With the export demand during the first-quarter of the current fiscal going up by 20 per cent on the back of a 41 per cent surge during 1997, the good run for Indian tea companies is likely to continue for some more time. Besides, Pakistan imported tea for the first time in 1997 from the southern growers.

There is, however, a mixed trend among the scrips of tea companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). These include Tata Tea, Jay Shree Tea, Goodricke Group, Bisnauth Tea and Harrison Malayalam. While some scrips have recovered after a steadyfall, others continue to remain range bound. The low scrip prices, however, have made the valuations of these stocks attractive.

With El Nino taking a heavy toll on the tea crops in Kenya and Indonesia and a stagnant production in other tea producing countries like Sri Lanka, China and Bangladesh, there emerged a demand-supply mis-match across the globe.

This, combined with the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, set the cash registers ringing for Indian tea companies. On the domestic front, the tea prices showed some rising trend after remaining stagnant for nearly eight years sine 1990.

During fiscal 1998, tea major Tata Tea earned a net profit of Rs 102.16 crore over its fiscal 1997 net profit of Rs 58.62 crore - a spurt of 74 per cent. During the period under consideration, sales grew by 26 per cent to Rs 878.65 crore (Rs 699.44 crore). On an equity base of Rs 48.62 crore, the EPS works out to Rs 12.06, up from Rs 9.48 a year ago. The company has a book value of Rs 68.05.

Tata Tea hasalso rapidly spread its operations in the last fiscal and bought two tea gardens in India, acquired the Tetley tea brand which has a global presence and has expanded operations in Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia. To give a thrust to export of processed tea, the company has wound up its international business division for trading in commodities.

The Tata Tea scrip on the BSE is currently on an uptrend. After falling from its end-April price of Rs 426 to Rs 272 by end-June, the scrip is currently trading at Rs 307. This gives an P/E of 25.45 and P/BV of 4.51.

For the year ended March 1998, Jay Shree Tea, a B K Birla group company, reported a 296 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 36.93 crore over its fiscal 1997 net profit of Rs 9.32 crore. However, the rise in total sales was only 21 per cent to Rs 228.46 crore (Rs 192.88 crore).

On an equity base of Rs 6.15 crore, EPS and book value work out to Rs 60.05 and Rs 197.13, respectively. The scrip is currently trading at Rs 182, down from its May 20 highof Rs 217. This gives an P/E of 3.03 and P/BV of 0.92. Even after incurring a loss of Rs 3.59 crore during the first half of fiscal 1998, the Calcutta-based Goodricke Group earned a Rs 11.41 crore net profit during the full year - a growth of 246 per cent over the previous fiscal's Rs 3.29 crore. The company's sales also saw a spurt of 206 per cent to Rs 138.28 crore from Rs 45.13 crore. On an equity base of Rs 21.60 crore, EPS works out to Rs 5.28. After a continuous spurt from its mid-May price of Rs 79 to Rs 108, the scrip has now fallen to Rs 85.

Harrison Malayalam's 118 per cent surge in net profit to Rs 13.24 crore during fiscal 1998 resulted in the scrip to spurt 20 per cent on BSE. On an Rs 18.30 crore equity, EPS works out to Rs 7.24 and a book value of Rs 57.51. At the current price of Rs 36, this gives a P/E of 4.97 and P/BV of 0.63.