Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), an ONGC group company, has posted a net profit of Rs 845.4 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008.  

The company has registered a growth of over two-fold from the year-ago period due to inventory gain of Rs 655 crore net of tax on account of increase in average crude oil price from approximately $100 per barrel in March 2008 to $129/bbl in June 2008.

The Company had posted a net profit of Rs 368.55 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2007.

Seoul - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Friday reported a 51-per-cent profit increase for the second quarter of 2008, as sales were boosted by booming mobile phone and flat screen TV business, but stayed below analysts' expectations.

Profits in the months from April to June climbed by 50.6 per cent to 2.14 trillion won (2.11 billion dollars) year-on-year. Profits stayed almost level compared with the previous quarter.

Operating profits rose to 1.89 trillion won from 911 billion year-on-year, but again remained below analysts' predictions. First quarter operating profits were 2.19 trillion won.

Thursday saw the nation’s largest private firm “Reliance Industries” reporting a 13% jump in net profit on the back of good refining margins in the first quarter of current fiscal.

In April-June, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 4,110 crore, against Rs 3,630 crore a year ago.

The company earned USD 15.7 on every barrel of oil it processed from it’s refinery at Jamnagar, where it operates a 660,000 barrels per day. The USD figure earned is much higher than the Asian average of USD 8-9 barrel.

The leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel has been maintaining a strong momentum in the field by posting a growth of 34% on Thursday in its net profit at Rs 2,025 crore for the first quarter of 2008-09. The company’s consolidated total revenues saw a growth of 44% for the first quarter and stood at Rs. 8,483.

As of June 30, 2008, Bharti had total subscribers of 7.17 crore. Over the corresponding period of last year, the company saw an increase in total subscriber base by 61%.

Tokyo - Honda Motor Co said Friday that its net profit increased 8.1 per cent in its first quarter to 179.61 billion yen (1.67 billion dollars), thanks to strong sales in Asia and Brazil.

Japan's second-largest automaker reported a 2.2-per-cent decline in sales in the April-June quarter to 2.87 trillion yen.

Its operating profit, or a company's earnings minus interest payments and taxes, which are seen as a measure of its earnings power from ongoing operations, fell 0.2 per cent to 221.35 billion yen.

New York - US automotive concern Ford Motor Company reported Thursday that it lost 8.7 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2008 amid writedowns in the value of its assets.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based group said the figure compared with a net profit of 750 million dollars in the second quarter of 2007.

The loss reflected some 8 billion dollars' worth of writeoffs from the decline in the value of its assets in North America and of the lease portfolio of the Ford Motor Credit Company, a statement said.