Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate
-
Performance Haldia Petro posts Rs 300-cr earnings — Lenders offer interest-funding support Indrani Dutta
KOLKATA, April 2 HALDIA Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), the three-way joint venture between the Chatterjee Group, the West Bengal government and the Tatas, has reported earnings of Rs 300 crore before depreciation, interest and taxes (EBDIT) in the just concluded financial year. HPL sources told Business Line that this was substantially higher than the Rs 70-odd crore EBDIT in 2001-02. Turnover is estimated to have increased from Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 3,000 crore in 2002-03. Alongside the improved financial performance, HPL has also received good news in the form of an interest-funding offer from its lender. The letter sent on March 28 by the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) says that the lenders are prepared to offer HPL interest-funding loans for a 15-month period — July 2002 to September 2003. HPL had been asked to start servicing its debt and clear its dues by August 2003, sources said, adding that the exact amount that would be provided under the IDBI package would have to be worked out. The loan would be distributed among HPL's existing lenders at the `document' rate of interest, which means at the rates prevailing when the loans were first availed. Industry sources saw this as the kicking off HPL's restructuring process - which was approved in principle by the FIs last September. They said interest funding was the standard feature of any restructuring proposal. HPL, which has a total debt of about Rs 4,200 crore (of which over Rs 350 crore is owed to IDBI), has an annual servicing burden of Rs 540 crore (including interest and financing charges). While it was an irregular debtor for most of the times, it started defaulting on its payments since January 2002. Explaining the upswing in the 2002-03 performance, sources said that improved capacity utilisation and improved realisation had allowed HPL to attain this level of performance. "Moreover, this was the first complete year of performance'', sources said, adding that, in 2001-02, HPL could avail of only eight months of commercial production, which was often interrupted by plant shutdowns. HPL is now targeting an EBDIT of Rs 600 crore this fiscal on a turnover of Rs 4,000 crore. Sources said this should be possible with cost saving measures like going for more of contractual purchase of naphtha as against spot purchase. Naphtha accounts for over 50 per cent of its cost of production
In the garb of T-shirt
INDICATING a clear upbeat mood, 900 employees of Haldia Petrochemicals dissolved their corporate hierarchy to don identical T-shirts marking the company's second anniversary day today. Following formal advice in this regard, employees at the corporate headquarters here and at the plant wore the white T- shirts with red bands at the collars and sleeves. Women employees (that is, those not in saris) too wore the shirts.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|