Pokarna to pay 15 pc interim

 Announcing this at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) on Saturday, G Krishna Rao, the managing director, said that the apparel division would commence production in the first quarter of the next calender year.

 The company paid a total dividend of 50 per cent during last fiscal, in which it recorded a net profit at Rs 18.62 crore on a sales of Rs 100.12 crore.

 Pokarna is setting up the readymade garments unit at the apparel export park on the outskirts of city with an investment of Rs 14 crore. This is part of the Rs 30 crore investment that has been lined up during the current fiscal.

 In the granite division, the company is investing Rs 15 crore to increase its granite processing capacity to 4 lakh square metres per annum from the current 3.25 lakh square metres.

 The garments unit will produce 1,000 garments a day. While the company plans to export one-third of production, similar capacity will be utilised for others' brands and the rest will be marketed within the country under its own brand.