Bajaj Hindusthan posts net loss in Q3 at Rs 14.91 cr

NEW DELHI: Bajaj Hindusthan, the country's largest sugar manufacturer, today reported a net loss of Rs 14.91 crore for the quarter ended June 30 on high cost.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 60.08 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income grew by 82 per cent at Rs 727.78 crore during the April-June quarter of 2009-10 fiscal, against Rs 399.33 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company's expenditure more than doubled to Rs 707.62 crore during the third quarter of this fiscal, from Rs 311.09 crore in the year-ago period.

Most of the sugar firms follow October-September as the financial year in line with sugar year.

The realisation of sugar companies were affected during the quarter as the prices of the sweetener dropped by nearly 40 per cent since mid-January.

In the national capital, the retail sugar prices have come down to Rs 30 a kg, which is below the cost of production, from Rs 48 a kg in January. The millers had to pay to farmers as high as Rs 25-26 for one kg of sugarcane.

Bajaj Hindusthan has 14 plants in Uttar Pradesh with an aggregate sugarcane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh tonnes per day. The Group has a distillery capacity to produce 8 lakh litres of alcohol per day.

During the quarter, the company initiated the process of amalgamation of the subsidiary Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar and Industries Ltd (BHSIL) with itself. The share exchange ration is fixed as one equity share of the company for every five shares of BHSIL.