Sales were partially affected due to closure of the dimethyl terepthlate (DMT) plant at Patalganga in Maharashtra for eight days in December. DMT prices continue to be under pressure due to dumping from SE Asian countries.

At present, the DMT plant is working at full capacity, a company release said.

Gross profit after interest (before depreciation, voluntary retirement scheme and taxation) was Rs 17.23 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 1998. Interest for the period stood at Rs 17.75 crore, the release added. But it did not provide figures for the previous corresponding period.

Depreciation for the third quarter stood at Rs 12.97 crore while Rs1.05 crore was provided as voluntary retirement compensation. Total revenue was Rs 224.51 crore. Paid-up equity share capital stood at Rs 41 crore.

Net profit for the 9-months ended December 31, 1998, was Rs 14.27 crore on a sales turnover of Rs 647.12 crore. Other income during the period was Rs 67.58 crore.

Heavy dumping of products from SE Asia has posed a threat to the company in the last year. Bombay Dyeing has reported a net profit of Rs 23.02 crore on a sales of Rs 906.64 crore during the year ended March 31, 1998. Other income was Rs 117.50 crore.

Eicher third quarter net jumps 54%: Eicher Limited has recorded a 54 per cent increase in net profit on a higher turnover at Rs 157 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal ended December 31, 1998. The net profit touched Rs 8.16 crore during this period as against Rs 5.29 crore in the same period the previous year.

Net profit during the first nine months of 1998-99 was Rs 21.14 crore, marginally higher than Rs 21.04 crore a yearearlier, according to a company release. Eicher Motors reported a net profit of Rs 1.16 crore during the third quarter of the current fiscal as against a loss of Rs 1.17 crore in the same period the previous year.

Sales during the period was lower by 0.5 per cent at Rs 60.43 crore as against Rs 60.79 crore last year, a statement issued here said.

Eicher Ltd'd gross profit during the quarter was Rs 13.90 crore, up 55 per cent from Rs 8.95 crore. Sales during the period was up by nearly 9 per cent from Rs 144.06 crore. Depreciation and interest during the period was also higher at Rs 2.69 crore and Rs 2.15 crore respectively.

Gross profit during April-December 1998 stood at Rs 37.09 crore, up 12 per cent from Rs 32.97 crore a year earlier. Gross sales during the period was up 5 per cent to touch Rs 460.78 crore as against Rs 438.43 crore.

According to Eicher Tractor's managing director RC Jain, "although in the first nine months of the current fiscal, the tractor industry has been nearly stagnant butthe company achieved a growth of over 5 per cent in tractor sales during the period."

At Royal Enfield Motors (REM), new products are slated to hit the market in the current financial year. "The construction of the new plant at Jaipur to enhance the capacity of manufacturing motorcycles is progressing as per schedule and is likely to commence trial production by the end of this financial year," REM managing director PK Purang said. Further, gross profit of EML before interest, depreciation and tax during the quarter was Rs 2.28 crore as against a loss of Rs 24 lakh in the corresponding period last year.

According to EML's managing director S Sandilya the profit before tax of Rs 1.29 crore for the quarter was due to continuous focus of the company towards costs reduction and better working capital management. He added that the trend would continue in the current quarter.

GE Shipping net dips 9%: The Great Eastern Shipping Corporation has posted an income of Rs 221.5 crore for the third quarter ofthe current fiscal. This is 5.38 per cent lower than the income of Rs 234.1 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Total expenditure during this period was Rs 126.6 crore as against Rs 144.9 crore in the previous year. The net profit after tax for the third quarter was Rs 29.8 crore, down 8.58 per cent from Rs 32.6 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The profit before tax was Rs 42.2 crore which was up from the previous year's Rs 38 crore.

Kesoram reports Rs 7.3cr Q3 loss: Kesoram Industries, a diversified company from the BK Birla group, reported a loss of Rs 7.32 crore on net sales of Rs 177.72 crore during the third quarter to December 31, 1998. Industrial relations posed a major challenge to the management with at least two divisions affected by agitating workmen.

The company has pointed out that the textile unit at Garden Reach in Calcutta is under work suspension since January 5, 1999, while a go-slow by packing plant workers of units I and IIof Vasavadatta cement plant has affected working since January 10, 1999.

However, the lockout declared in the refractory unit on March 29, 1998 due to "persistent industrial relations problems" was lifted on August 27, 1998. The company has posted a gross profit after interest but before depreciation and tax of Rs 4.24 crore. Interest costs for the quarter stood at Rs 17.78 crore while the figure for the nine months to December 31, 1998 was more than Rs 53 crore.

Insight

May not report higher earnings
The drop in realisations for DMT has seen the operating margins being squeezed from 7.4 per cent in the second quarter to 4.8 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Nevertheless, the bottomline has been positive once again only because of other income. Other income is approximately eight times the profit before tax.

Considering that the prices remain at the present levels, the company is unlikely to report higher earnings this fiscal compared to last year. The marketseems to have fully discounted all the negative factors for the stock which has been on an uptrend since October. Any positive news would only fuel the recovery.