Tata Chemicals today posted more than two-fold increase in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 176 crore for the first quarter of this financial year against corresponding period last year.
The company's PAT stood at Rs 75.21 crore for the corresponding quarter of 2013-14.
The consolidated income from operations during the current quarter grew by 17 per cent to Rs 3,847 crore compared to Rs 3,276 crore.
"The quarter under review has been encouraging and we have started to see the positive impact of the painful yet inevitable restructuring exercise that had to be carried out to ensure viability and sustainability of our operations at UK and Magadi (Kenya).
"Our standalone revenue jumped due to better realisation and better volumes in India across all businesses. Better realisation at North America took the consolidated revenue to an impressive growth of 133 per cent," Tata Chemicals Managing Director R Mukundan, told reporters here.
Consumer products business continues to grow consistently at the market place and currently Tata salt is market leader with 57 per cent share in national branded edible salt market, he said.
I-shakti pulses and Tata Swach reported healthy volumes and continues to grow steadily. In the fertiliser business, subsidy outstanding at Rs 1,687 crore continues to drag performance, he said.
"This coupled with delay in fertiliser policy implementation continues to impact the cash flow and urea profitability above cut off. In our farm essential portfolio, we expect DAP to be under pressure continuously due to higher raw material prices and lower realisation. However, other non-bulk fertiliser products in the portfolio are expected to do well," he added.
He said, India is negatively impacted due to ongoing monsoon but with current strengthening of monsoon, he said its farm segment can cope with pressure.
"Brands like Tata Paras, Tata Kisan Sansar, Rallis brands and Dhanya, which continues to enjoy confidence of farmers," he said.
He further added that the company's Europe restructuring is progressing as per plan and it aims to make the business cash neutral within this year.
"On the other hand, Magadi restructuring is completed as per plan. The second quarter results may have some impact of the restructuring expenses at Magadi.
The pending acceptance of the voluntary retirement scheme applications and completion of the restructuring, the associated costs are expected to be recorded and the Q2 will is likely to take hit of about USD 8-9 million due to this," Mukundan said.
The company's focus, he said, remains on the consumer product business and non-subsidised farm inputs business the coming years.
