The other income of the company more than doubled to Rs 20.98 crore during the quarter. After providing for interest cost and the depreciation allowance, which increased substantially, the profit before tax and extraordinary gain increased by 97% to Rs 68.26 crore as compared to the same period last year. The company’s bottom-line almost doubled to Rs 44.88 crore as compared to the same period last year.

The company expects to get Natural Gas from KG Basin by the end of the current year. While the LNG/KG Basin Gas prices are expected to be higher, the additional gas availability will improve capacity utilization at the company’s Taloja Complex.

The Company is exploring forward integration into various sectors catered to by its products; including contract mining services and other related businesses.

Ishanya, India’s largest Design Centre and Specialty Mall have opened 30 stores with over 5,000 brands. Another 18 stores are expected to open in the next few weeks.

Performance for the quarter ended March 2008

The start of the year has been excellent for the company due to excellent performance by both the chemicals and the fertilizer sector. Excellent capacity utilization due to ad-hoc availability of additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the quarter coupled with increasing volume and price helped the company to post excellent top-line during the quarter ended June 2008. Revenue during the quarter increased by 50% to Rs 332.71 crore as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The OPM during the quarter improved by 250 bps mainly due to falling raw material cost during the period.

As a percentage of net adjusted sales the raw material cost fell by 460 bps to 28.8% whereas the employee cost fell by 210 bps to 4.9% of sales. The purchase of traded good cost however increased by 1430 bps to 40.7%. Thus the overall operating cost was lower during the quarter under review. The absolute operating profit thus increased by 71% to Rs 68.72 crore as compared to the same period last year.

The other income of the company more than doubled to Rs 20.98 crore during the quarter. The interest cost increased by 79% to Rs 8.95 crore whereas the depreciation allowance increased by 18% to Rs 12.49 crore, as a result the profit before tax and extraordinary gain/loss increased by 97% to Rs 68.26 crore as compared to the same period last year. The company incurred an extraordinary expense of Rs 1.37 crore, which includes brand-launching expenses of Rs 1.20 crore and amortization of VRS expenses paid to the tune of Rs 16.49 lakh. Thus the profit before tax after EO increased by 94% to Rs 66.89 crore during the quarter ended June 2008. The effective tax rate fell by 100 bps to 33% as a result the company posted a bottom-line growth of 99% to Rs 44.88 crore as compared to the same period last year.

Performance for the year ended March 2008

Revenue for the full year ended March 2008 increased by 26% to Rs 1,059.91 crore as compared to the previous year.

The operating profit margin fell by nearly 300 bps during the period as a result of the company posted an operating profit of Rs 193.53 crore which was just 24% higher compared to the previous year. The fall in OPM margin was mainly due to significant increase in raw material cost during the full year. The total raw material cost as a percentage of net adjusted sales increased by 340 bps to 32.1%.

Other income though fell by 14% to Rs 21.40 crore. The interest cost of the company increased by 39% to Rs 15.95 crore whereas the depreciation allowance of the company increased by 14% to Rs 44.741 crore during the full year. Thus the profit before tax before EO increased by 19% to Rs 154.27 crore as compared to the previous year.

The was an extraordinary expense of Rs 2.76 crore during the year, which included brand launching expenses of Rs 2.10 crore and amortization of VRS expenses paid to the tune of Rs 66 lakh. Thus the profit before tax after EO increased by 18% to Rs 151.51 crore as compared to the previous year.

The tax expenses more than doubled during the year to Rs 54.08 crore, hence the net profit increased by a benign 8% to Rs 100.27 crore as compared to the same period last year.

Chemicals:

Improved sales volume and prices of the chemicals during the quarter coupled with increasing capacity utilization has resulted in the chemicals division posting excellent performance during the quarter ended June 2008.

The Chemicals business contributed 69% of the total revenue of the company during the quarter under review. The total revenue of the chemicals division increased by 52% to Rs 231.27 crore. The profitability from the division however increased by 96% to Rs 80.17 crore during the quarter.

Fertilizers:

The fertilizers segment of the business constituted 29% of the total revenue during the quarter ended June 2008. The revenue from this segment improved significantly by 44% to Rs 98.86 crore. The division posted a profit of Rs 3.95 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 2.75 crore during the same period last year.

Other developments-

The company expects to get Natural Gas from KG Basin by the end of the current year. Thus the inadequacy of gas feed stock would be solved from the year 2009-10.

The company is further expanding the Taloja plant with chemicals to support the mining sector by constructing a 3,00,000 metric tonnes per annum Technical Ammonium Nitrate (TAN) plant. This would be supported by in-house ammonia as well as imported Ammonia through the company’s upcoming JNPT Ammonia storage tank, which was expected to be ready in Q4 FY09. The new JNPT tank will advantageously create opportunity for further product enhancement, in particular, in the Nitric Acid market.

The Company is planning to forward integrate into various sectors catered to by its products; including contract mining services and other related businesses.

Ishanya, India’s largest Design Centre and Specialty Mall have opened 30 stores with over 5,000 brands. Another 18 stores are expected to open in the next few weeks. Ishanya also launched India’s first laser and water works show, Fantasia Magic, at its 500-seater amphitheatre during the quarter under review.

The Company’s Mahadhan Saarrthie initiative has opened nine centers and over 5,000 hectares under cultivation in Maharashtra with 1,463 farmers enrolled into this initiative. The Company has also enrolled 257 farmers for Global gap certification of their produce, which enables the best possible price for export across the international markets. Total exports till date so far under this initiative stand at 678 tonnes including fruits and vegetables.

The promoters’ stake stands at 42% as at the end of March 2008.

The scrip is currently trading at around Rs 98 per equity share on the BSE.