Bajaj Hindusthan slumps to 52-week low on muted earnings

Shares of Bajaj Hindusthan slumped to its 52-week low level in morning trade today, after the country's largest sugar firm reported a dip in its net profit for the fiscal 2010-11.

The company reported a 48% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 21.45 crore for the fiscal ended September 30, 2011, mainly due to higher interest outgo.

The company paid Rs 550.72 crore as interest in 2010-11 fiscal against Rs 368.12 crore in the previous year.

The company follows October-September as fiscal year in line with the sugar marketing year.

Reacting to the muted numbers, the stock opened on a sluggish note and then dipped 3.81% to touch an early low of Rs 26.50 on the BSE.

Similar movement was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange as well where the stock opened at Rs 27.25 and plunged further ts an early low of Rs 26.45.

The stock, however, recovered some lost ground and was trading at Rs 26.65, down 3.27% both on BSE and NSE at 1137 hours.

The company's total income rose to Rs 5,081.89 crore during last fiscal from Rs 3,320.48 crore in the previous year.

Bajaj has 14 sugar plants in Uttar Pradesh with cane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh TCD (tonnes crushed per day).