Malco Q3, Godavari Fertilisers Q4, Infotech Q4 & Prithvi Info results

Corporate Scorecard

Malco Q3 net up 62% to Rs 42 cr
Riding on higher production and better price realisations, Madras Aluminium Company (Malco) has reported 62 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 42 crore for the quarter ended March 2007. Revenues was up up 13 per cent to Rs 139 crore for the same quarter. During the third quarter, metal prices on the London Metal Exchange have gone up by 10 per cent.

For the nine months ended March 2007, Malco, a part of the London-listed Vedanta, said its net profit jumped 181 per cent to Rs 135 crore. In a statement, the company said it has changed its financial year end from 30 June to 31 March. Accordingly the results for the nine months ended 31 March 2007 also represents its final results for the fiscal period ended 31 March 2007.

The board also approved a brownfield expansion project at a cost of Rs 175 crore to increase the alumina capacity from 80,000 tpa to 120,000 tpa and aluminium capacity from 40,000 tpa to 50,000 tpa. The captive power generation capacity will also be increased from 75MW to 100 MW. These projects will be commissioned progressively by the end of 2008 and will be funded entirely through internal accruals, the company said. Malco share price closed at Rs 458, up by 2.29 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Godavari Fertilisers Q4 profit dips 43%
Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals (GFCL), a Murugappa group company, witnessed a decline of 43 per cent in its net profit to Rs 6.2 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, against Rs 11.07 crore last year. Its sales turnover was down 6 per cent to Rs 381.79 crore during the quarter against Rs 407.19 crore in the year-ago period. However, the company has posted an 89 per cent growth in its FY07 net profit at Rs 49.29 crore compared with Rs 26.11 crore in FY06.

This is the fourth successive year of profitable growth for the company since its takeover from the Andhra Pradesh government in 2003, when it was reporting a loss of Rs 20.24 crore at the time of acquisition. The company's sales turnover, too, increased by 18 per cent to Rs 1,800 crore during FY07 compared with Rs 1,520 crore in FY06 mainly due to the strengthening of its market presence in water soluble fertilisers, micronutrients and G-sulphur. But its operations were affected by factors such as shortage in phosphoric acid, delay in receipt of subsidy and non-reimbursement of freight increases.

"To achieve a reasonable return in this business, the company has appealed to the government to expedite release of subsidy payments and reimburse the actual increase in freight cost," a GFCL press release stated today. GFCL's paid-up equity share capital stood at Rs 32 crore during the financial year, while its EPS (not annualised) was Rs 15.40 against Rs 8.16 in the previous year. The board of directors of the company recommended a 40 per cent dividend for FY07.

Infotech Q4 bottom line rises 69%
Hyderabad-based Infotech Enterprises Limited, an IT services provider, reported 69.2 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 20.73 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 compared with Rs 12.25 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Operating revenues were also up 40.2 per cent at Rs 151.19 crore compared with Rs 107.8 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

The company for the first time crossed the Rs 500-crore revenue mark during the last financial year, registering a growth of 49.7 per cent. Revenues (audited) for the whole year stood at Rs 542.54 crore compared with Rs 362.50 crore in the previous year. Net profit for the year was Rs 74.41 crore, an increase of 84.9 per cent over the previous year.

BVR Mohan Reddy, chairman and managing director, said the year just concluded was the second consecutive year to witness the best performance of the company. The company has added 31 new clients, who have been contributing to the consistent growth in revenues across all the quarters, he said. Along with consistent growth in revenues and profits, the profit margin also increased by 280 basis points at 20.90 per cent as compared with 18.10 per cent previous year.

The company hopes to achieve 35-38 per cent revenue growth and 35-41 per cent increase in net profit for the year ahead, he added. The company declared 22.5 per cent dividend, on a par with last year, to shareholders, though the effective benefit including stock-split and bonus would be 50 per cent higher compared with last year, according to Reddy. The company has announced a capital expenditure of Rs 76 crore for the current financial year, of which Rs 35 crore would be spent on infrastructure.

Aiming at further strengthening and expanding its business verticals, it has drawn up plans to recruit 1,500 new employees during the current year, of which 1,000 would be deployed at its 2-lakh sq ft new facility at Hyderabad.

Prithvi Info net profit rises 55%
Prithvi Information Solutions' net profit grew 55 per cent to Rs 26 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, from Rs 16.81 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year, while it posted a net income of Rs 259.22 crore against Rs 136.96 crore, an increase of 89 per cent.

For the full year ended March 31, 2007, the company saw an increase of 69 per cent in net profit to Rs 90 crore against Rs 53.34 crore during the previous year. Operating revenues stood at Rs 768.27 crore, up 70 per cent compared with Rs 452.72 crore during FY06.

"The volume of growth in business from our strategic clients was the main contributing factor for the increase in our revenues during the 2006-07 financial year, which translated into a similar increase in our net profit too," V Satish Kumar, managing director of Prithvi Information, said.