Calcutta Chemical Company, a subsidiary of Shaw Wallace & Co, has registered a sharp decline of 82 per cent in net profit at Rs 1.18 crore for 1996-97, even as its turnover remained static at Rs 39.4 crore (annualised).
The company is part of the consumer products division of SWC, the bid for sale of which has already been awarded to Henkel Spic, a German joint venture firm.
For the ten months ended March 31, the actual turnover of the company was Rs 32.9 crore compared with a turnover of Rs 46.83 crore and a net profit of Rs 9.17 crore in the fourteen months ended March 31, 1996.
The company's 76th annual general meeting has been slated for September 3, in Calcutta.
As in the case of its parent company, Price Waterhouse has declined to continue as auditors to Calcutta Chemical Co too. This was intimated in a letter dated June 27 to the company, the directors' report said.
On the same day, S R Batliboi, have offered to be appointed as the company's auditors. S R Batliboi has also stepped in as auditors for Shaw Wallace & Co after Price Waterhouse opted out.
The directors' report said the company had filed a prayer with the chairman of the Central Board of Excise & Customs for appointing a common officer for adjudication of proceedings drawn by the commissioners of central excise, Calcutta and Chennai.
The prayer relates to a case in which show-cause notice was served on the company on July 3, 1996, by the central excise authorities seeking to know why a demand for Rs 2.4 crore should not be imposed on the company between June 1, 1991 to March 31, 1995 as additional duty payable for the Tiljala unit of the company.
According to the directors' report,
