The net profit of Birla Ericsson Optical increased by 246.6 per cent to Rs 3.05 crore during the first quarter from Rs 0.88 crore in the previous corresponding period. Sales moved up by 215.9 per cent during the quarter. On the other hand, operating profit of these companies increased by 15.1 per cent to Rs 5,193 crore during the period under review. Gross profit of these companies was up 16.5 per cent to Rs 3,523 crore in the first quarter from Rs3,024 crore in the previous corresponding period.

Profit before tax increased by 22.1 per cent to Rs 2,258 crore. This is probably due to the significant hike in profit before tax (PBT) of companies like Birla Ericsson Optical (388.6 per cent), Marathwada Refractories (616.7 per cent), Mastek (301.9 per cent), Supreme Petrochem (683.3 per cent) and Visual Soft(India) (329.7 per cent). The aggregate sales of these companies rose by 12.8 per cent to Rs 17,841 crore from Rs 15,818 crore last year. The PAT-to-sales ratio of these companies increased from 10.16 per cent to 11.07 per cent during the period under review.

Of the 108 companies, 16 showed a decline in gross profit, which include Birla Global Finance (-56.7 per cent), Dagger Forst Tools (-98.2 per cent), Hoechst Marion Roussel (-45.9 per cent), Principal Pharma (-85.7 per cent), Tata Chemicals (-47.3 per cent) and Universal Cables (-45.0 per cent). Fourteen companies namely, Asian Coffee, Birla Ericsson Optical, Consolidated Coffee, Finolex Cables,GP Electronics, Infosys Technologies, Infotech Enterprises, Marathwada Refractories, Mastek, Mirc Electronics, Sonata Software, Supreme Petrochem, Tak Machinery & Leasing and Visual Soft(India) more than doubled their gross profits.

Birla Ericsson Optical, Chemplast Sanmar, Consolidated Coffee, Finolex Cables, Hiran Orgochem, Infosys Technologies, Infotech Enterprises, Marathwada Refractories, Mastek, Mirc Electronics, Premier Instruments, Sonata Software, Supreme Petrochem and Visual Soft(India) witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more in their PBT. Of these, Supreme Petrochem posted a growth of 683.3 per cent during the first quarter. However, 16 companies have recorded a lower PBT during the quarter.

In the case of PAT, companies which made significant losses during the period under review are Antifriction Bearings Corp (-Rs 1.43 crore), Bharat Earth Movers (-Rs 21.88 crore), Coffee Lands (-Rs 1.12 crore), Foseco India (-Rs 1.50 crore), Kerala Chemicals & Proteins (-Rs 3.12 crore), KirloskarElectrodyne (-Rs 1.92 crore), Mysore Paper Mills (-Rs 1.46 crore), Telco (-Rs 33.53 crore) and Zenith (-Rs 3.88 crore).

As many as 14 companies recorded lower net profits during the first quarter. Notable among them are Bharat Gears (-87 per cent), Birla Global Finance (-86.2 per cent), Hoechst Marion Roussel (-62.8 per cent), Tata Chemicals (-79.6 per cent), Udaipur Phosphates (-81.8 per cent) and Universal Cables (-91.7 per cent).

On the other hand, 13 companies have witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more namely, Birla Ericsson Optical, Chemplast Sanmar, Consolidated Coffee, Finolex Cables, Hiran Orgochem, Infosys Technologies, Infotech Enterprises, Marathwada Refractories, Mastek, Mirc Electronics, Premier Instruments, Sonata Software, Supreme Petrochem and Visual Soft(India).

Among the 108 companies the top five in respect of PAT-to-sales ratio during April-June were VMC Software (71.72 per cent), Visual Soft(India) (42.63 per cent), Rolta India (36.46 per cent), Infosys Technologies (35.60per cent) and Silverline Industries (34.88 per cent). PAT formed less than 1 per cent of sales during the first quarter in the case of Bharat Gears, Birla Global Finance, Jaipur Polyspin, Udaipur Phosphates and Universal Cables.

A significant increase in the ratio during the period under review from the previous corresponding period was recorded by Asian Coffee (3.62 per cent in April-June 1998 to 13.80 per cent in April-June 1999), Bajaj Auto Finance (11.62 per cent to 20.89 per cent), Chemplast Sanmar (3.71 per cent to 10.33 per cent), Consolidated Coffee (7.50 per cent to 14.90 per cent), Finolex Cables (6.39 per cent to 12.76 per cent), Hiran Orgochem (3.43 per cent to 8.91 per cent), Marathwada Refractories (4.21 per cent to 27.91 per cent), Infosys Technologies (24.27 per cent to 35.60 per cent), Mastek (13.05 per cent to 26.37 per cent), VMC Software (57.14 per cent to 71.72 per cent) and Visual Soft(India) (31.92 per cent to 42.63 per cent).

An opposite trend can be seen in the case of BFLSoftware (22.76 per cent in April-June 1998 to 14.64 per cent in April-June 1999), Hoechst Marion Roussel (9.84 per cent to 4.04 per cent), Kemwell International (13.49 per cent to 7.23 per cent), Tata Chemicals (10.18 per cent to 2.37 per cent), Vindhya Telelinks (22.97 per cent to 15.86 per cent), Bharat Gears (2.65 per cent to 0.37 per cent), Birla Global Finance (5.23 per cent to 0.95 per cent), HDFC Bank (26.99 per cent to 21.09 per cent) and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (17.39 per cent to 3.54 per cent).