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January 9, 2009

Twisting some Nursery Rhymes for Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju

Raju Raju sat on the wall
Raju Raju had a great fall
Balance sheet died
Shareholders cried
Raju Raju made a fraud

 
Raju Raju
Yes baba
Cheating us
No baba
Telling Lies
No baba
Open the balance sheet
HA HA HA

 (Thanks VGP) 

 

 

Larsen Jumps the Gun in Buying 4% into Satyam and sees Big Erosion of over 85% and over Rs 300 Crs inside just Two Days !…they must file an FIR against Satyam and it’s Chairman,Ramalinga Raju

Larsen was probably ill advised to buy a 4% Stake in Satyam at undisclosed price…Definitely over Rs 100 asY.M. Deosthalee told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone that the company acquired the stake over ten days ending Tuesday through its L&T Capital arm.

This would mean L & T Capital,through whom Larsen bought the Stake,paid Prices of between Rs 114 to Rs 180 which were the Low and High in Satyam over the days of the Purchase

Larsen now holds close to 2.70 crore shares in Satyam at Investment cost of over probably  between Rs 350 crs to Rs 450 crs….On Wednesday,January 7,Satyam opened at Rs 175 but closed at Rs 40 after Ramalinga Raju’s Confession of a massive Fraud…Today Satyam has sunk even lower to Rs 20…Larsen’s holding in Satyam is worth just Rs 54 Crores inside days…It has lost over 85 % and @ over Rs 300 crs notionally inside two days !…it will have to mark the investment to market

If Satyam ceases to exist,so will it’s Equity and Larsen would have lost over Rs 350 crs

Larsen just jumped the Gun Here !…Sure some in Larsen will lose their Jobs !

They were clearly ill advised to take this Risk and Methinks should take the Lead in Filing a FIR against Satyam and Ramalinga Raju for the Fraud and even the auditors for not spotting the Asset Hole 

There is also the grave posssibility that L & T Capital may have picked up the same 4 % of Equity sold by the Lenders to Ramalinga Raju on his pledged shares…If this is so,then Ramalinga Raju may have awaited this sale at High Prices before releasing his Confession Letter on January 7,2009

Larsen must not let Satyam and Ramalinga Raju get away with this ! 

The Share Price of Larsen has also eroded by 15% to below Rs 700 in quick time

Punj Loyd sees Cash Outlow of Rs 250 crs in it’s UK Subsidiary as Client SABIC encashes Bonds

 

 

Punj Loyd is facing a serious Problem in it’s wholly owned subsidiary in United Kingdom It has seen a  Cash Outflow of Sterling Pounds 28.5 Million which translates to @ Rs 250 crs on encashment of Bonds by SABIC…The Subsidiary,Simon Carves Ltd has filed a Case against SABIC

In a Growing Global Recession…UK has already admitted to going through one….such Bonds are Like Time Bombs as Clients, to get out of Contracts,may accuse of some breach ,and encash Bonds to prop up their Liquidity and take the risk of inviting lawsuits 

The Share Price of Punj Loyd has reacted sharply by over 12% to Rs 116 levels (2.30 PM)

Wonder if Punj Loyd or it’s subsidiaries has issued any more such Bonds on Contracts being executed which they fear may too be called by Clients…..Specific Disclosures giving Details on Bonds should be made mandatory in the Annual Report in the Notes to Accounts for Contingents ,instead of just giving an Aggregate…This would be Crucial Data for an Investor,who can take a call to exit early if he reads in the Media or comes to know of Problems in Specific Contracts and fears that The Bond may be encashed by the Client.

Have a look at the notice it send to BSE and NSE this morning

 

 ___________________________________________________________________________

January 09, 2009

 

 

Disclosure pursuant to the Listing Agreement

Pursuant to its obligations under the Listing Agreement, the Company wishes to inform

you that its wholly-owned UK subsidiary, Simon Carves Limited (“SCL”), has commenced

adjudication proceedings against SABIC Petrochemicals UK Limited (“SABIC”). These

proceedings are ultimately aimed at seeking restitution, through the U.K. Courts, of £28.5

million (pounds sterling) in respect of an advance payment bond and a performance bond

called by SABIC following in SCL’s view, the wrongful termination by SABIC of the contract

between SABIC and SCL. Additional costs and damages will also be sought by SCL

against SABIC associated with cost overruns in the project caused by changes in scope

and design requested by SABIC and also to recover damages for losses arising as a

consequence of the termination of the contract.

SCL had contracted with Huntsman Petrochemicals (UK) Limited (subsequently acquired

by SABIC) in early 2006 to design, build and pre-commission a 400 kte per annum low

density polyethylene plant (“LDPE”) at Wilton, Teeside in the UK. This contract was

entered into between SCL and SABIC prior to the acquisition of SCL by Punj Lloyd in May read more

SATYAM : Seems Sunk and looks difficult to Save and Salvage as too many Contingencies scaring off potential Buyers

On Paper, as of September 30,2008 the Assets of Satyam were Rs 8300 crs…after adjusting for the overstated assets and understated liabilities as confessed by the now disgraced Promoter Chairman,Ramalinga Raju the networth of Satyam drops to @ Rs 1200 crs….With 67 crore shares of Face Value Rs 2 in existence,the book valueper share would get restated to around Rs 20…Satyam’s Share Price has dropped from yesterday’s closing of Rs 40 to Rs 20 this morning reflecting this

But will Satyam’s Share Price drop to Zero or move up from here !? Will Trading be stopped in it ?

