Sales turnover at Rs 531.55 crore was, however, marginally lower compared to Rs 535.60 crore in the same period last year, "due to the constraints faced in its fertiliser business," the company reasoned. Sales of the fertiliser division were thus dropped 44 per cent from Rs 228.91 crore to Rs 127.74 crore during the period. The company managed to insulate its sales from dipping further through a 31.6 per cent growth registered by the copper division to Rs 403.81 crore from Rs 306.69 crore. The company, however, said that the bottomline growth indicates an encouraging trend for the year, "notwithstanding the uncertainties in its fertiliser business."

Basic earnings per share (EPS) at Rs 2.60, was up from Rs 2.23. Interest charges and depreciation were stagnant at around Rs 36 crore and around Rs 28 crore. The provision for taxation was lower at Rs 5.27 crore as against Rs 6.39 crore last year. The company commissioned its four lakh tpa diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser plant at Dahej in Gujarat in September end this year. Urea sales at Rs 4.23 lakh MT have been lower compared to 5.36 lakh MT in the previous year on account of the government's imposing a restriction on production as also sales at only 100 per cent interim reassessed capacity, the company said.

Further, due to un-remunerative international prices of DAP, coupled with unfavourable subsidy rates fixed by the government on the sale of imported fertilisers. Elaborating on the outlook for the year, the company said that the profitability of the fertiliser industry will be adversely affected due to the government's decision to reassess the production capacity of gas-based urea fertiliser units. "The industry's performance as a whole is bound to be on the downside," the company said.