Total income rose on a consolidated basis to Rs 2,198.61 crore during July-September quarter from Rs 2,064.61 crore in the year-ago period. Expenses remained higher at Rs 1,970 crore as against Rs 1,910.48 crore in the said period.
The company’s consolidated PBDIT (profit before depreciation, interest and taxes) rose 29.9 per cent to Rs 311 crore in the second quarter of 2021-22 from Rs 240 crore in the year-ago period. Finance cost reduced to Rs 23 crore from Rs 26 crore in the said period.
Commenting on the performance, the company’s Chairman and Senior Managing Director Ajay Shriram said the business environment remains disruptive despite relative normalization of Covid-19 during the quarter, given the global supply chain constraints led by climate induced factors, geo-political reasons and Covid-19.
“Our Chloro-vinyl businesses have performed better given the improved demand as well as price scenario. However with global increase in energy prices as well as other key inputs, the cost pressures are high,” the company’s Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Vikram Shriram said.
The company’s top officials also said that there is significant uncertainty on input costs although the company is having adequate supplies to ensure continuity of operations. The company expects that higher product prices will support the increase in costs.
On sugar business, the company said it is operating in a favorable operating environment which is good for the farmers as well as the industry.
“Although the SAP (state advised price) for sugarcane has been revised upwards, we hope that product prices will support the increase in SAP. Higher international prices of Sugar augur well for the business,” the company said.
Stating that investment projects of around Rs 2,500 crore across businesses are under progress, the top officials said that the second wave of Covid -19 as well as extensive rains have impacted some of the project milestones but the company expects to commission the projects as per plan.
“Given the health of our balance sheet and operating cash-flow, we will look forward to more growth avenues and enhance our scale, integration, value addition,” they added.
The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 4.60 per share of face value of Rs 2 each for the 2021-22 fiscal, which will be paid on or before November 17, this year.
Shares of the company fell 4.27 per cent to settle at Rs 1,142.50 a piece on the BSE on Tuesday.
