Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004 |
||
|
|
||
|
Corporate
-
Performance Corporates sustain Q1 growth momentum G. Madhan
THE capricious monsoon may be causing some concern but corporate profits continue to grow at a robust rate. Despite miniscule growth in "other income" and a higher tax outgo, corporate profits in the quarter ended June 2004 grew at a higher rate than they did in the same quarter of 2003. The average profit growth of 430 companies that are part of S&P CNX 500 index was about 17.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2004-05, compared to the 14.5 per cent in the first quarter of the previous year. The momentum in profit growth was maintained mainly because interest costs continued to decline and depreciation rose at a much slower pace compared to operating profits. Fall in interest costs contributed significantly to profit growth in the last two years as well. "Other income", which usually captures treasury gains, grew much more slowly than profits from operations, reflecting an improvement in the quality of corporate earnings. Refineries, steel and auto companies led the list of companies that reported earnings growth higher than 17.9 per cent. For steel companies, improving sales realisation appears to have done the trick. Companies such as SAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel have registered profit growth of over 100 per cent. The auto sector too managed to sustain the momentum. Ashok Leyland, reported a profit of over 100 per cent (51.9 per cent) in the recently concluded quarter. Other auto companies including Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors reported an earnings growth of over 100 per cent. Of the total of 430 companies, 67 managed to more than double their profit. Some of the prominent companies that registered decline in earnings include i-flex Solutions, Tata Chemicals, Ranbaxy Labs, GAIL and GlaxoSmithKline Pharma.
More Stories on : Performance
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2004, 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
|