Bajaj Hindusthan, India's largest sugar manufacturer, today reported a net loss of Rs 55.94 crore for the first quarter ended December 31 due to a slump in profitability from the sugar and distillery businesses.
It had posted a net profit of Rs 29.67 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.
Bajaj Hindusthan's sugar business suffered a loss before tax of Rs 25.41 crore, compared with a profit before tax of Rs 6.22 crore in the same period the previous year, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The company's financial results are for the sugar year that runs from October to September.
Its distillery business, too, remained out of sync with the previous year's performance and posted a loss of Rs 6.72 crore against a profit before tax of Rs 20.31 crore, Bajaj Hindusthan said in the filing.
However, a company official said, "Given the seasonal nature of the industry, the results of any quarter may not be a true and/or proportionate reflection of the annual performance of the company."
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The results in one quarter should not indicate that the company is performing well or badly, he added.
The company also pointed out that it has purchased cane for manufacturing sugar according to the state-administered price of Rs 140 per quintal for Uttar Pradesh during the 2008-09 season and has paid all the cane dues in accordance with interim orders passed by the Supreme Court.
Bajaj Hindusthan has a sugarcane crushing capacity of 1.3 lakh tonnes per day (tcd) and its mills are located in Uttar Pradesh.