Tata Chemical''s Q3 PAT declines by 22 pc at Rs 164.57 cr

Mumbai, Jan 27 (PTI) Tata Chemicals today posted an over22 per cent decline in its consolidated profit after tax inthe quarter ended December 2010, at Rs 164.57 crore comparedto the same period last year.

The company had posted a PAT of Rs 212.37 crore duringOctober-December 2010.

"This (decline in PAT) is basically due to high inputcosts and the the fact that our European operations were hitby extreme winter," Tata Chemicals'' Managing Director RMukundan told reporters here.

He said that the company''s Q3 margins have shrunk byaround 19 per cent (sequentially) and by 3 per centyear-on-year.

High input cost pressure is likely to continue, he said.

Asked if the company was planning to jack-up its prices,Mukundan said that "a reset (in prices) might happen."

The company has clocked an over 9 per cent growth in netsales in Q3 FY 11, which includes other operating income, atRs 2,890.85-crore from Rs 2,646.18-crore in the year-agoperiod.

For the nine-months period ending December 31, thecompany''s PAT rose by 6 per cent to Rs 508 crore compared tosame period last fiscal and its net sales was up by 16 percent at Rs 8,402 crore. .

Executive Director and CFO P K Ghose said the company is planning to expand its soda ash capacity to three milliontonne in next three years from the present 2.5 million tonneat a cost of about Rs 10 crore.

It is also planning to expand its domestic salt capacity.

"The company is planning an additional 2 lakh tonnede-bottlenecking capacity at an investment of Rs 180 crore byMarch 2012," he said.

Tata Chemicals is also planning to increase its singlesuper phosphate (SSP) capacity at Haldia by 50,000 tonne at acost of Rs 11 crore by FY 12.

The company is investing USD 15 million in Mozambiquebio-fuel operations and setting up one million tonnedi-ammonia phosphate unit in Morocco, he added.