Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals (DEEPAKFERT) Q4 01/02 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Multiproduct flexibility and downstream capacity helped sustain operations amid restricted gas supply, weak fertilizer demand and falling methanol prices.

• Total income rose marginally to ₹512.27 crore from ₹489.99 crore, while operating profit fell to ₹117.94 crore from ₹147.20 crore and PAT to ₹48.64 crore from ₹62.70 crore.

Financial highlights

• Net sales, excluding excise and sales tax, increased to ₹493.95 crore from ₹473.03 crore; manufactured-product sales were ₹351.84 crore and traded-product sales ₹142.11 crore.

• PBT before extraordinary items declined to ₹66.67 crore from ₹90.86 crore; net profit was ₹48.64 crore versus ₹62.70 crore.

• Other income increased to ₹18.32 crore from ₹16.96 crore; interest and financial charges fell to ₹21.24 crore from ₹28.56 crore.

Outlook and guidance

• Debottlenecking projects target NP capacity of 300,000 tonnes p.a. and LDAN capacity of 100,000 tonnes p.a.; commissioning was expected during 2002-03.

• AN melt capacity expansion uses pipe-reactor technology; basic engineering was completed, while an imported-ammonia storage tank at JNPT was planned to reduce gas-supply constraints.

• Gas prices were expected to rise substantially in 2002-03; expansion of the methanol plant remained on hold pending release of additional gas allocation.

• Growth strategy favored marginal-investment debottlenecking over greenfield fertiliser investment, alongside development of speciality agro products and seeds.