Stanley Cup.The 29-year-old leads the team in goals this season with two after three games.