Mumbai, August 9: Cement major, Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd (GACL) has declared a final dividend of 15 per cent on back of 183.4 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 428 crore for the fiscal ended June 2000 as compared to Rs 151 crore in the previous year.The net profits would have been substantially lower but an extraordinary income of Rs 253.60 crore on account of sale of shares of its two subsidiaries Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd and Hometrust Housing Finance Ltd pushed up the company's profits.The company announced a total dividend of 40 per cent (including interim 25 per cent) for the year on an enlarged capital due to issuance of bonus shares (1:1) as against 70 per cent paid in the last year, GACL said in a statement.The turnover was up from Rs 1,247.73 crore to Rs 1,302.50 crore, showing a marginal increase of 4 per cent. Net sales rose marginally by five per cent to Rs 1,117 crore as against Rs 1,058 in the Financial year 1999-2000, the company said.GACL attributed lower cement prices to the drought conditions in Gujarat and said cement consumption declined by 15 per cent to 7.23 million tonnes from 8.45 million tonnes in the previous year.The company sold 5.98 million tonnes of cement and clinker as against 5.1 million tonnes in the previous year. On the outlook for 2000-01, the company said demand for cement grew by five per cent despite drought conditions prevailing in many parts of the country, Anil Singhvi, GACL whole-time director said.During the year, the company acquired DLF Cements, now known as Ambuja Cements Rajasthan with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes. The capacity has been augmented to 2 million tonnes. The plant also has a captive power plant. The work on the new 2 million tonne plant at Chandrapur Maharashtra is progressing well, Singhvi said.
