CORPORATE SCORECARD

Vadodara-based pharmaceutical major Alembic Ltd's sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2004 stood at Rs 132.69 crore as compared with sales of Rs 152.10 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

A company statement said that the fall in sales was mainly on account of reduction in sales of penicillin and fall in prices of some other active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The operating profit stood at Rs 20.92 crore (Rs 20.66 core. Net profit was down nine per cent at Rs 7.35 crore (Rs 8.05 crore).

A company statement said the new research and development facility at Vadodara has commenced operations and the new formulations facility at Himachal Pradesh is scheduled to be operational by September 2004.

The formulations manufacturing facility at Panelav has been inspected and considered for approval by South African Drug Authority and the formulations and API facilities for regulated markets are operational and are awaiting inspection from US and European Drug authorities.

Cranes Soft net soars to Rs 9.7 cr

Cranes Software International, a global scientific and engineering software solutions provider, has posted a 166 per cent rise in consolidated operating revenues at Rs 36.01 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2004, compared with Rs 13.56 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Operating profit increased 135 per cent at Rs 15.97 crore (Rs 6.78 crore). Net profit after tax increased 168 per cent to Rs 9.71 crore (Rs 3.63 crore).

Cranes Software, on a stand alone basis, reported a 146 per cent rise in operating revenues for the quarter at Rs 27.8 crore. Operating profit increased 122 per cent to Rs 14.9 crore.

Net profit after tax was higher by 138 per cent at Rs 8.7 crore. The EBIDTA margin for the quarter has sequentially increased to 47 per cent from 36 per cent in the quarter ended March 2004.

Glenmark net rockets 152% at Rs 9.77 cr

Glenmark Pharmaceutical, the dermatology and respiratory drugs maker, has posted a net profit of Rs 9.77 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, up 152 per cent compared with Rs 3.87 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Operating income for the quarter stood increased by 70 per cent at Rs 98.58 crore (Rs 58.06 crore). Revenue from the domestic formulations segment grew 17.84 per cent to Rs 53.69 crore, domestic active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and co-marketing grew by 233.74 per cent to Rs 23.47 crore and export revenue (excluding Brazil) grew by 291.51 per cent to Rs 21.43 crore, the company said in a media release. Interest outgo increased to Rs 3.83 crore (Rs 2.78 crore), while other income increased to Rs 2.22 crore (Rs 0.69 crore).

Godrej Consumer net up 25% at Rs 17.32 cr

Godrej Consumer Products has posted a net profit of Rs 17.32 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, up 25 per cent from Rs 13.82 crore posted in the corresponding period last fiscal. Total income (net of excise) has increased 16 per cent to Rs 136.69 crore (Rs 119.18 crore).

The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 2 per share for the financial year 2004-2005. Adi Godrej, chairman and managing director of Godrej Consumer Products said: " Initiatives like introduction of new products and variants, as well as setting up manufacturing facility in economically backward areas and expanding the distribution system has helped the company deliver results." The company has set up its second manufacturing line for toilet soaps at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.

During the quarter under review, the company added two new offerings "" Godrej No.1 Jasmine, a new variant under the Godrej No.1 brand and Godrej Nimin, marking its entry into the health soap category. The company's brands sales were up 21 per cent at Rs 129 crore, despite the industry continuing to be flat.

Total expenditure increased to Rs 114.24 crore (Rs 100.49 crore). Advertising and sales promotion increased to Rs 13.99 crore (Rs 10.30 crore). Sales from contract manufacturing fell 36 per cent to Rs 3.74 crore, while sales from by-products fell 36 per cent at Rs 3.36 crore.

Novartis net up 20% at Rs 21.14 cr

Novartis India has posted a 20 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 21.14 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, compared with a net profit of Rs 17.63 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Total income fell to Rs 138.48 crore (Rs 140.89 crore). Profits before tax grew 38.7 per cent to Rs 31.2 crore (Rs 22.5 crore).

All the businesses of the company, excepting animal health, reported a growth in sales. The core pharmaceutical business reported a modest growth of 2.6 per cent, registering sales of Rs 83.1 crore, the company said in a media release. The generics business recorded sales of Rs 28 crore.

This growth was mainly due to the tender business of Rs 5.3 crore in the anti-TB segment. Improvement in profits was primarily due to better product-mix and lower depreciation post impairment of the company's assets at Mahad, the release added. OTC business sales at Rs 14.2 crore showed growth of 6.3 per cent.

The 52.4 per cent decline in animal health sales to Rs 6.5 crore was primarily due to discontinuation of an organophosphorous compound which the Novartis group decided to phase out.

State Bank of Mysore net up 17% at Rs 53 cr

State Bank of Mysore has reported a Rs 53.02 crore net profit for the quarter ended June 2004, a 17.02 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year. Total income grew 13.07 per cent at Rs 365.79 crore. Total expenditure increased 7.8 per cent to Rs 247.74 crore.

The bank's return on assets was down to 1.53 per cent (1.61 per cent). Its capital adequacy ratio was down to 11.74 per cent (11.87 per cent). Net NPAs at Rs 153.81 crore was down to 2.39 per cent of advances during the quarter from 5.56 per cent registered during the corresponding period last fiscal.

Earnings per share was at Rs 147.28 (Rs 125.85). Total deposits stood at Rs 11,611.34 crore, while total advances were at Rs 6,762.33 crore.

Shree Cement net up at Rs 26 cr

Shree Cement has announced that its net profit of Rs 25.93 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2004, was 511.5 per cent higher than the net profit of Rs 2.24 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2003.

The company's sales has risen by 21.6 per cent to Rs 175.2 crore (Rs 144.1 crore) during the period. For the year ended June 30, 2004, the company's net profit was Rs 13.04 crore "" a growth of 94.58 per cent over the previous year's net profit of Rs 6.70 crore. The annual sales of the company for 2003-04 was Rs 606.93 crore (Rs 582.43 crore).

SRF net dips 13% at Rs 12 cr

Synthetic fabrics maker SRF Ltd has reported a 13 per cent dip in net profit during the first quarter of 2004-05 to Rs 12.1 crore compared with Rs 13.7 crore in the year-ago period. Net revenues, however, increased by 5.4 per cent to Rs 222.2 crore (Rs 210.8 crore), a company release said.

The results were largely affected by the pricing pressures from Chinese competitors in the tyre cord business, increase in raw material cost and rupee depreciation, it added.

Sterlite Optical's pares losses

Sterlite Optical Technologies has posted a net loss of Rs 4.15 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2004 as compared to a net loss of Rs 11.03 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2003. Total income (net of excise) has increased from Rs 24.95 crore in the JQ-03 to Rs 46.35 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2004.

Tata Telecom PAT up 80%

Tata Telecom, a leading converged communication solutions provider for enterprises, has achieved a 28 per cent rise in turnover at Rs 96.47 crore for the first quarter to June 2004, as against Rs 75.12 crore for the corresponding period in the previous year. The profit after tax rose 80 per cent at Rs 8.14 crore (Rs 4.51 crore).

Niru Mehta, vice chairman, Tata Telecom, and managing director & vice president, Avaya India, said: "We are in exciting times at Tata Telecom; we have just reported our 21st consecutive quarter of growth. This amply highlights our drive, focus and commitment to provide best-in-class converged communications solutions enabling customers to enhance their business performance. Our consistent growth clearly demonstrates the success of our customer responsiveness strategy and further focuses out attention on becoming the most customer responsive organisation. In addition, this remarkable achievement has been possible because of our only sustainable competitive advantage, our people."