Gayatri Sugars nets Rs 5.21 crore profit

Gayatri Sugars Ltd (GSL), which had accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 26 crore, has posted a net profit of Rs 5.21 crore during 2004-05 as against a net loss of Rs 8.63 crore registered during the previous year.

The company's income from operations last fiscal stood at Rs 75.89 crore as against Rs 77.65 crore in 2003-04.

The company, which has a paid-up equity share capital of Rs 42.98 crore, has declared a maiden dividend of 6 per cent on cumulative redeemable preference shares including corporate dividend tax amounting to Rs 1.29 crore.

GSL had secured a corporate debt restructuring package last year following which the interest rate on its loans declined from 21 per cent to less than 10 per cent leading to a saving of Rs 3 crore a year on interest payment.

The financial institutions also converted Rs 10 crore debt into equity. This apart, the company adopted greater financial discipline and achieved improved operational performance and better sales realisation resulting in its turnaround.

"If the company's performance continues to improve, we will be able to wipe out the entire accumulated losses in three years," GSL vice-chairman T V Sandeep Kumar Reddy told newspersons here on Thursday.

He said that GSL had set up a 6 mw co-generation power plant for captive consumption and export of surplus power to the grid of the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh. The capacity of the power plant would be increased by 1 mw next year.