LINCOLN, Neb., Jan 30, 2018 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
Software Technology, LLC, the maker of Tabs3 software, is excited to
announce the release of a new cloud billing program, Kurent.
Kurent is an easy to use program designed for solo and small law firms
who typically don’t use and don’t want to pay for elaborate practice
management features. The team that made Tabs3, the most award winning
billing software in the legal industry, used their more than 35 years of
knowledge and experience to build a product that is tailored to the
billing needs of solo and small law firms.

“We know that many solo and small firms struggle to track their time and
send out invoices using Word and Excel, or QuickBooks,” said Dan Berlin,
President and CEO of Software Technology, LLC. “Every screen and
dashboard in Kurent is designed with them in mind so that the process of
getting paid for legal work can be as easy as possible.”

Kurent provides solo and small law firms with an integrated, seamless
way to track their time, create invoices and record payments. It
includes dashboards that provide valuable insight into the status of
work done, invoices sent and collected – all through easy to understand
charts and graphs. Attorneys can email invoices to clients in Kurent and
get paid online with LawPay. Kurent also makes it easy to take care of
your back office needs by integrating with QuickBooks online. Backed by
decades of legal billing software experience, Kurent delivers an
intuitive design and reliability that the legal industry has come to
expect from a Tabs3 product.

To learn more about Kurent, visit Kurent.com.

About Software Technology, LLC

Software Technology, LLC is
the leading provider of legal software in the United States with more
than 35 years of experience developing legal billing software and more
than 100,000 active monthly users on products such as Tabs3,
PracticeMaster, and Kurent. Kurent is a web based billing program for
solo and small law firms. Tabs3 software is a desktop suite that
features the nation’s most award-winning legal billing software. Kurent
allows attorneys to easily track their time, send out invoices and
collect payments – including integrating online payments. For more
information, visit Tabs3.com or Kurent.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180130006065/en/

SOURCE: Kurent”>
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The Law Firm Marketing Company

Whether you are a new law firm or an established one, much of your time will be spent generating business and using law firm marketing teams and strategies.

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, January 30, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ — It’s 2018 and the year has just begun, but now you should have a strategy for concentrating on finding new clients for the firm

Whether you are a new law firm or an established one, the bulk of your time will be spent generating business. This involves law firm marketing, in which you will become a marketing expert. I am sure you are wondering why I brought up marketing. Every business needs to have a marketer (or marketing team) to ensure the business achieves its goals.

This happens can happen in a number of ways, and the end result is more business or at least leads. If you are an introvert, you’re going to have to change in order to build your book of business. Generating business may seem like a lot of work, but it’s easier than you think.

Tips for Finding New Clients

The key to getting new clients is to let people know you are a problem solver. But how do you let them know who you are and where do you find clients? The best place to start is with who you know and then branch out.
Helping friends and family. This may seem obvious, but at some point in their lives, they will need a lawyer or legal advice.

They can spread the word about you and your firm. Since they know you, they will speak genuinely about you and how you helped them. After all, word-of-mouth is the best kind of advertising – and it’s free.

Make a contact list. In order to do this, it’s helpful to carry a notebook with you. Take note of everyone you do business with, such as your dry cleaner, mechanic, and barista. You should also note everyone you meet on a daily basis, such as lawyers, neighbors, judges … etc. There’s always an opportunity to network. You should keep them apprised of what you are doing. Treat everyone as if they are a potential client!

Talk about your work. When you are enthusiastic about your work, people will notice and become interested in your work as well. They will see you as an expert. And everyone wants to boast they know an expert in a particular field. Ways to talk about your work (and law firm) include holding seminars, writing articles and airing a podcast.

In addition to being interested in your work, you also need to understand people’s problems, and not just listen to them. This is an issue for many lawyers. Taking the time to understand them will make you a better lawyer. In return, people will trust you, which creates a comfortable atmosphere.

Practice what you preach. If you claim to be an honest lawyer, then you need to follow through on it – and not just at work. You should be the lawyer that you want representing you; an attorney who has your best interest at heart and will tell you exactly what is going on as if you were a family member.

