Tata Chemicals has reported a 23 per cent increase in the March quarter consolidated net profit at ₹356 crore (₹288 crore) due to gains from sale of its urea business to Yara Fertilisers India and good margins.

The revenue for the quarter declined by 1.40 per cent to ₹2,555 crore from ₹2,592 crore in the same period last year.

The company has declared dividend of ₹11 per equity share.

“The decline in revenue is mainly due to roll out of the goods and service tax from last July,” said R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals.

The company reported a net exceptional gain of ₹1,266.72 crore on account of sale of its urea business to Yara Fertilisers India.

The company’s net debt reduced to ₹1,860 crore as on March-end against ₹5,573 crore as on March 31, 2017.

“We are expecting to become cash positive very shortly as we continue to pay down our debt,” he said.

The revenue growth will continue to be driven by the three key businesses - consumer, speciality and industrial chemical, he said.

On the global front, the company’s North American and Kenya operations are now performing well, while the UK business showed steady performance despite operational disturbances earlier this year, he added.

“Our key businesses including chemicals, soda ash and salt business continued to perform very well with healthy margins. We had record production in Tata Salt and in the consumer portfolio we continue to expand our product range. We recently launched new products like ‘khichdi’ and ‘chila mix’,” he added.

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