BoM, MMTC, Raymond & Sangam India Q4 results

CORPORATE SCORECARD

BoM net loss at Rs 33.41 cr

Bank of Maharashtra has posted net loss of Rs 33.41 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2006 as against net profit of Rs 126.29 crore in January-March 2005.

Total income declined to Rs 620.98 crore from Rs 710.72 crore in the year-ago period. Net profit for the full year ended March 2006 dipped to Rs 50.79 crore from Rs 177.12 crore in 2004-05. Total income also declined to Rs 2,526.69 crore from Rs 2,752.93 crore in 2004-05, BoM said in a release.

The profitability was hit by huge provision that bank had to make for depreciations of securities in the quarter, a top BoM official said.

The Pune-based public sector bank reported a mere 3.51 per cent growth in its total business comprising deposits and advances at Rs 43,376 crore from Rs 41,906 crore in 2004-05.

At the beginning of 2005-06 it had set a vision to cross level of Rs 48,000 crore. It took a conscious decision to shed high cost term deposits of Rs 5,600 crore during the year and as a result, the deposit base dipped to Rs 26,906 crore at the end of March 2006 from Rs 28,844 crore as of March 2005.

However, the demand deposits comprising savings and current deposits increased by 21.12 per cent during the year. The share of low cost deposits increased from 33.05 per cent to 42.84 per cent.

The cost of deposits decreased from 5.32 per cent in 2004-05 to 5.16 per cent in 2005-06. The net advances of the bank stood at Rs 16,470 crore by as on March 31, 2006 as against Rs 13,062 crore as on March 31, 2005, registering growth of 26.09 per cent. The yield on advances increased to 8.27 per cent from 8.25 per cent.

MMTC net down 36%

MMTC reported 63 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 15.05 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2006, as compared with net profit of Rs 23.82 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Net income from sales and other trade earnings for the quarter ended March 2006 was Rs 5,095.04 crore, up 31.7 per cent from last year's turnover of Rs 3,867.77 crore.

For the financial year 2005-06, net profit was Rs 94.25 crore, 12 per cent lower as against last year's net profit of Rs 107.17 crore. The net income for the year was Rs 16,385.88 crore, higher by 6.95 per cent in relation to last year's net sales of Rs 15,123.73 crore.

Raymond net up 58%

Raymond reported 58.42 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 121 crore for the financial year ended March 2006 compared with Rs 76.38 crore recorded last year. Total revenues of the company increased by 19 per cent to Rs 1,793 crore as against Rs 1,507 crore last year.

"The growth in profitability was mainly due to strong performance of the textile division and growth in the denim business," CMD Gautam Hari Singhania told reporters.

Revenues from the textile division registered 13 per cent growth to Rs 868 crore compared with Rs 766 crore in the previous year, while export sales rose by 9 per cent to Rs 100 crore.

The denim division's revenues grew by 32 per cent to Rs 294 crore. Both the branded and apparel subsidiaries of the company posted strong growth in profitability driven by product innovation and enhanced brand image, he said.

The company, Sanghania said, has earmarked a capital expenditure of Rs 260-270 crore for this financial year. "About Rs 200 crore is for our Vapi plant expansion while Rs 60-70 crore is for yearly maintenance and overhaul functions," he said.

Raymond is expecting 20 per cent overall growth in the current fiscal, he said. Steel price increase might have a marginal impact on margins during the current year as the prices were not softening, he said.

Sangam India's net up 123.4%

Sangam India posted 123.46 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 14.48 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006, as compared with Rs 6.48 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2004-05.

The net sales of the company for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, grew 32 per cent to Rs 107.89 crore as against Rs 79.41 crore for the same period in 2004-05, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A dividend of Rs 1.5 on shares of Rs 10 each (15 per cent) for the year 2005-06 and Rs 19.52 lakh in equity (pro-rata) for preference shares redeemed during the year. For the year ended March 31, 2006 the net profit stood at Rs 24.77 crore.

The net sales for the year ended March 31, 2006 was Rs 346.78 crore compared with Rs 289.58 crore for 2004-05. The board also approved the scheme of amalgamation of SPBL with Sintex.

The swap ratio for the amalgamation has been fixed as one equity share of Sintex for every four equity shares of SPBL.

"The merger of SPBL is part of our business strategy and should improve our operating margins of our fabric division by 2 00-300 basis points. Further the merger will give us an additional base home furnishing product with well established Laurel brand," company chairman R P Soni said.