Study marketing. You should read books, view videos and sign up for online marketing classes. Creating a digital footprint is now a key element of law firm marketing. This means that you need to create quality content for your website (including a blog page) and use social media to start a discussion and bring traffic to your website.

Putting reviews/testimonials on your website is another form of word-of-mouth advertising. Other forms of digital marketing include pay-per-click campaigns, SEO best practices and online marketplaces and platforms. Don’t forget about advertising! Print, tv, and radio are still viable ways to promote your law firm.

Go to events.

You should go to events to network, especially where other lawyers will be. Also, joining a club, an organization or a charity are great opportunities to connect with people.

Let people know you are there. It’s good to keep in touch with others by sending emails, making phone calls and forwarding articles.

Partner with professionals. You can team up with other professionals, such as doctors, realtors and insurance brokers to establish an alliance.

Specialize. When you specialize in a practice area, people will find out and refer clients to you.
Buy Leads. You can also buy leads, which can be very expensive. A lead is a person who has a legal issue and could potentially become one of your clients.

We Specialize in Lawyer Marketing

Generating new clients is what keeps your law firm in business. This means that you will need to wear many hats: marketer, salesperson, and lawyer. If you have a large book of business keeping you busy, that’s great.

If you don’t, Advisory Concept Evolvers will give your law firm the marketing and business help it needs to build a large client list. We also provide legal research and medical records services. For over 25 years, we have become a fixture in the Philadelphia legal arena, helping law firms of all sizes achieve marketing success. Watch for our recent interview on NewsWorld, where we share many attorney successes.

Call our CEO, Mary Ann Fasanella and ask for a complimentary 45-minute marketing review session.

Mary Ann Fasanello, CEO
Advisory Concept Evolvers
215-510-2167
email us here

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Swindon businesses have been urged to engage with their local communities to create programmes that help disadvantaged jobseekers into employment.

The call to action came from a meeting of some of the South West’s most influential executives hosted by Business in the Community (BITC). 

The event drew on existing programmes that support inclusive employment practices and address challenges faced by communities across the region.

Topics covered included youth unemployment – which remains significantly higher than general unemployment – and the pay gap for people suffering from mental health problems, who earn on average up to 42% less than their peers, according to research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The meeting at accountancy group PwC’s Bristol offices also heard that research suggests the South West is facing significant challenges when it comes to deprivation, unemployment and quality of education. 

The event featured executives from businesses that already support inclusive employment practices including Swindon-based Nationwide Building Society, the BBC, Barclays and law firms Burges Salmon and DAC Beachcroft as well as PwC.

Attendees spoke about their organisations’ initiatives to encourage responsible business practices and to tackle issues around education and wellbeing, plus race, age and gender in the workplace.

PwC South West senior partner Katharine Finn, who is also a BITC responsible business ambassador, said: “It’s so important for businesses to give back to their local communities and help disadvantaged or vulnerable people shape their futures, and possibly go on to work for the companies that take part in these initiatives.

“On behalf of BITC I urge all businesses in the South West to think of ways in which they can tackle challenges faced by their community and provide those in need the chance to succeed in life, regardless of their background.”

BITC membership director Liz Needleman added: “It is encouraging to see so much enthusiasm from the business community, not only to engage with local issues, but also to collaborate with each other.

“With the many skills shortages in the region, it is clear that it is in everyone’s best interests to support all members of our community to reach their potential.”

BITC has set up 29 partnerships between business and schools since 2007, helping more than 15,500 young people.

Nearly 1,320 employee volunteers have taken part in activities to support them and 14,250-plus hours of employee volunteering time has been dedicated towards supporting activities.

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Americans will understand that the effects of the tax law signed by President Donald Trump aren’t “fictional,” and that it’s working as intended, a top White House official told MarketWatch a day before Trump is due to promote his policies in his first State of the Union address.

Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, spoke to MarketWatch about Trump’s plans to rebuild U.S. roads and bridges; how the president will add “color” in his speech to his trade ideas; and the implications of the sweeping tax law.

“The tax bill is going to have a big, positive effect on the economy,” Hassett said in a phone interview, “and once people see it in their paychecks, then they’re going to understand, I think, that the effects are not fictional.”

Hassett, formerly an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, also commented on stock valuations and said optimism about the U.S. economy “should be something that’s reflected in the markets” going forward.

