BOC Q1 net crashes by 89 per cent

Kolkata, Jul 31 (UNI) The net profit of BOC India Limited has plummeted by 89 per cent at Rs 3.13 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal as against Rs 28.50 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The company's turnover also came down by 1.1 per cent at Rs 106.83 crore during the period as compared to Rs 118.84 crore.

Announcing the financial results at the company's annual general meeting, Managing Director E R Rajnarayanan said the nosedive both in net profit and turnover was due to the 23-day shutdown of the Jamshedpur plant in May last and also because of the one-time profit earned during the first quarter of 2006-07.

" The shutdown in the 1290 tdp plant at Jamshedpur, planned to rectify a technical problem, affected our merchant sales of gases.

Also the net profit recorded in the corresponding period of last year included an extraordinary income of Rs 24.29 crore from sale of a property, " he said.

The MD attributed the decline in the turnover vis a vis that of the same quarter in the previous year to lower third party billings of the projedct engineering segment.

Later, to a question of reporters, Mr Raj Narayanan said the company, exploring newer applications of hydrogene, was considering to raise funds possibly through ECB route (External Commercial Borrowings) for its new projects.

A final decision in this regard was expected to be taken in the next couple of weeks, he added.

Mr Raj Narayanan said BOC had also plans to set up an air suppresant unit for producting liquid gas somewhere in the northern region, where the company had no presence so far.

He said about 60 per cent of BOC's revenues came from the steel sector.

UNI