Tata Chemicals net up 23 per cent in Q4

Tata Chemicals reported a 23.37 per cent growth in consolidated net profit for the March quarter at Rs 355.90 crore, mainly driven by healthy margins in chemicals, soda ash and salt business and gains from sale of its urea business to Yara Fertilisers India.

The company's net stood at Rs 288.48 crore in the same quarter last year. “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'," Tata Chemicals' managing director R Mukundan said.

The revenue for the quarter declined by 1.40 per cent to Rs 2,555.08 crore, compared with Rs 2,591.59 crore in the same period last year. "The decline in revenue is mainly due to roll out of the goods and service tax (GST) from last July," he said. However, the company reported a net exceptional gain of Rs 1,266.72 crore on account of sale of its urea business to Yara Fertilisers India.

The company's net debt reduced to Rs 1,860 crore as on March 31, 2018, against Rs 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," Mukundan said. The revenue growth will continue to be driven by the three key businesses— consumer, speciality and industrial chemical, according to him.