The C. K. Birla-controlled Hindustan Motors Ltd (HML) is planning to sell its city office in Anna Salai near the Chennai airport and discussions are in progress for an outright sale, Managing Director Manoj Jha said.
He said that the city office is being considered for sale.
“We would like to close the deal within this quarter and discussions are under progress. .. the deal will be closed only after taking all necessary approvals,” Mr. Jha told The Hindu .
IT township
To a question, whether any part of the company's land at its Chennai plant was up for sale, Mr. Jha said the company was not planning to sell any other part of the land or plant at Chennai. In Uttarpara, it plans to develop an integrated IT township and an auto ancillary park on 314 acres.
HM is now looking to restyle and reposition its signature product which now finds use mostly in the taxi and government vehicle segments while also launching new models in the SUV segment. However, it admitted that these initiatives will take time to yield results with benefits showing by the end of this fiscal year.
The company's loss from operations before other income, interest and exceptional income in the first quarter of 20010-11 showed an increase. Officials said that it was taking steps to generate other non-operating income in order to protect its net worth.
Hindustan Motors is now struggling to effect a turnaround. Having eroded over 50 per cent of its net worth, HML is now preparing to make a mandatory mention to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). Its accumulated losses stood at Rs. 132.30 crore as on March 31, 2010. Its 2009-10 losses were Rs. 51.10 crore.
Explaining the reasons behind the loss, the company said that it had primarily focussed on the automobile business with its plants in Uttarpara in West Bengal and in Chennai as well as component business in Uttarpara.
