George Williamson Profit Dips 47% To Rs 15.58 Crore

The Magor-held George Williamson (Assam) has posted a profit after tax of Rs 15.58 crore, for the year ended March 31, 2001, a drop of almost 47 per cent from the previous year.

The board of directors at its meeting today recommended a dividend of Rs 10 per equity share, the same as last year.

The company attributed lower price realisations from the Kolkata and Guwahati auctions for the fall in profit. "The average price fetched at Kolkata and Guwahati auctions during the fiscal was Rs 82.76 and Rs 91.44 per kg respectively, much lower than the average price of Rs 89.20 and Rs 94.30 obtained during 1999-2000," a company release said.

The average price of Rs 104.22 per kg from exports sales was slightly less than that of the previous accounting year's figures of Rs 105.39 per kg. As a result, total sales went down by Rs 191.37 lakh despite the sale of an increased quantity of tea (19,3339 lakh tonne) during the year compared to 92,115 tonne sold in the previous year.

Income from tea and others stood at Rs 198.04 crore compared with Rs 199.70 crore in the previous year. An amount of Rs 3.09 crore was paid under VRS during the year.