The Hindu Business Line : Tata Coffee PAT rises 33.5%; to pay Rs 5 per share

TATA Coffee has reported a 33.5 per cent growth in its profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 18.19 crore for the year-ended March 31, 2004, as compared to a PAT of Rs 13.62 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income for the year grew by nearly 10 per cent to Rs 185.2 crore (Rs 168.8 crore). The operating profit grew by 69 per cent to Rs 23.08 crore (Rs 13.69 crore).

The company has decided to pay a dividend of Rs 5 per share (50 per cent on par value of Rs 10 each). The dividend payout aggregates Rs 6.23 crore, the company said in a press release.

Strengthening of the coffee realisation was among the key highlights during the fiscal. After a gap of almost three years, the prices realisations of both Arabica and Robusta have shown significant improvement over the previous years during this fiscal.

"Sustained focus on controlling cost coupled with significant reduction in debt servicing, through judicious financial management, brought down the effective rate to best in industry levels," the release said.