| India Inc has performed steadily in the third quarter ended December 2005. The net profit of 517 companies have gone up by 32.40 per cent on the back of a 17.52 per cent growth in sales. Their operating profit rose 20.45 per cent. |
| Both operating as well as net profit margins have also moved up. While the operating profit margins (OPM) rose marginally by 60 basis points to 24.68 per cent for the quarter ended December 2005 from 24.08 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, the rise in the net profit margin was much higher "" by 139 basis points to 12.35 per cent. One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. |
| The 517 companies, which have announced their quarterly financial results so far, are in the manufacturing, services, banks and non-banking finance sectors. |
| The performance of these firms in April-June 2005 and July-September 2005 quarter was marginally better with their net profits growing by 40.12 per cent for the quarter ended June 2005 and 3.88 per cent for the quarter ended September 2005. The net sales in April-June quarter were up 19.39 per cent and 21.31 per cent during July-September quarter. |
| With net profit growth of 30 per cent in each of the first three quarters of 2005-06, overall these 517 companies have posted a net profit growth rate of 35.17 per cent for the nine-month period ended December 2005. Their net sales for the nine months were up by 19.37 per cent. |
| In the nine months of financial year 2005-06, their operating profits margin was higher by 21 basis points to 24.68 per cent while net profit margin rose by 142 basis points to 12.15 per cent. |
| The healthy profit growth came from banks, information technologies, automobile, cement, textiles, power, metals, engineering, construction, trading and sugar sectors. Oil and gas, steel, fertilizers, chemicals and auto ancillaries firms showed declined in profits. |
| Twenty-two banks studied here have performed reasonably well by registering a net profit growth of 62.1 per cent for the quarter ended December 2005. The total income of these banks rose 23.24 per cent. |
| In fact, there has been a progressive improvement in banks' performance this year. For the quarter ended June 2005, the net profit of these banks had declined by 13.28 per cent. Subsequently, in the second quarter ended September 2005, it was up 24.83 per cent. |
| The performance of oil and gas sector was skewed by Reliance Industries, which recorded 15 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended December 2005. As a result, the three oil and gas companies aggregated a 13.75 per cent decline net profit in October-December quarter. |
| Cement sector showed robust growth in profits and sales, with net profit of 14 companies skyrocketing by 1600 per cent on a sales growth of 20.3 per cent. |
| Thanks to other income, net profit of ACC rose 262 per cent while its sales were up 12.22 per cent. Saurashtra Cement, Ultra-Tech Cement and India Cement have staged turnaround during the quarter. |
| The steel sector fared badly with net profit of the companies that have announced their results so far going down by 15.3 per cent and net sales declining by 3.7 per cent. Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Uttam Galva put up a poor show with decline in sales and net profit. |
| Fertiliser companies too did not do well with 18.2 per cent decline in net profit on sales growth rate of 8.5 per cent. |
| A group of nine companies "" Petronet LNG, India Cements, Triveni Glass, Gujarat Sidhee Cement, Tulip Star Hotels, Prima Agro, Pasari Spinning Mills, Sunshield Chemicals and Cubex Tubings "" has staged a turnaround in last three quarters in a row. |
| These nine companies have collectively reported Rs 171.12 crore net profit in the last nine months (April-December, 2005) against net loss of Rs 151.12 crore in first three quarters of last year. |
| Petronet LNG posted net profit of Rs 127.78 crore against net loss of Rs 36.06 crore during first nine months of financial year 2005-06. In third quarter ended December, 2005, it has reported Rs 49.62 crore net profits against net loss of Rs 43 lakh in previous year quarter. |
| Among others, India Cement reported Rs 18.85 crore net profit against net loss of Rs 69.14 crore in first nine months; Gujarat Sidhee Cement posted Rs 9.27 crore net profit against Rs 10.80 crore net loss; and Triveni Glass reported 8.28 crore net profit against Rs 27.68 crore net loss in first nine months of last year. |
| Thirty-eight companies have reported over 100 per cent growth in their net profits in all the three quarters. Mostly companies from information technology, engineering, constructions, textiles and pharmaceuticals belong to this group. |
| Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Varun Shipping, GHCL, KSL & Industries, Jyoti Structures, Jaybharat Textiles, Prajay Engineers Syndicate and Prime Property Development are among the few companies that have more than doubled their net profit in last three quarters. |
| Dr Reddy's Laboratories has posted a net profit of Rs 225.13 crore in the three quarters of 2005-06 against Rs 74.21 crore net profit in the entire last year. Similarly, FCGL Industries has reported Rs 203.60 crore net profit in first three quarters against Rs 9.44 crore net profit last year. |
| Other companies in this group are Teledata Informatics - net profit of Rs 99.53 crore (Rs 44.71 crore), Aegis Logistics "" net profit of Rs 23.91crore (Rs 8.82 crore), Prime Property |
| Development "" net profit of Rs 13.27 crore (Rs 37 lakh) and Prajay Engineers Syndicate "" net profit of Rs 13.04 crore (Rs 30 lakh). |
| (Click here for the table) |
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