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Tata Chemicals has reported a 92 per cent increase net profit at ₹257 crore (₹134 crore) in September quarter on the back of better performance by its international business and better fertiliser demand in India.
This apart, in the same period last year the company’s profitability was impacted by a provision of ₹136 crore for Magadi unit restructuring.
Net sales were up 11 per cent at ₹4,742 crore (₹4,282 crore).
The company’s subsidy receivable from the Government has reduced to ₹1,200 crore as of September quarter compared with ₹1,800 crore in March.
Tata Chemicals launched chilli, turmeric and coriander under the iShakti brand in Punjab with a plan to cover the northern markets before going national.
R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals, said the revenue from the iShakti pulses has touched ₹100 crore in the first half of this fiscal and is growing at a faster pace.
“We would take up the process of reviewing our non-core and non-performing asset in the next two quarters and there could be some provisioning,” he said without revealing the quantum of charges. Maintaining the profitability of urea produced above the Government specified quantity for subsidy would be a big challenge until the urea policy is unveiled, he said.
On consumer product business, he said the demand from rural regions is almost stagnant and expected to pick up with better earnings from the rabi crop.
During the quarter, the company incurred a charge of ₹62 crore for scaling down operations at the Magadi unit and received ₹56 crore as compensation for termination of electricity and steam supply agreement in Europe.
Gross debt The company’s gross debt was at ₹8,300 crore and net debt of ₹6,000 crore. On a standalone basis, the debt stood at ₹3,000 crore and the net debt was ₹1,800 crore. It intends to bring down overall debt by 50 per cent in five years.
Revenue from the fertiliser business jumped 20 per cent to ₹1,976 crore (₹1,643 crore) as it sold imported DAP (diammonium phosphate) purchased when the prices were low in the international markets. Shares of the company were trading up one per cent at ₹423 on Monday.
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