HPCL Q3 profits up marginally

Grasim Profit Zooms: Aditya Birla group’s Grasim Industries Ltd has reported a 104 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 51 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 1999, on a 13 per cent increase in turnover to Rs 1,059 crore.

Higher production and turnover volumes, lower costs due to cement integration, saving in operating costs resulting from ongoing modernisation efforts, upgradation of plant energy optimisation coupled with reduction in financing cost through effective fund management enabled better performance, grasim said in a statement here today.

The company’s interest burden reduced by 17 per cent to Rs 62 crore during the quarter. Grasim’s net profit for the first nine months of 1999-2000 amounted to Rs 184.24 crore.

Its viscose staple fibre (VSF) business registered an increase of 18 per cent in production and 24 per cent in sales volumes along with improved realisations.

Grasim, having total cement capacity of 10.72 million tonnes including the under construction 0.9 million tonne plant in Tamil Nadu, has improved its capacity utilisation from 82 per cent to 98 per cent, while sales volumes were up 22 per cent during the quarter. However, realisations from cement have gone down due to intense competition adversely affecting margins, grasim said. Grasim’s sponge iron sales volumes were up by 54 per cent at 1.98 lac mt while realisations were higher by 13 per cent.

Apollo Tyres Net Up: Apollo Tyres Ltd today announced a 264 per cent increase in its net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal at Rs 19.23 crore compared to Rs 5.28 crore during the same period last year.

The sales revenue of Apollo moved up marginally to Rs 301.1 crore during the period from Rs 297 crore last year, the company said in a statement.

It said the two-week nation-wide strike by truck operators in October affected its sales by about Rs 50 crore. The company’s net profit and sales revenue during the nine-month period ending December was Rs 47.8 crore and Rs 973.1 crore respectively.