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| More sectors have joined the profit growth party in the quarter ended June 2003. As many as 33 sectors, in the 110-sector classification followed by the Business Standard Research Bureau, have posted a net profit growth rate of over 50 per cent in the quarter ended June 2003, over the same quarter last year.
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| Incidentally, the refineries and banking sectors, which were the key drivers of profit growth in the last quarter of 2002-03 (January-March), have posted lower than the 49.26 per cent net profit growth of the full sample of 749 companies that have announced financial results for the quarter ended June 2003.
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| The two refinery companies to have announced results till Wednesday clocked a net profit growth of 13.27 per cent while 13 banks recorded a net profit growth of 35 per cent, quarter-on-year.
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| Among the top drivers, the shipping sector dazzled with a 778 per cent rise in net profits in the quarter ended June 2003.
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| Essar Shipping led the charge with an 815 per cent net profit growth to Rs 30.28 crore, GE Shipping posted a net profit growth of 227 per cent, while the public sector behemoth Shipping Corporation managed a turnaround with a net profit of Rs 150.25 crore in the quarter ended June 2003 against a net loss of Rs 5.93 crore in the same quarter last year.
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| Steel companies follow as a close second, with Tata Steel clocking a blistering 316 per cent profit growth.
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| Steel Authority and Jindal Vijaynagar bounced back into the black as a result of better operating efficiencies and, of course, five rounds of price hikes.
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| Other sectors at the forefront of the profit binge include the non-ferrous metals industry, with a net profit growth of 292 per cent, cement products (227 per cent), fasteners (206 per cent), inorganic chemicals (197 per cent), forging (152 per cent), hot and cold rolled steel (122 per cent), engines and bearings (116 per cent each).
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| But the software sector continued to report below average growth in net profits. The 53 software firms to have declared results till now have posted a net profit growth of 17.11 per cent.
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| Other sectors to post below average profit growth include cigarette companies (13.7 per cent), power companies (13 per cent), electrical equipment (19.2 per cent), pharmaceuticals (30.3 per cent) and construction (13.8 per cent).
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| Cement and textiles companies have been able to post handsome profits in the quarter ended June 2003 against net losses in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
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| Relatively minor sectors such as trading, sugar, ceramics, industrial gases and ferro alloys also turned the corner during the first quarter of 2003-04.
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| However, fertilisers, telecommunications, electrical equipment, and photographic and allied products continued to languish. |
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