Here is a lightly edited and condensed transcript of the interview.

MarketWatch: In last year’s speech before a joint session of Congress, the president used it to push an infrastructure program — which still hasn’t happened. He’s going to use this year’s speech to promote infrastructure, too. But why should businesses have more confidence this time, this year?

Hassett: Well, the president will talk about his trillion-dollar plan for rebuilding our infrastructure, and I think that people of both parties agree that the nation’s infrastructure is in decay and that it’s not serving us well and needs to be improved.

I think that historically, infrastructure-type bills have done OK even in election years because there is such broad bipartisan support for infrastructure. And so last year, I think the president was right to prioritize taxes. If you look at accomplishments, it was historic. And if you look at the way the economy and markets are responding to the tax bill, I think that you can judge that the president’s judgment was correct, that moving taxes first was a good idea.

Ideally taxes would have passed in March and we could have done infrastructure last year, too. But there’s only so much legislative time in the calendar, and I think that turning to infrastructure now is a very sound idea economically — I mean, it’s still something that needs to be fixed. Politically I think that there should be the floor time to do it.

MarketWatch: What we’ve seen leaked out on the infrastructure plan is that it’s a matching fund, and contingent on either local government or private funding of the same projects. So, how much of the roughly $200 billion set aside would actually be used?

Hassett: I think that I’m not supposed to respond to comments about leaked documents, and I’m not even sure that the leaked document is accurate or up to date, and so I think that the best thing is to wait and see what the president says in the State of the Union.

MarketWatch: He is expected to promote the tax law in the speech. But at least one recent poll found that just 29% of Americans see it as mostly positive for their family. Why do you think the law isn’t more popular?

Hassett: I think that the law is going to have a big, positive effect on the economy, that that positive effect is visible already if you look at the millions of people that have had pay raises, the hundreds of businesses that have said that they plan to move plants back to the U.S., and so on.

Ultimately, the academic literature suggests that Americans respond in the voting booth to how the economy is doing, and they hold the party that’s in power accountable for the state of the economy. That’s a calculus that we’re very happy to have them make, because the tax bill is going to have a big, positive effect on the economy and once people see it in their paychecks, then they’re going to understand, I think, that the effects are not fictional; that they were scientifically based from the beginning, and that they’re working as designed — or as intended, maybe is a better way to say it.

See: Mnuchin says 90% of workers will get more take-home pay under withholding change.

MarketWatch: In his Davos speech last week, the president said that trade needs to be fair and reciprocal. What more in the State of the Union will we hear about that, and why won’t this approach result in a trade war?

Hassett: I think you’re right, that the president is once again going to add color to the idea of what fair and reciprocal trade looks like. I think this is something in both the APEC speech and the Davos speech that he’s begun to flesh out.

I think that the president’s exactly right, that if you look at many of the trade deals that America’s signed over time, that we’ve tended to agree to things that were quite asymmetric: allowing other countries to have high tariffs on our things while we remove all tariffs on theirs.

I think that everybody in the Trump administration believes in free trade. The problem is that for some of our deals, it looks like that belief is one-sided. The president had a life of success at negotiating, and his intent is to do a better job than previous presidents have at negotiating fair and reciprocal deals. Who would bet against him, given his track record in terms of negotiations?

MarketWatch: The president has highlighted the strength of the economy, at a time when the trade deficit has widened substantially. Economists say one impact of the tax bill will be to worsen the trade deficit even further. So doesn’t this show somehow that the administration is wrong to link the trade balance to economic performance?

Hassett: There are going to be times when we decide to import more of something for reasons that are sound economically. I think the problem in the president’s mind arises when there are clear, sort of, asymmetries in trade deals that disadvantage American firms, and those are the kind of things that he wants to fix.

In terms of the tax bill, I disagree that one should expect the tax bill to increase the trade deficit. There are a number of effects that it might have on it, but I think that the biggest effect is that right now, about 51% — according to a CEA estimate — of the trade deficit is attributable to transfer pricing by U.S. multinationals, who make products, say, in Ireland and ship them back to the U.S., rather than making them here. They established that practice because we were the high-tax place on earth, and they could avoid U.S. tax by locating activity offshore.

