The net profit figure of Amara Raja Batteries declined by -78.9 per cent to Rs 2.38 crore during April-June 1999 from the level of Rs 11.26 crore during April-June 1998. Its net sales has also declined by -57.5 per cent during the quarter.

On the other hand, net sales of these 345 companies rose by 8.8 per cent to Rs 41,960 crore during April-June 1999. This has happened probably due to the significant increases in net sales by the companies like Apar Industries (254.5 per cent), Timex Watches (162.8 per cent), Wartsila NSD India (123.7 per cent), Sun Earth Ceramics (115.7 per cent) and Tata Elxsi (100.8 per cent). The operating profit of the above number of companies rose by 14 per cent to Rs 12,018 crore during April-June 1999. Gross profit also rose by 7.4 per cent to Rs 5,087 crore in April-June 1999 from the level of Rs 4,736 crore in April-June 1998. Profit before tax increased by 6.7 per cent to Rs 3,655 crore in April-June 1999. Though the aggregate net profit of 345 companies rose by 3.8 per cent to Rs 2,388 crore during April-June 1999 from the level of Rs 2,300 crore during April-June 1998, the PAT to net sales ratio of these companies declined from 5.97 per cent to 5.69 per cent during April-June 1999.

Of the 345 companies, 99 companies registered a decline in gross profit. Significant among them are Amara Raja Batteries (-70.9 per cent), Aspinwall & Co (-79.8 per cent), Bombay Burmah Trading (-79.5 per cent), Control Print (-73.1 per cent), ITW Signode (-83.6 per cent), Lahoti Overseas (-80.7 per cent), State Trading Corporation (-75.4 per cent) and Universal Starch Chem Allied (-71.6 per cent). There are 32 companies which doubled their gross profit during the first quarter. Significant among them are Dabur India, DCM Shriram Consolidated, Eicher Motors, Perfect Circle Victor, Samtel Colour (post merger) and Visaka Industries.

In PBT, 30 companies witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more during the first quarter. Notable among them are Godrej Soaps, Keynote Corporate Services, Sunflag Iron & Steel and Tube Investment. However, 96 companies have recorded a lower PBT during April-June 1999. In the case of PAT, significant loss made by the companies during April-June 1999 are Birla Corp (-Rs 10.29 crore), Birla VXL (-Rs 16.19 crore), Crompton Greaves (-Rs 13.79 crore), Greaves (-Rs 15.70 crore), Hindustan Copper (-Rs 35.94 crore), Jain Irrigation Systems (-Rs 22.89 crore), Orient Paper Industries (-Rs 14.95 crore), Siel (-Rs 10.11 crore) and SIV Industries (-Rs 30.91 crore). As many as 98 companies recorded lower net profits during April-June 1999 from the level of April-June 1998.

On the other hand, 29 companies have witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more in PAT during the first quarter. Notable among them are Godrej Soaps, Peerless Shipping, Taparia Tools and Tube Investments. Among the 345 companies, the top five in respect of PAT to sales ratio during April-June 1999 were BSEL Information System (76.49 per cent), Walchand Capital (59.49 per cent), Power Finance Corporation (54.53 per cent), Cyber Tech (47.70 per cent) and Cox & Kings Travel & Finance (44.66 per cent).

PAT formed less than 0.5 per cent of sales during April-June 1999 in the case of Aspinwall & Co, Bengal Tea, Brite Automotive, Centrum Finance, GKN Invel Transmission, Godavari Fertiliser, Govind Rubber, Hyderabad Industries, National Engineering, Sai Service Station, Voltas and Welspun Syntex.

A significant increase in the ratio during April-June 1999 from the level of April-June 1998 was recorded by Alfa Laval (1.09 per cent in April-June 1998 to 8.39 per cent in April-June 1999), Avon Organics (0.17 per cent to 10.40 per cent), Dabur India (0.46 per cent to 11.32 per cent), Garnet Construction (5 per cent to 31.82 per cent), Indraprastha Medical Corp (3.95 per cent to 23.66 per cent), Keynote Corporate Services (3.70 per cent to 41.38 per cent), Menon Bearings (7.95 per cent to 20.06 per cent), Peerless Shipping (3.34 per cent to 23.48 per cent) and Walchand Capital (27.78 per cent to 59.49 per cent).

A reverse trend can be seen in the case of Acrow India (19.19 per cent in April-June 1998 to 5.71 per cent in April-June 1999), Amara Raja Batteries (26.07 per cent to 12.96 per cent), Aryan Pesticides (9.34 per cent to 1.46 per cent), Bank of Rajasthan (9.25 per cent to 1.99 per cent), Cyber Tech (67.31 per cent to 47.70 per cent), HEG (15.80 per cent to 5.98 per cent), Kolar Information Tech (77.78 per cent to 3.25 per cent), Ramada Hotels (15.20 per cent to 1.87 per cent), Tata Finance (23.84 per cent to 14.79 per cent), Universal Starch (11.37 per cent to 0.88 per cent) and Wockhardt (18.51 per cent to 9.48 per cent).

AGGREGATES

This week's addition of 345 companies with previous week's 210 companies first-quarter results also showed an increase in sales. The total of 555 companies sales rose by 10.9 per cent to Rs 66,062 crore during April-June 1999 from the level of Rs 59,569 crore during April-June 1998. These companies have shown a rise of 11.1 per cent to Rs 2,385 crore in other income during April-June 1999. The operating profit of these companies rose by 14.6 per cent to Rs 18,011 crore during April-June 1999 from the level of Rs 15,720 crore during April-June 1998. The gross profit of 555 companies also increased by 12.2 per cent to Rs 9,209 crore during April-June 99. This time also, the growth of PBT and PAT are more or less same ie, around 13 per cent (PBT in April-June 1999 is Rs 6,339 crore and PAT is Rs 4,683 crore). The ratio of PAT to sales increased from 6.93 per cent in April-June 1998 to 7.09 per cent in April-June 1999.