UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla Group, has posted a rise of 29% in its net profit for the year ended March, 2008 at Rs 1,008 crore compared to Rs 782 crore in the previous financial year. The net sales of the company during FY08 grew to Rs 5,509 crore from Rs 4,911 crore, up 12.18%. EPS for FY08 was Rs 80.9 against Rs 62.8 last year. The company produced 15.1 million tonnes of cement with an effective capacity utilisation of 101%.
For the quarter ended March, the net profit rose by 22% to Rs 283 crore from Rs 232 crore in the previous corresponding quarter. The net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 1,602 crore against last year's Rs 1,465 crore.
In the last quarter, UltraTech commissioned its new clinkerisation unit in Andhra Pradesh where as the remaining capacity expansion in Andhra and the grinding unit in Karnataka are expected to go on stream in the first half of FY09. Once the cement making unit in Andhra Pradesh commissions, the company's overall capacity will shoot up to 23.1 million tonnes.
The company has issued cautious business outlook for the current year. It expects the overall cement demand in FY09 to grow by 9 per cent. However, continuous government intervention has resulted in uncertain price environment, which together with significant increase in input costs will have an adverse impact on margin going forward.
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Crisil has lowered its GDP growth forecast to 8.1% for FY09 from the earlier forecast of 8.5% on account of worsening inflation, interest rate and global growth outlook. Inflation, however, is expected to stabilise at 5.5%. On the other hand rating agency Moody’s expects India’s GDP growth to moderate from 8.9% in 2007 to 7.8% this year, while consumer price inflation will average under 6%.
Crisil said that though there would be some moderation, the overall growth scenario is expected to remain strong on sound investments. Domestic private consumption demand will also provide some support to the economy against slowing external demand. Sectoral forecasts for industry and services have also been adjusted downward to 8% and 9.8%, respectively. Assuming a normal monsoon this year, Crisil expects agriculture to grow at 3%.
Crisil’s earlier GDP forecast of 8.5% had assumed a cut in the policy interest rate by the central bank in response to the slowing economy. This is now ruled out since current inflation and inflationary expectations are way beyond the RBI’s comfort zone of 4.5-5%. This, coupled with the recent scaling down of global growth projections, has resulted in revising the growth projections downward for 2008-09. The growth is expected to be slower, but still a healthy 8.1%.
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The country’s largest drug maker, Ranbaxy Laboratories, has entered into strategic business alliance with the Chennai-based Orchid Chemicals. The pact involves multiple geographies and therapies for both finished dosage forms and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for several products. This alliance will give Ranbaxy access to Orchid’s product range, including cepholosporins and will allow Orchid to leverage Ranbaxy’s distribution network. The agreement will pave way for future co-operation between the two companies. The companies however refused to divulge details of the deal. The agreement will be mutually beneficial and synergistic, allowing both the companies to leverage each others’ inherent strengths.
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