INDIAN STOCK MARKET

Deepak Fertilisers net sales improved 15% to Rs4.36bn in H1 2007-08.

Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd., (DFPCL), has announced strong growth in sales for H1 2007-08 over the corresponding half year in the previous financial year riding on strong sales in its Chemicals business.

Net Sales improved 15% to Rs4.36bn in H1 2007-08, against Rs3.79bn in H 1 2006-07 while PBT for the first half of the current year stood at Rs669mn against Rs567.2mn in the previous corresponding six months for 2006-07. PAT also improved to Rs444.6mn in H1 2007-08 as against Rs404.9mn for H1 2006-07. The Company registered higher profits on account of better average realizations per tons for its Chemicals business.

For the second quarter of financial year 2007-08, DFPCL has registered Net sales of Rs2.16bn from Rs2.12bn for the corresponding period in 2006-07 while PBT stood at Rs322.8mn (against Rs243.9mn for the previous comparable quarter). PAT improved 39% to Rs218.8mn in Q2 2007-08 against Rs157mn in Q2 2006-07.

The Company's Chemicals business grew to Rs3.07bn in H1 2007-08 as against Rs2.3bn in H1 2006-07. The Agri-services business registered sales of Rs1.39bn in H1 2007-08 from Rs1.65bn in Q1 2006-07. The drop in sales in fertilisers was on account of reduced availability of phos acid in the international market and the lower availability of material for trading.

The Company’s raw material costs increased during the period under review due to higher requirements of raw materials including outsourced ammonia and propylene. The retrofitting of the ammonia plant to augment its capacity to 390 metric tonnes per day (MTPD) from 272 MTPD was successfully completed during the period under review.

The sales of IPA and propane for the six months under review stood at Rs1.35bn. The IPA business is now on a firm growth path successfully driving the Company’s Chemical business higher. Global methanol prices bottomed out during the period and are currently on an upswing.

Work on the new 15,000 MT ammonia storage tank is well underway and the tank is expected to be ready in early 2008-09 placing the Company in an advantageous make or buy position for ammonia as the Natural Gas availability eases in the coming months. The Company is also well positioned to take on further capacity enhancements in the Nitric Acid segment. DFPCL’s leadership position in Ammonium Nitrate for the infrastructure and mining sector remained unchallenged.

DFPCL's Vice-Chairman & MD, S. C. Mehta, stated that Natural Gas supply to the Company’s Taloja plant could be expected to substantially improve from end-Q3 2007-08 with the last mile connectivity to the Taloja plant from GAIL’s Dahej-Uran pipeline nearing completion. Tie-ups for additional Natural Gas supplies are in the final stage of negotiation.

Ishanya’s first store, Croma, from the Tata Group, has already opened doors to customers and other large anchors at India’s first Design Centre and Speciality Mall are expected to open their stores during the festival season. Ishanya will house more than 100 outlets and 5,000 brands when fully open. Nearly 80 percent of Ishanya’s 5,50,000 square feet leasable area has already been leased out.

The Company’s Chemical Complex project at Paradip in Orissa is progressing well. The Company has completed the process of acquiring the Nitric Acid plant and placed orders for other long lead items in addition to progressing further on the detail engineering process for this plant.