• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

The earnings scorecard for 320 companies from the BSE-500 index suggests that most companies have increased their earnings, albeit at a slower pace. Even as revenue growth remained strong on the back of an inflationary environment, profit margins took a mild dent on the back of higher raw material and borrowing costs and less contribution from ‘other income’ sources.

Of the 320 companies in the universe, 105 saw net profits grow at a pace higher than sales. The operating profit margin for this set of companies jumped 300 basis points to 40 per cent compared to a year-ago margin. The other income component did not buttress the strong net profit growth; as such secondary income grew at a considerably slower pace over September 2007.

While the universe had 13 companies that ended with losses for the quarter ended September 2008, 11 of them slipped to losses recently even though they had recorded profits a year ago in the September 2007 quarter. These companies were from various sectors, such as textiles, entertainment and refineries.

More Stories on : Corporate | Performance

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

Copyright © 2008, 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