BANGALORE, JULY 22: BPL Ltd has reported a 18.75 per cent surge in its net profit during the first quarter of the current fiscal. During the period, it has has clocked a net profit of Rs 25.46 crore against Rs 21.44 crore achieved during the first quarter of the fiscal 1998-99.Earnings per share on an annualised basis has grown by 15.48 per cent to Rs 36.76 (Rs 31.83).Registering a growth of 15.24 per cent, the company has posted a gross turnover of Rs 516.04 crore (Rs 447.80 crore). The gross profit before interest, depreciation and tax grew by 16.58 per cent to Rs 44.85 crore (Rs 38.47 crore).During the quarter the total expenditure of the company was Rs 447.93 crore (Rs 389.58 crore) and interest paid was Rs 10.90 crore (Rs 9.94 crore). The company has made a provision for taxation of Rs 2.25 crore (Rs 2.50 crore). BPL's paid-up equity share capital has gone up to Rs 27.70 crore from Rs 26.94 crore.According to the company, the growth in the sale of colour televisions was 50 per cent during the period - thanks to the world cup cricket campaigns. A press release here said with the surge in CTV sales during the period, BPL has retained its numero uno position in the CTV market.The company sold over 280,000 CTVs during the period. BPL has attributed the growth to the expected sale in its CTVs, frost free refrigerators, washing machines and microwave oven segment. While BPL is the No 1 in the microwave oven and frost free refrigerator market, it is the No 2 in the washing machine market, according to a survey conducted by Francis Kanoi Marketing Research in June 1999.BPL sold around 1.5 lakh black and white TVs during the first quarter of the current fiscal and 31 million batteries with a market share of 26.5 per cent in the domestic alkaline battery segment. During the quarter the company's export turnover was Rs 27.35 crore.The company attributed the performance to its strong brand equity and cost competitiveness.
