Tata Tea Net Drops 60% To Rs 15.2 Crore

Tata Tea has registered a 60.58 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2001, to Rs 15.23 crore, from Rs 38.64 crore during the same period in the previous quarter.

The slide in net profit is mainly because, during last year's first quarter, the company had received dividends on long-term investments worth Rs 30.39 crore.

The company's total income grew marginally to Rs 194.13 crore in the quarter ended June 2001 from Rs 192.61 crore during the first quarter of 2000-01.

The company's earnings per share (EPS) has fallen sharply to Rs 2.71 from Rs 6.87 during the April-June period of last year.

 

The company's overall expenditure, at Rs 163.46 crore, was about 3 per cent lower than the aggregated expenditure incurred during the same period last year.

This was partly due to a reduction in the value of raw material consumed, resulting from higher usage of captive production teas in its brands, the company said.

Interest payout was lower at Rs 5.19 crore (Rs 5.90 crore during Q1 last year), and depreciation was flat at Rs 5.04 crore (Rs 5.05 crore), thereby resulting in an increase in gross profit to Rs 20.44 crore against Rs 13.25 crore during the previous fiscal.

The company's realisations during the quarter were better than last year owing to improved quality measures, Tata Tea said in a release.

Tata Tea, which is currently in the midst of a restructuring exercise, recently phased out four brands -- Brahmaputra, Lucky Cup, Leo and Chola -- as part of its brand rationalisation programme to improve profitability. The company is also in the process of merging the operations of Tetley with itself.