Bilt Q2 PAT rises 41% to Rs 33 crore

Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt), the country's largest paper company and the flagship of the Lalit Mohan Thapar group, has reported a 41.4 per cent rise in profit after tax for October-December quarter to Rs 32.9 crore from Rs 23.3 crore in 2002.

Revenues increased 4.7 per cent to Rs 555.1 crore (Rs 530.4 crore), while profit before interest, depreciation and tax rose 4.3 per cent to Rs 108 crore (Rs 103.6 crore).

Bilt vice-chairman and managing director Gautam Thapar said a combination of three factors: falling interest costs, higher volumes and a better product mix helped boost performance. The company reported total paper (including coated) production of 94,473 tonne (91,872 tonne).

Total paper (including coated) sales went up to 95,243 tonne (92,878 tonne). "We moved up the value chain and did better volumes of coated paper and copier paper," Thapar added.

Bilt's HI profit after tax increased 32.58 per cent to Rs 64.09 crore in 2003, while revenues went up by 5.96 per cent to Rs 1,098.39 crore. Interest cost at Rs 65.23 crore during the half year was 8.3 per cent lower than the corresponding period of previous year.

On the company's prospects for the January-March quarter, Thapar said: "We think that good business prospects will continue. Global prices might firm up further after picking up in the last quarter."