Articles by "business"
Twitter Facebook

Japanese giant Softbank is planning to list its mobile phone business in Tokyo and overseas, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
The listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and possibly in London aims to raise 2 trillion yen ($18bn; £13.1bn).
Softbank confirmed in a statement that the share sale was an option, but said no decision has yet been made.
If it goes ahead, the stock market listing would be one of Japan's biggest initial public offerings.
The Softbank Group reportedly intends to sell about 30% of the outstanding shares in its subsidiary to investors, while keeping a stake of around 70%.
The firm is considering raising funds from overseas investors, possibly via a stock market listing in London.
"We are always studying various capital strategy options", the statement said.
"The listing of Softbank Corp. shares is one such option, but no decision has been made to officially proceed with this course".
According to the Nikkei, the share sale could rival that of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1987.

Investing in growth

Softbank would use the proceeds to invest in growth, such as buying into foreign information-technology companies, the Nikkei said.
The Japanese telecommunications giant is one of the world's biggest technology companies and is run by its founder, Japanese entrepreneur Masayoshi Son.
Softbank has made a series of high-profile tech investments and shown an appetite for investments in ride-sharing, backing China's Didi Chuxing and Southeast Asian taxi-hailing app Grab, among other companies.
The firm is also set to take a large stake in Uber, expanding its holdings in transportation companies around the world.
It previously acquired Vodafone's Japanese operations and the US telecoms company Sprint.
In 2016, Softbank bought UK technology firm ARM Holdings for £24bn ($32bn).
January 16, 2018
Twitter Facebook

Sintex Plastics: Business under transition; balance sheet repair the key focus area

While company’s strategic move to focus on balance sheet repair is a key positive, near term earnings visibility is moderate.

Sintex Plastics Technology (SPTL, market cap: Rs 5114 cr), a plastic processing major better known for its water storage products caters to varied end markets – automotive, electricals, housing. Demerged out of Sintex Industries last year the company is witnessing a major business transition as government orders have slowed down for its prefab business.
While company’s strategic move to focus on balance sheet repair is a key positive, near term earnings visibility is moderate.
Demerged business: Sintex Plastics Technology.
Sintex Industries demerged (effective 12th May 2017 ) its custom moulding and prefab businesses into a wholly-owned business - Sintex Plastics Technology and listed it on stock exchange on August 8, 2017.
SPTL has broadly two business divisions. Custom molding (65 percent of 2017 sales) division that manufactures a large range of custom moulding products for the automotive, defence, aerospace, electrical sectors. Whereas Prefab/Infra division (35 percent of sales) makes prefabricated and monolithic structures for rural and urban social infrastructure. Headquartered in Kalol (Gujarat), company has 36 manufacturing units spread across India, Europe, the USA and North Africa, where 34 percent of the business is from overseas.
anubhav 1
Custom moulding market prospects are positive
As per estimates from the company, Indian market for custom moulding is expected to reach Rs 16,16,000 crore by 2026 (CAGR of 12 percent) driven by demand in electrical, electronics, automotive sectors. Along with that, government’s thrust on infrastructure and defence indigenisation adds to the demand for composites.
anubhav 2
Government’s social sector programs aids long term growth
Strong long term growth levers exist for prefabrication business as the government’s spending in social sectors - healthcare, sanitation, education continue to remain prominent. Company’s offering in this segment addresses needs for defence shelters, structures for sanitation, Anganwadis, healthcare infrastructure, warehousing/cold chain and affordable housing. Thus, SPTL’s business solutions meet the huge requirements of GoI’s priority programs like Swachh Bharat Mission and Housing for all.
Business risk
Cost of raw materials, particularly those derived from Oil like HDPE/LLDPE (High Density poly ethylene/linear low density poly ethylene), PVC are the key risk given the recent surge in petrochemical prices. Further, hardening of interest rate impacts debt servicing cost (D/E: 1.18).
Having said that, SPTL is utilizing its cash flows to trim debt (reduced by Rs 286 crore in 9M 2018). In light of this and also due to high working capital requirement, company has steadily reduced its exposure to monolithic and infra business which depends a lot on state government investment, approvals and policies.
Anubhav 3
Sintex Plastics – weak numbers in Prefab/infra division
Sintex Plastic’s (SPTL’s) Q3 2018 result was weaker than expected. Company continues to face transition challenges for the demerged entity along with the strategic shift which is more focused on custom moulding. Sequentially, sales were down 7 percent, weighed by weak numbers in prefab/infra division.
Prefab/infra division is impacted by reduced orders from Government as the new entity needs to undergo an approval cycle which would take time. At the same time, company has also strategically shifted its focus to custom moulding division, particularly retail where working capital requirement are low.
Custom moulding division has been aided by European operations and retail, automotive and electrical end markets in domestic business.
Anubhav 4
Business outlook
As the company faces transition headwinds, FY 2018 sales is expected to be a tad weaker than FY17. FY19 and onwards, the company would be focused on traction in custom moulding division. In FY 2019, the company expects 60 percent revenue in Custom moulding division to come from domestic market mainly in the automotive, electrical and retail segments where in growth could be in the range of 20 percent. Company’s international business in the Custom moulding division is expected to clock sales growth in the vicinity of 10 percent aided by aerospace, defence market performance mainly in Europe.
Prefab/infra business is expected to pick up with government orders towards the last quarter of FY 2019.
Balance sheet repair is the key focus
Company’s key focus is on repairing the balance sheet wherein the company is consciously not taking any major capex till they reduce the Debt/EBITDA to lower than 2 (3.8 in FY 2017). Company expects to achieve this by focusing on business with low working capital requirement like retail (Rs 600 crore: ~10 percent of sales) and restructure the debt (increase tenure, reduce interest cost).
anubhav 5
Overall, though company benefits from the improving end markets, particularly in custom moulding division, transition in prefab/infra market would take time. Due to this reason, near term earnings visibility is moderate. Although, the trailing multiples look attractive, in our view, stock is currently trading at 24x 2018E earnings which is expensive. Key monitorable is the progress in debt reduction and how far traction in Custom moulding division can offset the Prefab/infra division slowdown. Though we like the end market trends, we would wait for better earnings growth traction to get constructive.
January 15, 2018
Twitter Facebook

