DCM Shriram Ltd, which is mainly into chemicals, sugar, seeds and fertiliser businesses, on Thursday reported nearly 30 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 119 crore for the quarter ended September 30.
Its net profit stood at Rs 169 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement.
Revenue from operations rose 3 per cent to Rs 1,753 crore in September quarter of this fiscal from Rs 1,700 crore in the year-ago period.
"Chemical business recorded drop in profit due to 20 per cent reduction in prices year-on-year. 25 per cent growth in volumes helped in part mitigation of negative effect," DCM Shriram said.
The net debt stood at Rs 983 crore at the end of the second quarter. The company is implementing planned expansion with an investment of Rs 1,642 crore.
"We have reported satisfactory performance during the quarter. The steps taken over the last couple of years have provided the strength to successfully overcome business cycles and challenges," said Ajay Shriram, Chairman & Senior MD and Vikram Shriram, Vice Chairman & MD, DCM Shriram.
Stating that chemical business was marked by significant volumes gain consequent to capacity additions, they said "this provided economies of scale and mitigated partly the drop in ECU realizations. We expect prices to stabilise soon."