Tata Chemicals, the largest manufacturer of soda ash, has posted a net profit of Rs 964 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008, against Rs 508.04 crore a year ago.
Its income from operations for the reporting year stood at Rs 6,193.97 crore as against Rs 5,965.08 crore a year ago. Tata Chemicals shares closed 6.62% lower on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 303.80.
The board has recommended a dividend payment of Rs 9 per share. During the last financial year, the company sold its investments in Tata group of companies to the tune of Rs 487.47 crore, it said in a statement.
For this financial year, the company has laid out a capital expenditure of Rs 500 crore and it would be raised through internal accruals. “We will be investing Rs 500 crore for debottlenecking capacity in our plant, setting up an innovation centre, in our UK and US companies,” Homi Khusrokhan, MD, Tata Chemicals said. The company would be spending Rs 200 crore for debottlenecking its urea plant in Babrala in Uttar Pradesh. It has a capacity to make 3,000 tonnes of urea per day. After debottlenecking, it would go to 3,500 tonne per day.