The tax bill has carrots and sticks designed to encourage firms to stop doing that, and given that that behavior accounts for 50% of the trade deficit — that is, the trade deficit is twice as high as it would be if U.S. multinationals weren’t doing this — then any reduction in that activity is very much first order in terms of the trade deficit, and it would reduce it.

MarketWatch: The president has frequently discussed the record highs of the stock market. Now that tax reform has passed, do you think that there’s much more room to go? And are you concerned at all about valuations?

Hassett: I think that one way to think about the movements last year in equity markets is that it’s the after-tax cash flow in present value that matters when you’re valuing equities. And in the old world, firms got to keep say, after tax, 65% of their profit. And now in the new world, they’ll get to keep 79% of their profit. So if you go from a .65 to a .79 out in front of a value formula, you can get a big stock market increase, which is I think something that we experienced last year.

I think going forward, that valuations will continue to be sound, provided that earnings and growth continue to hold up, and I think there’s every reason to expect that they will, given that we’ve just gone from the least competitive tax situation in the developed world to one that’s much more competitive. So there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about the American economy, and that should be something that’s reflected in markets as well.

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The chairman of the board of directors H.E Dr. Jawad Al Anani, in the presence of the Executive Management of the ASE met representatives of brokerage firms to discuss issues related to securities sector and the ways to activate the market.

At the beginning of the meeting,  Dr .Anani welcomed and thanked them for attending the meeting. He also explained that this meeting is part of a series of meetings held by ASE. Where the ASE started its meeting with the Jordan Strategies Forum to discuss the recommendations of the study ( ASE:  The way forward)  followed by a meeting in TAG group and a meeting in the Association of Banks to encourage banks to increase their investments in ASE and to be the market leadership,  as well as individual meetings with a number of institutional investors.

Dr. Anani stressed on the collaboration of all parties to activate the market add to that the brokerage firms responsibility in attracting local and global investors and invest to the stock market alongside with the Capital Market Institutions and other related parties through  promoting  the profession of brokerage firms  and research and studies on listed companies to facilitate investors in making their investment decisions.

As the attendees agreed on the need of increasing the available tools and investment alternatives to investors such as mutual funds, Islamic Sukuks and ETFs

The attendees also asked for amending the tax law by introducing broad amendments in order give investors incentives for dealing with and attracting foreign investments on the other hand, and to reduce or eliminate taxes on capital gains by treating investment companies the same treats of individuals in capital gains.

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A US judge has temporarily blocked the implementation of a law that bars anyone from entering into a contract with the state of Kansas without first pledging they will not boycott Israel.

US District Court judge Daniel Crabtree granted the temporary injunction on Tuesday in response to a lawsuit filed by Kansas public school teacher Esther Koontz late last year.

Passed in June 2017, the Kansas legislation requires all state contractors to declare in writing that they do not support a boycott of Israel.

Koontz argues the law violates her rights under the First Amendment.

In his ruling, Crabtree wrote: “The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in a boycott like the one punished by the Kansas law.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented Koontz in court, welcomed the decision.

“The court has rightly recognised the serious First Amendment harms being inflicted by this misguided law, which imposes an unconstitutional ideological litmus test,” said ACLU attorney Brian Hauss in a statement.

Koontz, a public school math teacher, was asked to sign a document saying she was not boycotting Israel in July 2017 before she could work as a trainer in a state-run math and science programme, the court filing states. 

However she had begun boycotting Israeli companies and Israeli companies operating in the occupied Palestinian territories last year in protest of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

After refusing to sign the form, she was not given the contract, the case states.

“This ruling should serve as a warning to government officials around the country that the First Amendment prohibits the government from suppressing participation in political boycotts,” Hauss said.

Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, welcomed the court’s decision, saying on Twitter that “the 1st Amendment triumphed today”.

There are laws like this that have passed in states across the country and @SenatorCardin is still pushing one in the senate. Thankfully, the 1st Amendment triumphed today! https://t.co/4L4XHJFIeS

— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) January 30, 2018

The Kansas legislation comes amid a growing crackdown in the US on the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement

Launched in 2005, BDS seeks to pressure Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and respect the rights of Palestinian refugees and Palestinian citizens of the state.

