This is the first time the company has posted a positive operating result after three consecutive accounting years of operating losses.

Whirlpool, however, has huge accumulated losses, which has soared to Rs 371.44 crore as on December 1998. The total losses at the end of the nine-month period ended December 1998 were Rs 68.67 crore, while the losses carried forward from previous years were Rs 302.77 crore.

The accumulated losses had nearly wiped out the entire net worth of Whirlpool of India as at March 1998, while the merger of Whirlpool Financial India Pvt Ltd with it was still pending.

The company has the permission to write off the accumulated losses during the current year by utilising the share premium account.

Whirlpool had changed its financial year to December from March, with effect from the period under review. Company sources that said Whirlpool would henceforth follow the calendar year for finalising books of accounts.

The last accounting year was extended to 15 months to go through the merger process. The merger was cleared by shareholders on April 25, 1998, while the Delhi high court cleared the proposal through an order dated August 18, 1998.

The Indian subsidiary of the American white goods major had posted sales income of Rs 666.31 crore for the 15-month year ended March 1998, inclusive of the Whirlpool Financial India income. The company had closed the year with an operating loss of Rs 88.15 crore. The total loss for the 15-month period was Rs 129.98 crore.

In contrast, during the nine-month period this year, Whirlpool has posted a total loss of Rs 68.67 crore. The loss in the third quarter (October-December 1998) was Rs 23.17 crore.

Interest charges continued to rule high at Rs 47.59 crore during April-December 1998, against Rs 49.63 crore in the 15-month period of the previous year. A significant part of the interest cost could be attributed to the setting up of the Rs 321-crore global no-frost facility set up at Ranjangaon, near Pune. The facility was commissioned in March 1998.