The group is also looking at using its R&D facilities to meet requirements of critical medical equipment such as ventilators, respiratory equipment and other sanitation/hygiene goods.
NEW DELHI: Auto components major Bharat Forge, the flagship company of Kalyani Group, and other group firms on Tuesday pledged Rs 25 crore contribution to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES) to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The group is also looking at using its R&D facilities to meet requirements of critical medical equipment such as ventilators, respiratory equipment and other sanitation/hygiene goods.
The other group companies involved in the donation are Kalyani Steel, Saarloha Advanced Material Pvt Ltd, Automotive Axles and Hikal Ltd, the group said in a statement.
Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani said, “The group is committed to assist the central and state government and the local authorities in all possible ways to deal with the pandemic.”
He further said, “We are also using our group R&D facilities to look at ways of easing the shortage of critical medical equipments, including ventilators, respiratory equipment and other sanitation/hygiene equipment.”
Kalyani said as part of CSR activity, the group has started addressing food requirements of local community and will increase the efforts in the coming days.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 1.5 percent to $4,838.50 a tonne, as of 0124 GMT, reversing a streak of three straight losses.
SINGAPORE: Copper prices rose on Tuesday, with Shanghai copper touching a near two-week high, as top consumer China surprisingly reported an expansion in factory activities this month.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index for China rose to 52 in March from the collapse to a record low of 35.7 in February, official data showed, much higher than a Reuters poll’ forecast of 45.0. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) rose as much as 2.2% to 39,600 yuan ($5,578.56) a tonne, its highest since March 18.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 1.5% to $4,838.50 a tonne, as of 0124 GMT, reversing a streak of three straight losses. However, the longer-term outlook for copper, often used as a gauge of the global economic health, is still seen under pressure due to prolonged worldwide shutdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
LME copper, despite the rally on Tuesday, was down 14.2% on a monthly basis, on track for its worst monthly decline since September 2011.
In 2019, ABB India had won an order from the Indian Railways to supply traction converters worth Rs 270 crore, the company said.
ZURICH: Swiss engineering group ABB said on Monday profits of all its businesses would suffer in the first quarter because of the fallout from the coronavirus and due to plunging oil prices.
The maker of industrial robots, factory drives and chargers for electric cars ditched its financial guidance for the year.
Shares in ABB, which generates 12% of its sales from the oil, gas and chemicals sector, were indicated to open 3.9% lower at the open. The stock went ex-dividend on Monday.
“Although it is not yet possible to determine the exact impact of COVID-19 on ABB’s first quarter results, ABB expects revenues to decline in all its businesses relative to a year ago, while orders are somewhat less impacted,” ABB said.
Profitability would also decline as the company struggled with lower production volumes, said the company. ABB said it expected its Robotics & Discrete Automation business, which was already facing lower demand from the automotive sector, to have 20% fewer orders and sales during its first quarter compared with a year earlier.
The company said it had applied for the short-time working scheme at some plants in Switzerland, where the government helps pay the wages of staff who are not working full time.
The company, which employs 144,000 people globally, has not made any job cuts so far as a direct result of the virus outbreak which has infected 720,000 people and killed 33,000 around the world.
“ABB continues to monitor the situation around COVID-19 and its impact on the company to be able to take further appropriate action as necessary,” a spokesman said.
ABB’s warning comes after LafargeHolcim the world’s biggest cement maker warned on Friday about a downturn in the construction industry caused by the virus.
ABB had in February said it expected weaker growth in Europe and the United States, adding China – its second biggest market with 15% of its sales – may be impacted by the virus outbreak.
Since then, the company said trading conditions had declined, hit by the weakening oil price which reduces the ability of customers to pay for new investments.
ABB’s board of directors and executive committee had decided to take a voluntary 10% pay cut for the duration of the crisis, with the money going towards efforts to fighting the virus, Chief Executive Bjorn Rosengren said.
ABB said it had the financial liquidity to withstand the downturn, and was also cutting back on travel, marketing and operating expenditures.
The $11 billion sale of its Power Grids division to Japan’s Hitachi was still on track to be completed by the end of the second quarter, it added.
Codelco said in end-of-year results it produced 1.59 million tonnes from its wholly owned mines in 2019, and that profits had fallen 17% from the previous year to $1.34 billion.
SANTIAGO: Chile‘s state-run Codelco said on Friday output had dropped 5.3% in 2019, driving profits down sharply as the world’s top copper producer continues to battle with rising costs and falling ore grades at its aging deposits.
Codelco said in end-of-year results it produced 1.59 million tonnes from its wholly owned mines in 2019, and that profits had fallen 17% from the previous year to $1.34 billion. Direct cash costs rose 1.8%, the company said.
The fall in profits was due “principally to lower gross margins, the downward tendency of copper prices, a reduction in physical sales of copper and molybdenum and weak results obtained from associated investments,” the company told regulators.
The poor showing puts Codelco in a tight spot as the impact of the coronavirus outbreak begins to bite in Chile. Chile has confirmed more than 1,600 cases, among the highest tallies in Latin America, while the price of copper is at a four-year-low.
The spread of the virus earlier this week forced Codelco to put on hold parts of a 10-year, $40 billion plan to boost output from its aging mines.
“This enormous crisis has hit the copper price with force, driving it down to historic lows, while demand for the red metal decreases day after day,” the company said in a statement accompanying its results. “Codelco is working to preserve operational continuity, liquidity, and financial wellbeing.”
The mining company’s sprawling deposits, scattered across central and northern Chile, continue to operate with reduced staff, though unions this week ratcheted up pressure to shut down to safeguard workers.
