The quarterly results were adopted by the board of ICL on Tuesday. The company had sought some time from the stock exchanges for considering the quarterly results as it was in the midst of Raasi's takeover.

During the period, the company achieved an operating profit of Rs 55.73 crore. Interest cost was Rs 26.91 crore resulting in a gross profit of Rs 28.82 crore. After providing a depreciation of Rs 16.39 crore the profit before tax was Rs 12.43 crore.

Margins were more or less maintained. The operating profit margin in the current period was 21.05 per cent compared with 21.22 per cent last year. Gross profit margin was 10.89 per cent as against 12.19 per cent while net profit margin was 4.70 per cent (6.28 per cent).

The company said its performance was greatly affected due to the adverse trading conditions and poor demand for cement. The performance in the next quarter is expected to be much better as the prices have since picked up.

The company's 0.4 million tonne Yarraguntla plant purchased from Cement Corporation of India (CCI) commenced production on April 14, 1998. The trial run production has been capitalised for a period of 48 days.

Another plant, the 0.9-million Visaka Cement Industry Ltd, will commence production before September-end.

INSIGHT

Performance in line with market trend

Unlike the financial performance of Raasi Cement, India Cements' performance is more in tune with the scenario in the domestic cement market where the operating margins of all the players have been affected. The trend in the India Cements stock is also a familiar one. It has been a market underperformer since November last year and has lost a further 37 per cent in the last two-and-a-half months. The stock is a bit more liquid than Raasi Cement but not by much though the strong negative sentiment, because of the Raasi takeover, cannot be overlooked.