The Hindu Business Line : BILT Q2 net up 32 pc to Rs 43 cr

BALLARPUR Industries Ltd (BILT) on Tuesday announced 30.15 per cent net profit growth for the six months ended December 31, 2004 at Rs 83.41 crore on a flat total revenue of Rs 1,108 crore.

For the second quarter ended December 31, 2004, the net profit grew 31.72 per cent to Rs 43.31 crore on a marginal fall in total revenue of Rs 562.56 crore.

Expansion: The company's board of directors, which met on Tuesday to consider the results, also announced several other key decisions. These include an in-principle approval for an expansion and modernisation programme involving Rs 1,200 crore outlay over the next five years that will double BILT's capacity to 8.5 lakh tonnes, delisting of the equity shares of the company from the Delhi Stock Exchange and an interim dividend of 12.5 per cent.

Speaking on the occasion, the Joint Managing Director, Mr R.R. Vederah, said that BILT is open to acquisitions, especially for pulp sourcing, and is in talks with some pulp suppliers in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries.

New areas: The company is also keen to enter new product areas including `cream wove' (normal writing paper), he said adding this would be outsourced since none of BILT's production units is geared to manufacture this particular paper quality at present.

"We want to get into cream wove as it accounts for half of the writing and printing paper market. Besides ensuring presence in this high-volume segment, entry into cream wove will also complete the product basket we offer to our distributors and retailers at present," he said.

The company is also trying to enhance its focus on retailing paper products. Mr Vederah said, "We will focus on BILT Matrix range of finished paper products as well as some others that are currently not in our portfolio. Retailing should account for 10 per cent of BILT's turnover in the next three years".

VRS: He said the company was also going ahead with plans to rationalise its workforce. The total headcount of 10,000 people across the company at present will be brought down to 7,000 over the next five years through VRS.

The company is also on course to bring down its debt-equity ratio to the targeted 0.8 by the end of this fiscal through debt restructuring.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page