Non-refinery profits up 22%
Sales and profits of the corporate sector are likely to record the highest growth in the last eight quarters during the quarter ended March 2003.
Though the public sector refinery companies are yet to announce their financial performance for the fourth quarter, the sales and net profit of 747 non-refinery firms climbed 17 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, during the period.
The 17 per cent growth in the sales of non-refinery firms during the quarter under review is the highest in the last 10 quarters.
The growth rate was higher at 22 per cent only during the July-September quarter of 2000. The growth rate in profits is likely to be the second best in the last 14 quarters.
The quarterly results of refinery companies are important because they account for over 30 per cent of the sales and profits of the corporate sector.
In the quarter ended December 2002, seven state-owned refinery companies recorded a sales growth of over 20 per cent and their profits climbed over 80 per cent.
If the refinery companies repeat their performance, the growth in the net profit of the corporate sector is likely to cross 30 per cent during the quarter ended March 2003.
The corporate sector has done extremely well in the quarter under review, thanks to lower interest costs and higher sales. Profit margins, both gross and net, improved almost 50 basis points each.
Of the 747 companies whose results were available till yesterday, the gross profit margins of 244 firms improved, while that of 215 firms declined. The net profit margin of 198 firms improved, while that of 187 firms declined.
Sixty-nine firms reported a turnaround in the quarter ended March 2003, while 223 firms continued to make losses.
However, the aggregate losses of these 223 firms declined from Rs 1,547 crore in the October-December quarter to Rs 1,344 crore in this quarter.
The sectoral performance shows a continuing recession in sectors like electrical equipment, personal care, textiles, paper, fertilisers, domestic appliances, paints and entertainment with a sales growth rate of 2-5 per cent.
Pharmaceuticals, refineries, chemicals, information technology and construction, however, reported a robust double-digit growth in sales.
On the profit front, refineries, metals, engineering, pharmaceuticals and automobiles (heavy and medium) registered a hefty growth in net profit.
But industries such as software, two- and three-wheelers, pumps and compressors and electrical equipment recorded a single-digit growth in net profit.
