For the quarter, sales from the bulk and chemicals segment (BCC) stood at Rs 197.46 crore and accounted for 49% of sales. PBIT from the same was flat at Rs 28.49 crore and accounted for 51% of total.

For the quarter, sales from the Fine & Specialty chemicals (FSC) Segment stood at Rs 121.19 crore and accounted for 30% of sales. PBIT from the same was higher by 106% to Rs 30.06 crore and accounted for 54% of total.

For the quarter, sales from the Performance product (PP) segment stood at Rs 81.97 crore and accounted for 20% of sales. Loss from PBIT stood at Rs 2.63 crore as compared to loss of Rs 0.64 crore for Mar 17 quarter.

Commenting on the performance, Mr. Deepak C. Mehta, Chairman & Managing Director, said,

"We are delighted to end FY18 on a strong note reporting stellar growth in revenues and profitability amidst an operating environment that has been marked by rising prices of commodities and increasing uncertainty in global trade.

There has been balanced growth on the back of improved performance by all of the Strategic Business Units (SBUs). The Basic Chemicals segment has been a standout performer reporting strong volume growth and improved realisation for key products. The Fine & Specialty chemicals segment after completely recovering from the one-off developments has delivered progressively while the Performance Products segment has demonstrated improved traction. We expect the PP segment to further improve on the back of our strategy to realign customer industries and markets that we intend to focus on.

The global economy is exhibiting stronger growth trends and the improving geopolitical environment is supporting international trade and increase in global consumption. In this backdrop, the outlook for all business lines is promising with favourable demand patterns emerging from both domestic and international customers. Our own plans to enhance capacity for star products and scaling up of innovation based products are adding to the buoyancy. In addition, we are excited by the impending launch of our Greenfield mega-project for manufacture of Phenol and Acetone which will transform the trajectory of growth."

Performance for the 12 months ended Mar 18

For 12 Months ended Mar 18, net sales was up by 18% to Rs 1454.78 crore. OPM was up by 230 bps to 13.9% resulting in a 41% increase in OP to Rs 202.66 crore. Other income was up by 28% to Rs 11.71 crore.

Interest costs was higher by 31% to Rs 40.34 crore and depreciation was higher by 9% to Rs 51.95 crore. PBT was thus higher by 65% to Rs. 122.08 crore in 12 Months ended Mar 18. There was an EO income of Rs 74.97 crore for 12 Months ended Mar 17 pertaining to transfer of its land leasehold rights. Thus, PBT after EO for 12 Months ended Mar 18 stood at Rs 122.08 crore, down by 18% YoY. Total tax was higher by 1% to Rs 38.63 crore on YoY. Finally, PAT came in at Rs. 83.45 crore in 12 Months ended Mar 18 down by 25% YoY.

For the 12 months, sales from the bulk and chemicals segment (BCC) stood at Rs 746.98 crore and accounted for 49% of sales. PBIT from the same was up by 21% to Rs 106.65 crore and accounted for 50% of total.

For the 12 months, sales from the Fine & Specialty chemicals (FSC) Segment stood at Rs 463.24 crore and accounted for 31% of sales. PBIT from the same was up by 39% to Rs 114.79 crore and accounted for 54% of total.

For the 12 months, sales from the Performance product (PP) segment stood at Rs 299.31 crore and accounted for 20% of sales. Loss at PBIT level stood at Rs 8.08 crore as compared to loss of Rs 13.88 crore for 12 Months ended Mar 17.

Other highlights

Domestic revenues stood at Rs. 243.33 crore in Q4 FY18 from Rs. 198.15 crore in the same period last year, representing growth of 23% Y-o-Y. Supply disruption in China has aided the global demand for some of the large domestic customers which in turn has led to increased off take of some of the key product chemical intermediates that the company makes.

Revenues from exports came in at Rs. 147.26 crore in Q4 FY18 compared to Rs. 127.01 crore in Q4 FY17 higher by 16%. Improved export performance was a result of better product acceptance and favourable demand trends in the key customer industries.

Revenues from FSC segment were Rs. 121.19 crore in Q4 FY18, higher by 31% compared to Rs. 98.86 crore in Q4 FY17. Volume growth as well as positive shift in the product-mix supported by normalised operations resulted in strong performance. Encouraging demand trends in the export markets also supported the overall momentum.

Revenues from the BC segment stood at Rs. 197.46 crore in Q4 FY18 compared to Rs. 183.71 crore in Q4 FY17, a growth of 14% Y-o-Y. Higher demand from customer industries has driven volume growth for the BC segment.

The PP segment reported revenues of Rs. 81.97 crore in Q4 FY18 compared to Rs. 75.03 crore in Q4 FY17, representing a growth of 18% y-o-y. Strategy to turnaround the PP segment has delivered initial results with reduction in the losses.

The Company raised Rs. 150 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) in January 2018 at a price of Rs. 264 per equity share (including premium of Rs. 262 per share). DNL witnessed strong response from high quality domestic institutional investors and the proceeds are being deployed towards funding the mega-Greenfield Project for manufacture of Phenol and Acetone. Prominent investors who participated in the QIP include SBI MF, Aditya Birla SunLife MF, L&T MF, Reliance MF, IDFC MF and Franklin Templeton MF amongst others.

 Update on Phenol and Acetone Project

 Introduction:

 DNL is implementing a mega project, aligned with Make in India, to manufacture 200,000 MTPA of Phenol and 120,000 MTPA of the co-product Acetone. This will be supported by capacity to manufacture 260,000 MT of Cumene, which is a feedstock for manufacturing Phenol and Acetone.

 This project is being implemented in a 100% subsidiary, i.e. Deepak Phenolics Limited (DPL). The proposed Phenol Plant will be located at Dahej in the State of Gujarat, with a capital expenditure of Rs. 1,400 crore being funded by debt and equity in the ratio 60: 40.

 DPL will address the opportunity in the domestic market which is currently met by imports. In addition, its plant is being based on cutting-edge technology and will be resource and energy efficient. Local availability of Phenol and Acetone is expected to boost the production of derivatives and downstream intermediates, which will expand the overall market in the country.

 Progress:

 The Greenfield project is now well into its pre-commissioning activities. In view of the impending commissioning, DPL's leadership team is already in place and the marketing team has commenced customer outreach program. There is complete focus on operational readiness and flawless start-up for which technology provider's team is associated at the project site.

 We are delighted to see that Phenol demand is growing significantly in India even better than envisaged when conceiving the project. Against 7-8% annual growth envisaged, Phenol demand is now growing at 9-10% annually and the Company has received highly encouraging response to its seed marketing programme.

 Phenol demand is also growing globally due to which, the global demand-supply capacity is moving towards equilibrium as some downstream projects have commenced in China which has led to greater captive consumption of Chinese Phenol capacity. Further, a large global facility for production of Phenol has been shut down in the US. The combination of these factors has resulted in firming up of overall prices of Phenol globally.

 As informed earlier, the Company was awaiting regulatory consent for its backward integration facility at Roha which has now been received and the current financial year expects to see full capacity utilisation in the FSC segment and this is expected to further improve the margins. The profitability margin is expected to further improve in FY19 as Company has planned brownfield expansion projects across all business segments entailing capital expenditure of Rs. 60 crore to take advantage of the extant situation in the Chinese Chemical Industry. In addition to the above, normal, debottlenecking and cost leadership programmes are also regularly undertaken by the Company. In view of the above, we expect to see an even better performance in FY19.

 Board recommended a dividend of Rs 1.30 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each.