The Hindu Business Line : Sanwaria Agro net up 41 pc

MUMBAI: Sanwaria Agro Oils Ltd (SAOL), one of the country's leading soyabean processor and refined soyabean oil maker, posted net sales of Rs 258.06 crore for the financial year 2003-04, recording a growth of 28.7 per cent, as compared to Rs. 200.54 crore for the previous year.

Profit after tax for the year at Rs. 8.85 crore, recorded a jump of 40.85 per cent over the PAT of Rs 6.28 crore. Commenting on the performance, Mr Anil Agrawal, Director of SAOL, said: "Higher capacity utilisation and our export strategy are the key elements of SAOL continued superior performance. This coupled with good soya crop in the current year will help us do even better in the year ahead. Our brand initiatives will also help us realise better value."

During the year, about 1,40,000 tonnes Soyabean were crushed at 85 per cent average capacity utilisation. During the fourth quarter, approximately 40,000 tonnes soyabean were crushed.

Apart from catering to the domestic demand, SAOL exported DOC (de-oiled cake) to countries such as South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Iran, Bangladesh and Pakistan during the year.

Sales for Q4 were at Rs 54.99 crore (Rs 79.79 crore in Q4-FY03) while net profit stood at Rs 24.16 lakh against net loss of Rs 91.52 lakh recorded during Q4-FY03.

Sales for the quarter slipped due to stoppage of production in February and March 2004 at SAOL's leased out plant at Banapura (Madhya Pradesh) owing to technical problems and shortage of railway rakes for despatch of DOC.

Earnings per share for the year stood at Rs 6.19 against EPS of Rs 4.61 for the previous year.

While SAOL has been selling refined soya oil mostly in bulk through trade channels, its branding initiatives showed marked improvement during the year. SAOL's brands of soya oil - Sulabh and Narmada - are now widely acceptedin Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Delhi and Maharashtra.

The company expects the brands to penetrate more markets.