Kennametal Q1 net up 67%

Kennametal Widia India's net profit for the quarter-ended September 2004 jumped 67 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year to Rs 11.04 crore. Sales during the same period grew 7.8 pert cent to Rs 63.8 crore from Rs 59.1 crore. registered in September 2003.

However, Kumar Kanetkar managing director said that comparisons purely on existing operations reflect a topline growth of 47 per cent.

The company divested its mining and construction tools business in March 2004. As a result the financials for corresponding quarter last year included revenues from that segment as well.

He added that profit before tax on operations comparison has also trebled to Rs 16.2 crore. Kanetkar said, the topline growth was on account of the resurgent industrial and infrastructure activity in the country.

Further, he said, that the strong Q1 performance was owing to better capacity utilisation and improved operations, rather than on reduced expenditure.

He expected the strong momentum to continue and based on consumer demand, the company is lining up capital investments to the tune of Rs 50 crore to increase and upgrade capacity.