The board recommended an interim dividend (first interim) of Rs 6.00 per equity share of Rs 10 each, aggregating to a total payout of Rs 7.20 per share.

The company said that in the light of the proposed amalgamation of Ponds's with Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), the second interim dividend will bring the dividend entitlements of its shareholders in line with the shareholders of HLL adjusted for the swap ratio of 3:4 envisaged in the scheme of amalgamation.

HLL had on July 31, 1998, resolved to pay an interim dividend of Rs 9.60 per share.

Pond's had declared a final dividend of Rs 7.25 per share for the year ended December 1997, on an enhanced equity base of Rs 29.85 crore after the 1:1 bonus.

Pond's India posted a 32 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 24.36 crore during the half year end June 30, 1998. Gross sales of the companyincreased to Rs 254.93 crore during the period as against Rs 236.13 crore in the same period last year.

The company's merger with Hindustan Lever is effective from January 1, 1998. Unilever Plc held a 51 per cent stake in both Pond's and HLL. The merger aims at enabling the Indian operations to exploit the vast overlaps in personal products, speciality chemicals and exports businesses, in addition to having a common distribution network since 1993, for personal products.

The two companies share a common management pool and a technology base, and hence the merger will enable them to realise greater synergies.