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has written to the Prime Minister to form a Committee of I T Stalwarts,Narayan Murthy from Infosys,Azim Premji from Wipro and Ramodarai of TCS to salvage Satyam and save the jobs of over the claimed 50000 Satyam Employees 

However,as I look at it right Now even this restated networth of Rs 1200 crs of Satyam looks suspect and will be under threat on two accounts

  • Ramalinga Raju has confessed that for years he inflated Revenues and Profits in Satyam ..It has to be investigated as to when did he start doing so and what is the quantum of inflated revenues and profits…If he inflated Revenues,then it would mean perhaps that the Debtors have been overstated and further adjustment may not be required here…but Profits may convert to losses and therefore Reserves may need further adjustment to reflect the quantum of overstated profits…This would reduce the Networth further and posssibly make it Negative…This would mean the Book Value of Rs20 too would appear overstated
  • Law Suits have already been filed in USA on behalf of ADR Shareholders and law suits will surely follow in India too….Claims in such suits runs into Hundreds of Millions of Dollars…Satyam may not be solvent enough to tackle such Claims…Right Now such Claims are Contingent

There are some other tainted issues too…like the Real Number of Satyam Employees…Management claims 53000 employees….It is suspected that this figure is grossly overstated…Also there is strong views on the Credibility of Satyam Managers…Most IT Companies are smply in no hurry to absorb them…In fact Infosys has categorically said it will not touch tainted Satyam and has also instructed it’s HR Dept not to entertain Satyam Employee Resumes

It is difficult for any Potential Buyer to only absorb the Operating Business of Satyam without exposing themselves to the sword of growing Contingent Liabilities

As a seperate Legal Entity,Satyam is toxic to touch right now…However what will happen is that It’s Lifeline,it’s Clients will review their relationship with Satyam and in all probability migrate to other IT Companies as the risk of staying with Satyam may be too high…Satyam resources may be directed towards fighting for survival rather than Client Servicing…To maintain some level of Continuity,what is possible is that Satyam Teams working on Genuine Client Business may also migrate to the Clients directly or to the IT Company that has taken over from Satyam to serve the Client

The Nightmare for Satyam has only just begun…..difficult to see any potential Buyer taking the risk to buyout Satyam,given the growing contingent liabilities…therefore cannot advice to buy into Satyam at Rs 20

Remember the risk that some crazy NSE Member took when he bought Millions of Shares of the tainted Global Trust Bank at Rs 9 to Rs 11 a few years ago in the wrong belief that a white knight or the Government will bail it out read more

Satyam Auditors, Price Waterhouse, issues a statement late today..Let’s put it in perspective

In this unfolding Satyam Saga unleashed by Chairman,Ramalinga Raju’s confession on fudging accounts for years,this evening we had their auditors,Price Waterhouse releasing a statement defending their audit of Satyam ,stating it complied with generally accepted auditing standards in India and that there was appropriate evidence to support their audit

They have also ,under the excuse of client confidentiality,refused to give more details

Come on Price Waterhouse !…what Client !? Satyam !?…legally it is the Shareholders (Satyam has over 2 lakh of them) who have reappointed you at the last AGM as the auditors…you have a fiduciary responsibility to them more than to Satyam…so hiding behind the Coat of Client Confidentiality is clearly ill- advised

It would ofcourse be interesting to see what their ‘appropriate evidence’ is.

But let’s put their role in perspective and in context of the last published Annual Report of FY 2007-8

Relevant Extracts from Satyam’s Annual Report of FY 2007-8 

Pages 39 and 40 

AUDIT COMMITTEE

The Audit Committee consists of 100 percent independent and non-executive directors.There were four Members….Prof M Rammohan Rao,Chairman,Dr (Mrs) Mangalam Srinivasan,Mr T R Prasad,Prof V S Raju….There were seven committee meetings in 2007-8 an were attended by the CFO,Head of Internal Audit and Statutory Auditors as Invitees.The Committee reviewed the adequacy of the Internal Control Systems and Internal Audit Reports and their compliance thereof. 

Page 56

Internal Control Systems and their Adequacy…Part of Managment’s discussion and analysis…Important Points

  • The Internal Audit,an independent appraisal function to examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the Internal Control System,appraises periodically about activities and audit findings to the AUDIT COMMITTEE
  • Internal Audit ensures that transactions are executed and assets are safegaurded
  • The AUDIT COMMITTEE was constituted as a sub -committee of the Board of Directors and it consists solely of Independent Directors.The committee also holds discussions with statutory auditors,internal auditors and the Management.It also reviews with the statutory auditors the scope and results of the audit 
  • Compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002
  • Under revised Corporate Governance standards adopted by the Stock Exchanges a Certification has to be made by the CEO and the CFO of the effectiveness of the Internal Control Systems and that they have disclosed any deficiencies and how they were resolved to the Auditors and the Audit Committee

Page 60

Personnel Costs…Part of Managment’s discussion and analysis…Important Points

Personnel Costs were Rs 5045.54 crs ( 62.01% of Revenues ) for an aggregate employee base of 55360 of which 43279 were technical associates,2690 were non-technical associates and 9391 were onsite technical associates

Page 62

Auditors Report to the Members of Satyam Computer Services Ltd  

Point 2 : We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in India.Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement….We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion

Point 4 g goes on to give the auditors unqualified opinion that the financial statements that comprise the Balance Sheet,the Profit and Loss Account and the Cash Flow  as on March 31,2008 ,read with the notes give a True and Fair view inconformity with generally accepted accounting principles in India read more

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