Pentafour pays 16% interimCHENNAI: City-based software major Pentafour Software today declared an interim dividend of 16 per cent for the current financial year. The dividend would be payable on the enhanced share capital of Rs 39.94 crore subsequent to the 1:1 bonus issue, a company release said here adding that for the bonus shares, it would be on a pro-rata basis. The record date for the dividend was January 1, 2000. The company had recorded a turnover of Rs 317.5 crore for the six months ended September this year for a net profit of Rs 71.16 crore. In 1998-99, Pentafour Software had paid a 70 per cent dividend on a turnover of Rs 526 crore. The company's post-tax profits in the last financial year was Rs 119 crore.Bajpai becomes Hughes Ispat CEOMUMBAI: Prakash C Bajpai has taken charge as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hughes Ispat Ltd from Novermber 15. Bajpai took over from Anil Sharma, who was holding charges in the interim period. Anil Sharma is the vicepresident, general manager and COO of Hughes Network System's Enterprise Network Division, USA.German firm takes $ 1.3 billion hitFRANKFURT: Germany woke up to its biggest corporate scandal of $ 1.3 billion in five years on Monday when Philipp Holzmann AG, its second largest builder, said it was close to insolvency and blamed former managers for "massive" breaches of duty. Holzmann said it had discovered 2.4 billion marks ($1.3 billion) in potential losses and had taken legal action against former management board members and staff. It named no names.The 150 year-old firm, which took a prominent role in rebuilding Germany after the Second World War, said it had asked its creditor banks to back a restructuring involving the loss of more than 3,000 jobs, over 10 per cent of its workforce.Gates hints at Microsoft break-upWASHINGTON: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates did not rule out a break-up of Microsoft as a result of the government's anti-trust case against the company, in aninterview to be published in Time magazine today. Sector specialists have suggested that a spin-off of the Windows Software operations from Microsoft itself could be one possible solution to the dispute over Microsoft's market dominance in personal computer operating systems. Asked by Time magazine whether he would oppose such a solution, Gates said that he could not discuss the likely details of any settlement. He likewise declined to rule out another solution - making the Windows code public.
