Exide Industries Ltd, the storage battery major, beat the huge fluctuations in lead costs over the past year to report a 61% increase in net profit and 51% increase in turnover for the year to March 31, 2008.

The company said net profit for the year was Rs 250 crore against Rs 155 crore the previous year, while turnover increased to Rs 3606 crore from Rs 2383 crore.

The company attributed the 61% rise in net profit and 51% increase in turnover to a price escalation clause that it had negotiated with its institutional buyers. This clause had existed earlier with its automotive OEM buyers.

An Exide statement quoted TV Ramanathan, its managing director and chief executive officer, as saying: “? during the year we could successfully introduce the concept of price escalation clause for most of our institutional customers in industrial batteries?This protected us from the fluctuation in lead prices to a large extent.”

The “wild fluctuations” in the prices of lead, which accounts for nearly 70% of its costs, continue to be a cause for concern, Exide said.

The company’s board has proposed a dividend of 40%, maintaining its record of uninterrupted dividend payment for 60 years.

The company said it has 62% of the organised market for automotive batteries, and maintains its share in industrial batteries. It did not specify the share. In the telecom sector, it reported a growth of 71%.

Gross turnover for the fourth quarter was Rs 1,008 crore, a growth of 50% on the figure for the same quarter of the previous year, while net profit rose by 62% to Rs 63 crore.

The return on capital employed (ROCE) and return on net worth (RONW) have improved to 35% and 40% respectively. The debt-equity ratio has also improved to 0.35:1 at end March 2008, the company said.

During the year, Exide acquired its first lead smelter. The unit, in Maharashtra, is expected to give it a hold in the business of recycling used batteries and an edge over the unorganized sector.