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Grasim posts 3.2% rise in net profit

Aditya Birla group company, Grasim Industries, has posted a marginal rise of 3.2 per cent in net profit at Rs 105.4 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2002 compared to Rs 102.2 crore in same period of previous fiscal.

The net income for the period under review was up by a mere 1.6 per cent at Rs 1,135.5 crore as against Rs 1,117.2 crore in Q1 of the 2001-02, company’s chief financial officer, Mr D Rathi stated.

The viscose staple fibre and cement divisions performed well during the quarter with the former contributing 36 per cent to the turnover (27 per cent in the April-June 2001), Mr Rathi said.

The VSF sales volumes were up 48 per cent in Q1 and helped to offset the drop in price realisation of eight per cent at Rs 66,457 per metric tonne, he said adding “the performance may not sustain at the same level for the fy-03”.

Cement division’s volumes grew by nine per cent but there was a 15 per cent drop in price realisation at Rs 1,736 per metric tonne in the quarter, Mr Rathi said. The company’s cement business in the western region came under stress due to excess supply from new capacities, he said.

The company would add two million tonne capacity in the fy-03, taking overall capacity to 13.4 million tonnes.

Mr Rathi said Grasim has acquired additional 73 lakh shares of Larsen and Toubro at Rs 176.66 per share for Rs 129.41 crore, taking total holding in the engineering company to 13 per cent.

On loss in the production due to the closure of staple fibre plant at Nagda in Madhya Pradesh in first week of June, he said the unit has resumed operations in the last week of June and the company was able to meet the demand through inventories.

The company was focusing on cutting interest costs and had brought them down by seven per cent to Rs 44.2 crore in first quarter, Mr Rathi added.

Colour-Chem Q1 net up 34% at Rs 6.27 crore

Colour-Chem has posted a 34 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 6.27 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2002 compared to Rs 4.68 crore in the same period previous fiscal. The sales/income from operations for the period under review was up 22 per cent at Rs 107.36 crore as against Rs 87.82 crore in Q1 of 2001-02, a company release, quoting vice chairman and managing director, Mr K J Bharucha, said here. Better business conditions and reduction in costs helped the company to improve the performance in the first quarter, he said.

Later addressing the annual general meeting, Mr Bharucha said the board had recommended a 50 per cent dividend for 2001-02 (40 per cent for fy-01). On the transfer of Hoechst Ag’s holding in company Toebito Ag, he said “securities and exchange board of India is examining the matter”.

Unit Trust of India and insurance companies held 11.31 per cent and 10.04 per cent stake in the company respectively, while mutual funds controlled 5.61 per cent of the capital, he added.

Clariant India net up 2% at Rs 5.11 crore

Dyes and speciality chemical company, Clariant India (CIL), has posted a marginal increase of two per cent in its net profit at Rs 5.11 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 200 compared to Rs 5.02 crore in the same period previous year.

Net sales (including excise duty) for the period under review stood at Rs 75.4 crore as against Rs 72.96 crore in Q1 FY-02, CIL managing director, Mr P R Rastogi said in a statement here. On the outlook for the current fiscal, Mr Rastogi said “despite not very encouraging environment for dyestuff and intermediates, the company hopes a better growth in speciality chemical segment and exports”.

Mr Rastogi, later, addressing company’s annual general meeting said the board of directors has considered a increased dividend of Rs 7.5 per share as against Rs 6 paid for the last fiscal.

Arvind Mills Q1 net at Rs 25.5 crore

Arvind mills has posted a net profit of Rs 25.58 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2002 compared to net loss of Rs 67.88 crore in same period of previous fiscal. Net sales/income from the operations for the reporting quarter grew by 7.05 per cent at Rs 353.81 crore as against Rs 330.48 crore in the Q1 of 2001-02, a company release said here recently. The interest and finance costs declined sharply at Rs 40.72 crore in April-June period (Rs 80.87 crore in Q1 of fy-02), it said.

The improvement in the performance during the quarter was mainly due to higher denim realisations, lower cotton costs and lower utility costs, it said.