Calcutta, Mar 25: Bata India Ltd has announced a dividend of 8.5 per cent for the year to December 31, 1998. With this, the company has come back to the dividend paying list after four years.The audited results for the year were released at Thursday's board meeting. The company has reported a total income of Rs 744.77 crore and a net profit of Rs 24.26 crore. The net profit figure stands adjusted for the one-time payment of Rs 14.01 crore towards Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme in respect of some pending excise proceedings relating to its Batanagar, Patna and Faridabad factories.The profit before provision for KVSS, depreciation and tax is Rs 53.34 crore against Rs 27.95 crore in 1997. Depreciation went up marginally from Rs 10.34 crore in 1997 to Rs 12.36 crore in 1998. Significantly, the company's interest burden has come down to Rs 7.78 crore from Rs 14.43 crore in 1997.During 1998, the company's volume sales of footwear increased from 57 million pairs to 61 million pairs. The company has alsosuccessfully concluded all long-term wage agreements falling due in 1998, except those with the Batanagar union.
