Commodities outperform them all

THE SECTORS IN SEPTEMBER

The cement, engineering, shipping, steel, and telecommunication sectors outperformed the overall industry in the quarter ended September 2004.

A Business Standard Research Bureau (BSRB) study of the financial performance of 1,807 companies for which quarterly data is available shows that the sample's net profit rose 22.88 per cent. This growth was driven by commodity sectors such as cement, steel and metals.

Of the 113 sectors in the sample, as many as 56 outperformed the industry's average net profit growth in the quarter ended September 2004.

The steel, auto ancillaries, construction, pumps and compressors, engineering, telecommunications, shipping and tractor sectors posted more than a 100 per cent growth in net profit during the September 2004 quarter.

The automobiles (cars), cotton textiles, entertainment, courier and transport, paper and telephone cables sector reported net profit growths between 50 per cent and 100 per cent during the quarter.

While cement, mining, non-ferrous metals, ferro alloys, hotels, breweries and plastic sectors reported a turnaround during the quarter, the non banking financial firms, organic chemicals, refineries, pharmaceuticals and fastener sectors posted single digit growths in the bottomline.

Power, tyres, fertilisers, personal care products, automobiles (2/3 wheelers) and banks reported a decline in net profit during the quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.

However, the domestic white goods, lubricants, leather footwear and power cables sectors reported net losses during the quarter ended September 2004.

At the top of the profit-minting chart is the cement sector. The 20 companies in this sector have posted a net profit of Rs 213.23 crore in the September 2004 quarter as against a net loss of Rs 54.92 crore in the same quarter, last year.

The seven non ferrous metals companies reported a net profit of Rs 21.32 crore against a net loss of Rs 15.40 crore and 22 hotel companies posted a net profit of Rs 14.92 crore in the quarter ended September 2004, as against a net loss of Rs 15.02 crore in the September quarter of last year.

The 17 telecommunication companies posted a net profit growth of 160 per cent: from Rs 144.31 crore to Rs 375.22 crore. The 15 steel hot rolled/cold rolled companies posted a net profit growth of 226 per cent from Rs 114.25 crore in the September quarter of 2003-04 to Rs 372.38 crore in the quarter ended September 2004.

The 15 companies from the civil and turnkey construction sector posted a three-fold increase in net profit from Rs 16.91 crore to Rs 54.48 crore and the eight composite and steel alloys companies reported a 190 per cent jump in the bottomline from Rs 891.87 crore to Rs 2,585.54 crore during the quarter.

Other top performing sectors on the bottomline growth parameter include pumps and compressors (185 per cent), engineering (177 per cent), pesticides (172 per cent), petrochemicals (155 per cent), shipping (140 per cent), automobiles tractors (119 per cent).

However, the 11 power companies reported a 36 per cent decline in net profit from Rs 2,986 crore to Rs 1,923 crore during the September 2004 quarter. The 18 fertilisers companies' net profit declined by 30 per cent from Rs 127.16 crore to Rs 88.46 crore, of personal care product companies by 18 per cent from Rs 607.40 crore to Rs 498.05 crore.

157 firms back in the black

Backed by a 53 per cent rise in sales, 157 companies bounced back into the black in the quarter ended September 2004. These firms posted a net profit Rs 609.34 crore in the quarter against a net loss of Rs 510.22 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Driving the turnaround was a 52 per cent rise in sales at Rs 13,151 crore (Rs 8,619 crore) and a 76 per cent jump in other income at Rs 246 crore (Rs 140 crore). Interest costs of these firms declined by 7 per cent to Rs 618.62 crore (Rs 666.58 crore) in September quarter. The gross profit of these companies increased 43-fold to Rs 1,403 crore (Rs 32.91 crore).

Among the companies that turned around in the quarter under review, 15 are from information technology, 12 from textiles, nine from steel, seven non banking financial firms, five each from cement and entertainment sector, four each from auto ancillaries, glasses and pharmaceuticals and three from engineering sector. The 15 information technology companies posted an aggregate net profit of Rs 22.06 crore against a net loss of Rs 22.85 crore in the quarter to September 2003.

The twelve textiles companies reported a net profit of Rs 18.67 crore (net loss of Rs 45.97 crore). The seven non banking financial companies posted a net profit of Rs 2.61 crore (net loss of Rs 8.29 crore).

The five cement firms reported a total net profit of Rs 18.90 crore (net loss of Rs 42.59 crore) and the four pharmaceuticals companies posted a net profit of Rs 12.52 crore (net loss of Rs 6.97 crore).

The top turnaround stories
Rs crore	Sales		Net profit
	Sept 04	% Chg	Sept 04	Sept 03
MRPL	4230.36	66.36	168.58	-45.37
Ispat Ind	1499.22	78.99	77.47	-21.67
Essar Steel	1437.83	72.01	69.39	-26.54
NOCIL	64.29	-6.04	28.74	-6.87
Sesa Goa	135.05	185.76	23.96	-6.84
Century Textiles	591.09	13.68	14.68	-3.20
Rallis	170.31	16.86	14.08	-3.12
Birla Corp	328.33	16.87	13.38	-8.14
Maharashtra Elektro	60.86	137.46	13.28	-3.67
Panacea Biotec	78.30	172.25	11.10	-6.69
Hindustan Copper	120.68	-3.59	10.88	-26.41
Mastek	40.22	80.12	10.61	-0.92
Sunflag Iron & Steel	182.11	42.74	9.98	-1.65
Indian Acrylics	70.93	20.55	8.37	-3.40
Chowgule Steam	14.42	14.54	6.21	-0.26
Vardhaman Acrylics Ltd	45.25	6.65	6.16	-0.50
Mascon Global	49.62	66.34	5.97	-7.18
Hind National Glass	91.10	28.09	5.33	-0.69
Lloyds Metals	76.50	88.70	5.11	-2.75
Sterlite Optical Technologies	91.12	186.90	5.03	-10.04
JK Corp	121.83	43.82	4.71	-16.57
Pioneer Distillieries	21.02	516.42	4.38	-1.66
Jain Irrigation Systems	120.58	47.55	4.06	-8.10
Hyderabad Ind	83.68	15.25	3.78	-2.95
NELCO	33.81	80.51	3.73	-4.76
Percentage change over corresponding quarter