Kotak Mahindra MF sells media, tobacco, buys banking, metal

Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has slashed its exposure in media & entertainment, tobacco and consumer non-durables space. However, it increased its weightage in oil & gas, banking & financial services and metals & mining. Power Grid Corporation, Sun TV Network and Tata Power Company were top sells, while Redington (India), Tata Motors (DVR) and Zuari Industries were top buys by the fund.

The study of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund for the month of July 2012 showed that in the media & entertainment space, the fund sold DB Corp, Hathway Cable, Hindustan Media Ventures and also exited Sun TV Network. However, it bought Zee Entertainment Enterprises. In the tobacco pack it sold ITC. In the consumer non-durables sector, it sold Hindustan Unilever, Dabur India and Bata India, while it introduced Godrej Industries and Colgate Palmolive (India). It also bought Gillette India. (View - All Bulk Deals by Mutual Funds).

The fund purchased Reliance Industries, ONGC and Cairn India in the oil & gas space. However, it sold Oil India, HPCL and Gujarat State Petronet. In the banking & financial services segment, it introduced Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank Of India, IDBI Bank and Syndicate Bank. The fund also purchased HDFC, SBI and HDFC Bank. However, it sold PNB, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda.

North Carolina tobacco crop bouncing back from 2011

As harvest got under way, the tobacco crop in eastern North Carolina appeared to have bounced back from the hurricane-induced disaster conditions of 2011. In Salemburg, N.C, about 70 miles south of Raleigh and on the northern edge of the area damaged by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27 of last year, brothers Sherrill and Clay Strickland were looking at a crop that appeared headed for a very respectable yield. “We have some good fields and some bad fields, and the intense heat we had in June and July had an effect,” said Sherrill Strickland.

“But now (July 15), it is looking real good overall. We got good rains a few days ago, and the top is looking very green. The bottom stalk is not much, but our tips are going to turn out really good. This crop should definitely be a better one than last year.” That seemed to be the situation for most flue-cured growers in July. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected on July 11 that flue-cured production in the U.S. this year will reach 432 million pounds, up a whopping 25 percent from 2011. Planted area for flue-cured is four percent below last year at 199,000 acres.

Yield per acre is forecast at 2,173 pounds, up 507 pounds from a year ago. But expected production was still down in South Carolina and Georgia because of fewer acres planted. By state, the USDA reported: • North Carolina's flue-cured was rated in mostly fair to good condition. Production levels recovered from last year's hurricane damage, with yield projected at 2,200 pounds per acre, up 650 pounds from last season. Production is estimated at 338 million pounds, up 36 percent from last season. Many farmers had started to irrigate in mid July as weather was extremely hot in many growing areas.

 • Virginia — the only state to see an increase in flue-cured plantings — was progressing well in mid-July with the majority of the crop rated in fair to good condition. Production was estimated at 46.2 million pounds, up nearly three million pounds from last season on 7.7 percent more planted acreage.

 • South Carolina production had been affected by unusually cool, wet weather through July which led to some reports of thin and yellowing plants. Projected yield was 1,800 pounds per acre, only 100 pounds more than in the hurricane year. Production was projected at 24.3 million pounds, down nearly eight percent from 2011 on 13 percent less planted acreage.

Philip Morris Profit Tops Analysts’ Estimates On Sales In Russia

You can buy marlboro cigarettes from this shop for chep price.

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, spurred by demand for cigarettes in Eastern Europe. Net income in the period ended June 30 fell 3.8 percent to $2.32 billion from $2.41 billion a year earlier, the New York- based maker of Marlboro cigarettes said today in a statement.

On a per share basis, profit rose to $1.36 because the number of outstanding shares decreased. Analysts projected $1.35, the average of 16 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Louis Camilleri has introduced new varieties of top-selling Marlboro cigarettes to boost demand in Russia. Shipments in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa rose 5.1 percent in the second quarter while total cigarette shipments excluding acquisitions slipped 1.2 percent.

“This was a touch better than our expectations thanks to a great quarter” in the Eastern European region, Rogerio Fujimori, a Credit Suisse AG analyst, wrote today in a note. He rates the shares as neutral, the equivalent of a hold recommendation. Philip Morris rose 0.2 percent to $89.55 at 4:15 p.m. in New York. The shares have climbed 14 percent this year.

Keeping kids from all forms of tobacco

A recent article on tobacco use pointed out that although cigarette smoking has gone down nationally, the use of cigars and other non-cigarette tobacco products has gone up over the past few years ("Cigarette use down, other tobacco up, CDC says," Aug. 3). A recent study of Maryland youth tobacco use reported a similar troubling trend — while fewer kids are getting addicted to cigarettes (thanks to our smoke-free air laws and tax increases), more kids are smoking cheap flavored cigars that are just as detrimental to their health.

The report also noted that the trend is especially pronounced in communities of color, contributing to grim health disparities. This is why we at the Maryland Health Care For All! Coalition strongly support the new tax increase on little cigars and smokeless tobacco (chew and spit) enacted this year by Gov.Martin O'Malleyand the General Assembly. Over the past 10 years, our state's three cigarette tax increases have resulted in a 32 percent drop in cigarette smoking in our state (double the national average), saving tens of thousands of lives.

Just as the cigarette tax increases substantially reduced cigarette smoking, especially among kids, evidence from other states shows that our new tax on little cigars and smokeless tobacco will save the lives of thousands of young Marylanders by deterring their use of these deadly products and expanding access to tobacco cessation services. Suzanne Schlattman, Baltimore The writer is community outreach and development director for Maryland Citizens Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc.