Turnover has increased by 6 per cent to Rs 901 crore, gross profit has dropped to Rs 140.80 crore from Rs 152.84 crore and operating profit has been maintained at Rs 208 crore.

Commodity businesses like cement and textiles were adversely affected by the domestic slowdown and the Asian meltdown. Despite these factors, the company would have reported higher profits but for the losses sustained in the sea water magnesia business, a press release claimed.

Higher interest cost and depreciation have been cited as the reason for the decline in net profit. While interest increased to Rs 67 crore for the first six months from Rs 54 crore in the same period last year, depreciation moved up to Rs 54 crore from Rs 42 crore.

Other income was at Rs 41.54 crore against Rs 37.43 crore.Paid-up equity share capital was at Rs 67.48 crore. While earning per share stood at Rs 23.90 against Rs 29.95, the cash earning per share was at Rs 39.95 compared with Rs 42.48.

Viscose filament yarn division recorded a marginal improvement in production at 7,330 tonne during the six months ended September 30, 1998, against 7,134 tonne in the same period last year. Carbon black division also reported satisfactory growth with the production rising to 25,247 tonne from 20,878 tonne.

The Aditya Birla group earlier last month announced restructuring of its operations to strengthen the core business of cement. As per the plan, the cement units of Indian Rayon will be transferred to Grasim, which will now emerge as the country's third-largest cement company.