The company's net profit, which comes on the back of a 40 per cent jump in urea production topping 9.3 lakh tonnes during the period, increased to Rs 141 crore from Rs 108 crore last year. The turnover rose to Rs 639 crore from Rs 473 crore.

Interest costs fell to Rs 13 crore from Rs 19 crore. The dividend payout has increased to Rs 2 per share from Rs 1.8 per share. The company's stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday rose 10 per cent over its previous close to Rs 41.15. It hit the circuit filter on the exchange.

The production record, with the urea plant at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh operating at 120 per cent capacity, however, cannot be logically compared to the previous year's level of 6.68 lakh tonnes. This is because theplant suffered a setback owing to an unprecedented breakdown of the ammonia-converter basket, which led to an advanced shutdown.Managing director BN Puranmalka claims the plant performance is largely owing to a continuous upgradation process and implementation of total productivity maintenance. Net-profit margins are more or less pegged at the same level at 22 per cent. Operating-profit margins have dropped to 28.26 per cent from 31.76 per cent. Depreciation is lower at Rs 39 crore against Rs 40 crore last year. Other income fell from Rs 48 crore to Rs 41 crore. Provision for taxation was higher at Rs 17 crore versus Rs 16 crore in the previous year. Earnings per share on a fully diluted equity of Rs 206.13, increased by 18 per cent to Rs 6.84 per share.

The results also factor a 15-day production of continuous cast-copper rods (1,706 tonnes), accounting for Rs 18 crore of the turnover. During the period, trading in fertilisers and pesticides has contributed Rs 102 crore to the turnover, with the balancecoming from urea sales. The company, at the end of the season, is carrying an inventory of roughly 12 days urea production, said Puranmalka. For the current fiscal, the company has projected fertiliser sales of Rs 790 crore. This includes a Rs 200-crore turnover, which it plans to generate from trading. The fiscal will also see a full year's operation of the copper-smelter project, expected to generate a Rs 840-crore turnover, with a capacity utilisation of a minimum of 60 per cent. During the second year of operation, the turnover from copper smelter is expected to increase to Rs 1,300 crore. The company claims it has made considerable progress in the commissioning of the smelter, expected to start trial production this month.

Work on the captive jetty, with a capacity to handle ships up to 30,000 DWT, is at an advanced stage. The jetty is expected to be operational in the last quarter of 1998, the company says. On the Hanumantha Committee recommendations on the fertiliser sector, Puranmalka saidIndo-Gulf stood to gain as it was one of the lower-cost urea producers in the country. The committee's suggestions for uniform ex-factory price mechanism will facilitate achieving higher profitability compared with the existing pricing policy, not conducive to encourage efficient and cost-conscious units.