Last October, Wisconsin also passed a law barring state agencies from entering into contracts with entities that are “engaging in a boycott of Israel”. Also in October, the governor of Maryland signed an executive order blocking firms that boycott Israel from receiving state contracts that same month.

As of this month, 24 states have enacted anti-BDS laws, according to Palestine Legal, a US-based legal advocacy group. Eleven other states have anti-BDS legislation pending.

A US Senate bill, known as the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, has also been proposed and would bar US citizens from supporting “restrictive trade practices or boycotts fostered or imposed by any international governmental organisation against Israel”.

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WASHINGTON – The ailing U.S. coal industry is ramping up its political and legal offensive to win approval for West Coast export terminals that could provide a lifeline to lucrative Asia markets.

Coal producers filed two recent lawsuits against governments in Washington state and California challenging local decisions to block port projects on environmental grounds. The industry is also lobbying the Trump administration to override the local bans.

The fight reflects the sector’s desperation to boost exports as U.S. utilities continue their shift away from coal-fired power — despite Trump policies aimed at helping miners.

The proposed port projects are crucial to industry growth, said Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association.

“It’s worth fighting these battles,” he said.

The strategy could be a long-shot. Courts have tended in the past to side with local authorities in similar cases, and the administration’s policy options for forcing coal infrastructure on unwilling local governments remain unclear.

Officials at the White House and Department of Energy did not respond to requests for comment.

The coal industry has eyed the West Coast as a gateway to the global market for years, with plans for as many as seven terminals on the books a decade ago. But five of those projects were canceled amid volatile Asian demand and bitter opposition in left-leaning California, Washington and Oregon.

Coal producers are fighting for the remaining two proposed projects — in Oakland, California, and Longview, Washington — and have filed two recent lawsuits, including one in January, amid rising coal demand in Japan, China and South Korea.

“There are 45 new coal plants planned or under construction in Japan alone,” said Rick Curtsinger, a spokesman for Colorado-based Cloud Peak, which mines in Montana and Wyoming.

Earlier in January, the company announced a deal to export coal from a Montana mine to two new coal gasification power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, site of the 2011 nuclear meltdowns.

But growth from such deals is constrained because the only West Coast coal export facility in North America — in British Columbia — is near full capacity.

Coal buyers in Japan and South Korea confirmed they would welcome more U.S. shipments. Japan’s JERA utility sees the U.S. as a key to diversifying its fuel sources, said spokesman Tsuyoshi Shiraishi.

An official with a South Korean power utility, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The popularity of U.S. coal is rising among utilities in South Korea” because of relatively low prices.

Even with the bottlenecks, coal exports rose more than 60 percent in the first five months of 2017, driven by temporary supply disruptions from Australia and depressed prices for U.S. coal.

Shipments to Europe rose about a third, to 16 million tons, compared to the same period in 2016, according to U.S. Department of Energy data. Exports to Asia doubled, to 12.3 million tons, over the same period.

In Oakland in January, attorneys for coal export terminal developer Phil Tagami and leading Utah coal producer Bowie Resources kicked off hearings in federal court over their proposed project. They argued the city council had used flawed scientific data to justify its unanimous 2016 decision to ban coal exports from the city.

That study concluded that dust emissions from coal transport would threaten local health. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says excessive exposure to coal dust can cause black lung and other respiratory problems.

The coal industry’s lawyers countered that the study examined the wrong kind of coal and ignored state-of-the-art anti-dust technologies.

The city has so far spent more than $1 million in legal fees to keep Utah coal out of Oakland ports, said Oakland Council Member Dan Kalb.

“I am saddened they are continuing to fight,” he said.

A decision in the suit could come within weeks.

Meanwhile, Lighthouse Resources, the developer of the proposed Millennium coal export terminal in Washington state, filed another federal lawsuit earlier this month against the governor and state regulators.

Washington had denied a permit for the project last year citing worries about rail safety, air pollution and noise pollution.

The company argues the state is obstructing the commerce of other states where the coal is mined and that only the federal government can regulate such interstate commerce.

