Satyam's board meeting fails to allay concerns

Chitti Pantulu

So what to do with the shares of Satyam Computers Ltd??? Did all of you finished buying Selan Exploration Technologies Ltd?? Selan Exploration is coming up with a buy back of shares at Rs.230 per share.

The company said it would buy back up to 25% of its paid-up capital and free reserves at a maximum of Rs 230 a share. Selan Exploration Technology's net profit soared 578.3% to Rs 23.13 crore on a 326.8% rise in sales to Rs 37.90 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

Selan Exploration Technology is involved in oil exploration and production in India. The most important thing is that, Selan Exploration Ltd works on proven oil fields and hence it is free of the risk of finding new oil reservoirs.

Today I am told that a weekly magazine has given a buy call on my recommended Sarda Energy Ltd. In the same space Vikash Metal and Power Ltd also looks good.

Next bull run will come from the Technology Companies as lot of hopes are pinned on Mr.Barrack Obama. I have already given a buy call on Rolta Ltd (Which is all set to cross Rs.100 in the next few days time frame), Infosys Technologies Ltd, TCS Ltd, etc. It is to be noted that, if the US economy starts to improve/recover, the first jump will come from the IT counters!!

Hyderabad: Uncertainty continues to dog the beleaguered Satyam Computer Services even as the newly constituted Board of the company met for the second time on Saturday. The positive messages that Satyam employees and leadership were looking forward to from the meeting failed to materialise.

"We did not see the kind of aggression, urgency, and energy we were expecting from a team that is to rescue the company," said a senior executive. Three new members, CII Chief Mentor Tarun Das, chartered accountant TN Manoharan and Suryakant Balkrishna Mainak of LIC, joined HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former Nasscom President Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C Achutan for the second meeting which lasted for over seven hours during which they met team leaders, and members of the finance and legal departments of the company.

Apart from announcing the institution of an Audit Committee with Manoharan as the chairman and C Achuthan and S B Mainak as members, and the appointment of noted Chennai based accounting firm Brahmayya & Co as internal auditors, and law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co, as legal advisors to the Board, there were no other signficiant announcements by the Board.

Money and assuring customers were the immediate moves we were expecting from the new Board and neither of them came about," another senior executive told DNA expressing anguish the senior leaders in the company had no new information to give to the associates. The company was looking forward to an indication on the appointment of a CEO and CFO, in vain. The new board did not elect a chairman either.