Hotel Leela, JK Cement & Kesoram Inds Q4 results

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Hotel Leela net up 51.88%

Hotel Leela Ventures has posted 51.88 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 37.5 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, compared with Rs 24.69 crore reported in the previous corresponding period.

The company has reported net sales of Rs 100.2 crore for the period compared with Rs 83.8 crore reported for the previous corresponding period, registering a growth of 19.57 per cent.

For the year ended March 2006, Hotel Leela Ventures has posted net profit of Rs 100.80 crore, a growth of 118.9 per cent, compared with Rs 46.04 crore posted in the previous year.

The company has reported net sales of Rs 323.86 crore as against Rs 256.69 crore for the previous corresponding period, a growth of 26.17 per cent.

JK Cement net up 165%

JK Cement has registered 165 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March 31 to Rs 16.4 crore, compared with Rs 6.2 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The company's turnover saw 10.5 per cent rise during the quarter to Rs 304.3 crore, compared with Rs 275.5 crore last year, while its profit before tax rose 149 per cent to Rs 26.6 crore from Rs 10.7 crore last year.

The company's plans to increase production capacity at its grey cement plant at Nimbahera by 5 lakh tonne is in an advanced stage of completion and is likely to be completed by June this year.

In the white cement category, the company has completed the first phase of expansion of 50,000 tonne to take the total capacity to 3.5 lakh tonne.

The second phase of expansion is in progress and would be completed by June. Thus, by June, the company's grey cement output will stand at 40 lakh tonne and white cement at 4 lakh tonne.

For the full year ended March 2006, the company's total turnover was Rs 1,108.7 crore, profit before tax was Rs 52.2 crore and net profit at Rs 32.6 crore. Further, its board of directors has declared a maiden dividend of 15 per cent.

At present, the company has two grey cement plants at Nimbahera and Mangrol and a white cement unit at Gotan.

Kesoram Inds net up 37%

Kesoram Industries, the flagship of the B K Birla group, has posted net profit of Rs 27.77 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006,up 37 percent from Rs 20.2 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The company has witnessed a 30 per cent jump in net profit for the financial year ended March 31, 2006. It has posted a net profit of Rs 45.70 crore in fiscal 2005-06 compared with Rs 33.51 crore in 2004-05.

The turnover of Kesoram has also gone up to Rs 1,931.55 crore in the year ended March 31, 2006 from Rs 1,780 crore in the corresponding period ended March 31, 2005.

The better performance is largely owing to turnaround in the tyre segment of the company. The segment has registered a profit of Rs 38.44 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 13.17 crore in 2004-05. The cement division has also witnessed a sharp increase in profitability from Rs 55.6 crore to Rs 77.41 crore.

KSL Inds net dips 12%

KSL Industries reported 12 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 6.83 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, 2006 as compared with Rs 7.84 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Net sales rose three times at Rs 101.15 crore from Rs 31.58 crore over the previous corresponding quarter.

The company, which is into textiles and real estate, reported net profit of Rs 31.92 crore for the year ended 31 March, 2006, up 199 per cent from Rs 10.67 crore last year. Its net sales increased 127 per cent to Rs 348.90 crore from Rs 153.62 crore.

The company announced a dividend of 10 per cent and bonus shares in the ratio of 1 share for every 5 shares held. It has also proposed to change its name to KSL Realty and Infrastructure Ltd.