Grasim profit after tax spurts by 68%, turnover rises by 11%

Our Corporate Bureau
28 January 2003

Mumbai: Grasim, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla group, has posted excellent results for its third quarter on the back of improved performance from all its businesses. It has achieved a higher turnover of Rs 1,167 crore.

The gross profit has risen by 58 per cent to Rs 259 crore (Rs 164 crore). The profit after total tax expenses but before exceptional items is up by 68 per cent to Rs 134 crore (Rs 80 crore), even after making a substantially higher provision for tax expenses.

VSF business
The VSF business has sustained its show of good performance, with an all-round improvement during the quarter under review. While capacity utilisation was up at 109 per cent (86 per cent), sales volumes and realisations too were higher by 21 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The company's VSF research and application centre at Kharach, involving a capex of Rs 27 crore, is progressing as scheduled.

To ensure sustainable long-term growth, the VSF division's ongoing thrust is on product development and application enlargement. In this regard, its endeavours have met with considerable encouragement from the market. The company, being the largest and lowest cost superior quality producer of VSF, is fully geared to capitalise on the increased demand for the product that it has generated.

Cement business
The cement business has registered a noteworthy growth both in production and sales. The production at 2.72 million MT was up by 20 per cent over the corresponding quarter. Sales volumes reflect a growth of 13 per cent vis-à-vis the industry growth level of 7 per cent. Realisation was lower by 6 per cent at Rs 1,710 per MT in line with the general trend in cement prices.