Bilt Net Plunges 65% To Rs 38cr

Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt), the Thapar group flagship, yesterday announced a whopping 65 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs 38 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 1997. It had posted a net profit of Rs Rs 102.48 crore in the previous year.

The company attributed its worst-ever performance to depressed paper prices and loss of revenue from the edible oil and vanaspati businesses it had sold earlier in the year.

The Bilt board, which met here yesterday, recommended a 25 per cent dividend compared with 42 per cent in 1995-96 and maintained a 15 per cent pay-out on preference shares.

 

Bilts turnover dropped by Rs 100 crore to Rs 1344 crore while operating profit dipped to Rs 174.99 from Rs 212.81 crore.

Its tax outgo on account of the minimum alternate tax amounted to Rs 1.10 crore. Its profit before tax declined sharply to Rs 39.10 crore as interest burden rose sharply to Rs 96.74 crore from Rs 75.32 crore in the previous year. However, Bilts reserves were buoyant at Rs 685 crore.

Analysts were not surprised at the results and said they were expecting a lacklustre performance. They said they had stopped looking at the scrip two years ago. Sachin Mohindra of Chescor Holdings said the perception of Bilt had been pretty negative, adding that it may not be the best paper company in the country.

A Bilt official said, the 1996-97 results cannot be compared with the previous year as it was an extraordinary year... the results suffered on account of declining paper prices, steep modernisation expenses besides the high-cost domestic funds.

Production and sales of paper, Bilts key business, declined marginally in the year: paper production stood at 2,03,011 tonnes compared with 2,14,367 tonnes in the previous year while sales were 1,96,179 tonnes, down from previous years 2,10,857 tonnes.

Bilt said it had sold its edible oil and vanaspati businesses during 1996-97 owing to low profitability, but set up three new captive power plants to strengthen its core competencies. These include a 12 mw power plant for its caustic soda business; a 10,000 mt DCPD plant for phosphatic acid and a 2,500 mt bromine plant.