CRM


Customer Relationship Management, or CRM as it is usually referred to, is crucial. Larger businesses adopt CRM applications to assist their sales representatives, but many smaller businesses don’t see the value of investing in expensive CRM technology. However, CRM technology offers as many benefits as other business-focused applications because it automates specific tasks, but to help you make the right decision, here is a quick rundown of the main reasons why a product such as Sage CRM could be the best investment your business ever makes.

1. Increased Productivity

It’s very easy to lose hours searching for a customer’s contact details or meeting a new customer and then forgetting to call them at the designated time. CRM technology handles the details so all you have to do is do the talking. CRM also integrates sales and marketing functions, which saves time. Think of CRM as your personal assistant, who never goes to sleep on the job. Use it to share information with team members and be more productive as a result.

2. Measure Business Metrics

Metrics are not just for geeks. Metrics give you crucial information at your fingertips. It’s time consuming to track customer relationship data on a spreadsheet. There are a million and one bits of information and unless you are a whizz at figures, you won’t be able to take this data and use it to create useful reports. CRM technology does it in the blink of an eye, so you know your sales conversion rations and figure out the best way of reaching valued customers.

3. Increase New Sales

CRM enables you to make sales through multiple avenues. You are no longer limited to sales calls or in-person visits. Instead, CRM technology lets you accept customer orders via the internet, mobile devices, and even through social media.

4. Boost Customer Loyalty

Have you ever been left wondering who a customer is when they call? Thanks to CRM technology, this won’t happen very often. As soon as a customer gets in touch, you can pull up their details and know everything about them, their previous orders and their personal preferences. It makes for a better customer relationship, which in turn helps to boost customer loyalty.

5. Identity Repeat Customers

Repeat customers are the Holy Grail, so it pays to hang on to them. Thanks to CRM technology, your sales team will immediately know if a customer is a new or existing customer, so they can react accordingly. This helps your team to make cross sales, as they can see previous orders.

6. Provide Better Customer Service

Customer service is very important. If you neglect your best customers, they will soon move on to a competitor. Use CRM applications to identity your best customers. That way you can offer them an enhanced level of service and increase their value to the business.

7. Centralised Emails

Keeping track of emails is time consuming and prone to error. Emails get lost and you might forget to CC someone important. CRM technology makes email management a breeze because it centralises all communications with clients, including email.
CRM is critical if you want your business to grow. Invest in cloud-based CRM applications and you can scale up as and when you need to.



Ady Wilson

Ady Wilson is a senior full stack database admin and web developer with a penchant for languages – digital and human. On weekends he’s usually marathoning dramatic HBO shows (Game of Thrones) or at the park with the family dog. He loves writing about general tech, cloud, and databases.
January 08, 2018

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Powered by Blogger.
Javascript DisablePlease Enable Javascript To See All Widget