This has happened probably due to the significant rises compared to the corresponding last quarter in net profit by the companies like Advanced Micronic, Chicago Pneumatic, DSP Merrill Lynch, Hind Lever Chem, Hyderabad Industries, Kalyani Forge, Knoll Pharma, Madhusudan Industries and Uniflex Cables.

The net profit figure of Hind Lever Chemicals rose by 323.5 per cent to Rs 6.48 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 1.53 crore during July-September 1998. Its net sales has also increased by 67.2 per cent during the second quarter compared to the corresponding last quarter.

Similarly, in the case of Kalyani Forge, the net profit figure rose by 605.6 per cent to Rs 1.27 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 0.18 crore during July-September 1998. The net sales of Kalyani Forge increased by 39.2 per cent to Rs 14.45 crore during July-September 1999.

On the other hand, the net sales of these 332 companies increased by 22.7 per cent to Rs 79,672 crore during July-September 1999. This has happened probably due to the significant increases in net sales by companies like Aspinwall & Co, Burr Brown (India), Henkel Spic India, Jalpac India, Kemrock Industries, Uniflex Cables and Visual Soft.

The operating profit of the above number of companies rose by 15 per cent to Rs 19,998 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 17,388 crore during July-September 1998.

The gross profit also rose by 17.7 per cent to Rs 9,992 crore in July-September 1999 from Rs 8,488 crore in July-September 1998. The profit before tax increased by 12.3 per cent to Rs 6,325 crore. Though the net profit rose by 12.1 per cent to Rs 5,161 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 4,604 crore during July-September 1998, the PAT to sales ratio declined from 7.09 per cent to 6.48 per cent.

Of the 332 companies, 104 companies registered a decline in gross profit. Significant among them are Advani-Oerlikon (-67.2 per cent), Bombay Burmah Trading (-99.3 per cent), Esab India (-92.4 per cent), Ispat Alloys (-92.1 per cent), Jayaswal Necco (-98.2 per cent), KCP (-94.1 per cent), Madura Coats (-84.3 per cent) and VXL Instruments (-92.9 per cent).

There are 29 companies which more than doubled their gross profit during the second quarter. Significant among them are DCW, DSP Merrill Lynch, Henkel Spic India, Hind Lever Chem, Jamshri Ranjit Singhji and Priya.

In PBT, 36 companies witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more during the quarter July-September 1999. Mention may be made of Advanced Micronic, Chicago Pneumatic, DSP Merrill Lynch, Geojit Securities, Hind Lever Chem, Hyderabad Industries, Jayant Agro-Organics, Kalyani Forge, Karone Communications, Priya, SPEL and Spenta International.

However, 90 companies have recorded a lower PBT during July-September 1999. In the case of PAT, significant loss made by the companies during July-September 1999 are Century Textiles (-Rs 29.56 crore), Hindustan Motors (-Rs 22.70 crore), NRC (-Rs 11.56 crore), Ponni Sugars (-11.87 crore) and Power Finance Corporation (-Rs 20.86 crore).

As many as 90 companies recorded lower net profit during July-September 1999 from the level of July-September 1998. On the other hand, 36 companies witnessed an increase of 100 per cent or more. Mention may be made of Karone Communications, Knoll Pharma, Madhusudan Industries, Priya, Samtel Color, SPEL, Spenta International and Uniflex Cables.

Among the 332 companies, the top five in respect of PAT to sales ratio during July-September 1999 were Knoll Pharma (52.41 per cent), Visual Soft (42.23 per cent), Digital Equipment (37.72 per cent), Rolta India (36.81 per cent) and Geojit Securities (35.03 per cent).

PAT formed less than 0.5 per cent of sales during July-September 1999 in the case of ACC (0.27 per cent), Burr Brown (0.45 per cent), Gestener (0.21 per cent), Punjab Chemicals (0.47 per cent) and Searchlight India (0.26 per cent).

A significant increase in the ratio during July-September 1999 from the level of July-September 1998 was recorded by Alfa Laval (6.82 per cent in July-September 1998 to 13.05 per cent in July-September 1999), Digital Equipment (8.22 per cent to 37.72 per cent), Insilco (8.64 per cent to 19.88 per cent), Knoll Pharma (14.85 per cent to 52.41 per cent), Saw Pipes (2.83 per cent to 12.28 per cent) and Thirumalai Chemicals (0.37 per cent to 8.12 per cent).

An opposite trend can be seen in the case of Advani Oerlikon (6.95 per cent in July-September 1998 to 0.90 per cent in July-September 1999), Bhageria Dye-Chem (10.24 per cent to 3.96 per cent), Elgi Equipments (15.65 per cent to 6.42 per cent), Goodricke Group (30.32 per cent to 13.63 per cent), Ion Exchange (20.28 per cent to 3.73 per cent), Ramco Industries (11.88 per cent to 5.55 per cent), Thermax (10.97 per cent to 4.78 per cent), Titagarh Inds (13.42 per cent to 3.18 per cent) and Vinyl Chem (10.12 per cent to 2.27 per cent).

Aggregate
This weeks' addition of 332 companies with previous week's 184 companies second quarterly results also showed an increase in sales and profits. The total of 516 companies sales rose by 22.4 per cent to Rs 1,13,991 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 93,141 crore during July-September 1998. These companies have registered a rise of 5.6 per cent to Rs 3,403 crore (Rs 3,222 crore) in other income during July-September 1999. In terms of operating profit, these companies have shown a rise of 17.1 per cent to Rs 27,222 crore during July-September 1999 from the level of Rs 23,238 crore during July-September 1998. The gross profit figure of 516 companies also increased by 20.8 per cent to Rs 15,600 crore (Rs 12,917 crore) during July-September 1999.

The PBT and PAT figures of these above number of companies increased by 16.5 per cent to Rs 10,414 crore (Rs 8,940 crore) and 17.3 per cent to Rs 8,455 crore (Rs 7,207 crore) respectively during July-September 1999. The ratio of PAT to sales ratio decreased from 7.74 per cent in July-September 1998 to 7.42 per cent in July-September 1999.