RCF, Raymond, Venus, Torrent, Tata Coffee Q3 results

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers's net profit has declined by 4.15 per cent to Rs 29.53 crore for the quarter ended 31, December 2004, compared with Rs 30.57 crore during the previous year's corresponding quarter.

Total income has registered a 30 per cent rise at Rs 776.48 crore for the current quarter against Rs 538.31 crore in the year-ago period.

Raymond net drops 18%

Textile and apparel major Raymond has posted a 17.87 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 25.08 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 compared with Rs 30.54 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003.

Total Income (net of excise) has increased 14.3 per cent from Rs 275.58 crore in the third quarter of 2003-04 to Rs 315.02 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004.

In a media statement, Raymond said that its third quarter profit was impacted mainly owing to the write-off on the expenditure of voluntary retirement scheme of Rs 1.98 crore, additional wages/benefits of Rs 7.24 crore (including arrears) and higher raw material costs, especially in cotton and steel.

During the quarter, the company has closed the operations of its files plant at Thane in Mumbai by offering a voluntary retirement scheme to its employees.

Gautam Hari Singhania, chairman and managing director, said, "Profitability was impacted by raw material price increases and rise in personnel and worker settlement costs. However, considering the benefits of the rightsizing initiatives in the future and the continued buoyancy in all the company's businesses, especially in exports, we are confident of achieving our planned results."

For the nine months ended December 31,2004, net profit declined to Rs 60.26 crore compared with Rs 90.95 crore in the nine months ended December 31, 2003.

Net sales increased 13.08 per cent from Rs 774.94 crore to Rs 876.32 crore in the first nine months of 2004-05.

Venus Remedies net up 260%

Venus Remedies has posted an impressive 260.28 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs12.61 crore for the quarter ended December 31,2004 compared with Rs 3.50 crore during the previous year's corresponding quarter.

Net sales were up by 40.5 per cent at Rs 94.22 crore for this quarter against Rs 67.03 crore during the previous year's quarter.

Tata Coffee net up 308%

Tata Coffee has recorded a net profit of Rs 13.32 crore in the third quarter of 2004-05, up 308 per cent on the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This includes an extraordinary item of Rs 8.39 crore on account of sale of shares, investments and properties.

Total income for the quarter was Rs 50.43 crore, down 2.5 per cent on the previous corresponding quarter's Rs 51.75 crore.

In the nine months, total income rose 6 per cent to Rs 141 crore, while instant coffee sales volumes rose 18 per cent and vending operations 80 per cent over the pervious year's figures.

Torrent Pharma net falls 65%

The Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited has reported a 65 per cent drop in profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 5.26 crore for the third quarter of the current financial year as against Rs 15.08 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year even as net sales was 24 per cent higher in this quarter than the earlier quarter.

By end of December 2004, Torrent Pharmaceuticals reported net sales of Rs 136.80 crore on back of strong exports growth as consolidated exports for the quarter stood at Rs 33.77 crore against Rs 20.41 crore reported in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

The company saw a substantial ramp up in its business in Brazil and in Asian, African markets.

A company release said the lower PAT was on account of an increase in product and market development expenses and this reflected in higher R&D and staff costs.

"These factors are expected to impact the profits in the coming quarter also," it mentioned. Net profit after exceptional items for the nine months was Rs 49.62 crore compared with Rs 54.37 crore during the previous year.

Torrent, however, reported a higher net sales from domestic formulations at Rs 76.91 crore against Rs 70.35 crore of net sales from the same segment in the third quarter of the last financial year.