Agro-chemicals manufacturer Insecticides (India) Ltd (IIL) has reported a 66 per cent increase in net profit for the second quarter ended September 30 at ₹22.93 crore against ₹13.84 crore a year ago. The IIL board has recommended one bonus share each against two shares for its shareholders.

“The increase in profit is mainly due to the success of our Dahej plant. There has been good technical production this year and we have already exceeded last year’s total production in the first half of this fiscal. Capacity utilisation is expected to be 75-80 per cent, compared with about 40 per cent last year,” Rajesh Aggarwal, Managing Director, IIL, told Business Line . The company’s turnover rose 18 per cent during the second quarter to ₹402 crore from ₹340 crore the previous year.

Rationale for bonus

Asked about the rationale for providing bonus shares, Aggarwal said: “This is a reward to stakeholders for loyalty to the company. We see an increase in profitability and we should be able to serve the dividend in the long run.”

The company’s finance costs rose to ₹18 crore in the first half of the current fiscal as opposed to ₹14.5 crore for the corresponding period last year. The basic and diluted earnings per share stood at ₹18.08 in the second quarter (₹10.91), a company statement said. IIL recently operationalised its R&D facility at Chopanki in Rajasthan through a joint-venture with Japanese firm Otsuka AgriTechno Co Ltd and a number of patents are likely to be filed this fiscal.

“We are targeting four to five patents this fiscal through the JV and also launching some off-patent molecules after production begins in January. That should give us a boost in this year’s performance as well,” said Aggarwal.

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