Michael Greve, a law professor at George Mason University, said the plaintiffs would have to prove that Washington is favoring its own economic interests over those of other states — a tough standard to meet, particularly in a case involving an environmental ban.

In 2011, a Colorado court rejected a similar legal argument made by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, which advocates for fossil fuels. The institute had challenged a state law requiring investor-owned utilities to obtain 30 percent of their generation from renewable sources.

The coal industry, meanwhile, is pushing the White House and Congress for policy solutions — potentially through an infrastructure spending package — to make it easier to open export terminals over local objections, said Quinn, of the National Mining Association.

Others want the administration to weigh in on the interstate commerce argument.

“The administration can have some influence if the opposition drifts into an area where it is treading on federal authority,” said Bud Clinch, director of the Montana Coal Council.

Last fall, Energy Department Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette floated the idea of using the U.S. Federal Power Act to supersede state efforts to block gas pipelines.

“We can’t stop a state legislature and a governor from doing what they think is in their self-interest,” he said during an event at the National Petroleum Council. “But these are interstate industries.”

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Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal. Piramal Enterprises posted a 21% increase in net profit to Rs490 crore in the third quarter and a revenue growth of 22% to Rs2,858 crore from a year ago. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

Mumbai: Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) plans to bid for debt-laden companies across six to seven sectors including auto ancillary, cement and textiles that are currently undergoing insolvency proceedings, group chairman Ajay Piramal said.

Piramal attributed the company’s robust earnings in the December quarter to the strong growth in its financial services business. On Tuesday, PEL posted a 21% increase in net profit to Rs490 crore in the third quarter, and a revenue growth of 22% to Rs2,858 crore from a year ago.

“We are continuously looking at different companies in the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal)… We have put our bids. We are looking beyond one company. We will be bidding in six-seven sectors like auto ancillary, cement, steel, textiles, pharma and chemicals,” Piramal said in an interview.

The Piramal group, through its distressed asset investment platform with private equity fund Bain Capital Credit, had submitted bids for debt-ridden Bhushan Steel Ltd. Piramal joined JSW Steel and its Japanese business partner JFE Steel Corp. to bid for Bhushan Steel, which has a total debt of around Rs42,355 crore on 31 March 2017.

Last year, NCLT allowed banks to initiate insolvency proceedings against Bhushan Steel. The petition for launching the insolvency process against Bhushan Steel was filed by the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank in its lenders’ consortium.

“The drivers (for decisions to bid) are whether we feel inherently the asset is good, can we turn it around by bringing in equity or by bringing additional debt into it and can we get decent IRR (internal rate of return). Very often, we will also partner with somebody who knows the industry or an industry expert,” Piramal said.

Last year, Piramal Enterprises had announced a $1 billion distressed asset investment platform in association with Bain Capital Credit.

The company, which has presence in diverse sectors including financial services, pharmaceuticals and real estate, is in the process of raising around Rs 7,000 crore both through existing and new global and domestic investors. Piramal said these funds will be utilised to fund most expansion plans in the financial services and pharmaceutical business.

Of the total Rs7,000 crore that would be raised by year end, Rs5,000 will go towards financial services, Rs1,000 will be in pharma and Rs1,000 will be for general purposes, Piramal said.

“The major driver (for the robust quarterly result) has been the financial services space. The (loan) book has grown by 68% to Rs38,000 crore. In addition, what’s heartening is another Rs22,000 crore that has been sanctioned but not yet disbursed,” he said.

During the third quarter, corporate loan book grew 134% to Rs6,392 crore, the company said in a statement. Income from financial services jumped by 46% to Rs1,316 crore, driven by the increase in size of loan book, it said in a statement.

In August, Piramal had received licence to start a housing finance company (HFC). The HFC disbursed Rs491 crore as 31 December 2017, it said.

Besides, the company posted Rs1,022 crore revenue from the pharma business, up 7% from an year ago.

Piramal also said that the company is examining opportunities to re-enter the domestic prescription drug market after it sold its India business to Abbott Laboratories on 2010. He declined to share details.

“In pharma, we continuously look for acquisitions…if it makes strategic sense and if there is any value,” he said. In November, PEL acquired Digeplex and the associated brands in the gastro-intestinal segment from Shreya Lifesciences for an undisclosed sum.

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