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Battery maker Exide Industries today said it will invest Rs 250 crore in 2013-14, to expand its production capacity even as it reported 2.76 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March 31.
Its net profit in the January-March quarter was Rs 146.46 crore, as against Rs 142.52 crore in the same quarter last year, Exide Industries said in a filing to the BSE.
The net income during the fourth quarter of 2013-13 fiscal was up 5.99 per cent at Rs 1,541.20 crore, from Rs 1,454.11 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
On the investment plans, Exide Industries said: "For the year 2013-14, the company has planned a capital outlay of Rs 250 crore to be spent on capacity augmentation for industrial batteries and modernisation."
The company, however, did not share details such as how much capacity it will add and what will be its total output post this expansion exercise.
During the last financial year, the company had put in a total of Rs 176 crore on various activities as capex.
"The company continues to remain debt free," the filing said without elaborating further.
For the entire 2012-13 financial year, Exide Industries' consolidated net profit increased 23.16% to Rs 549.35 crore, from Rs 446.06 crore in 2011-12.
The consolidated net income grew 19.73% to Rs 6,372.26 crore in FY13, from Rs 5,322.34 crore FY12, the company said.
In its meeting today, the Board of Directors of the company recommended payment of a final dividend of 60%, which is Re 0.60 per share on face value of Re 1 per share for 2012-13.
Consequently, the total dividend for the fiscal amounts to 160%, or Rs 1.60 per share on face value of Re 1 each, the filing said.
Exide Industries Managing Director and CEO T V Ramanathan said: "There is a marked improvement in the company's performance during the fourth quarter of 2012-13.
"The regaining of market share in the crucial automotive replacement market that started during the first quarter of the financial year under review gained further traction during this period."
Further, the company announced a top-level management change with Ramanathan retiring from the company tomorrow as his term is getting expired.
The present Director of the Automotive division P K Kataky will take over as the new Managing Director and CEO of Exide Industries with effect from May 1.
