Tata Chemicals June quarter net profit up 14% at Rs 269.61 cr; total income rises 11.96%

Mumbai: Tata Chemicals on Monday posted 14 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 269.61 crore during June quarter.

The company’s profit from continuing operations after tax stood at Rs 236.52 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, the company said in a release.

Its total income grew by 11.96 percent during the quarter under review at Rs 2,860.77 crore, compared with Rs 2,546.14 crore in the same quarter of FY18.

Net debt of the company went down to Rs 1,506 crore, against Rs 1,860 crore last year.

Tata Chemicals managing director R Mukundan told reporters that the ‘basic chemistry’ products business registered a robust performance on the back of improved operational efficiencies, a better sales mix and better realisations.

“On the global front, the performance of the North American operations reflects planned shut down and Kenyan operations were impaired by heavy rains,” he added.

The consumer business reported a 33 percent growth on the back of higher volumes from Tata Salt, which continued its leadership and the business expansion path under the Tata Sampann brand, according to Mukundan.

“We introduced a range of all natural chutneys, while products launched earlier this year like Nutrimixes and organic pulses were well received in the market. We continue to focus on improving our market reach and availability for these products,” he said.

Going forward, according to him, the revenue growth will come from consumer and speciality products segments where most of the investments are happening.

“In the long term, we are aiming for 50 percent of our revenue to come from these two segments,” he added. Mukundan said Tata Chemicals is expanding its consumer segment portfolio and will introduce new products in all category almost every quarter.

For FY19, the company has a capex of Rs 500 crore for the basic chemical segment and around Rs 450 crore for the specialty products segment, he said.