JP Asso PBT rises 66% to Rs 290 crore

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the boom in construction activities, Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), the diversified infrastructure conglomerate, registered a 63% jump in its turnover to Rs 3,071.2 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, from Rs 1,888.9 crore a year ago.

In the quarter, the company, with business interests in engineering & construction (E&C), power, cement, expressways, real estate and hospitality, reported a 65.5% jump in profit before tax (PBT) to Rs 289.6 crore (excluding exceptional items) from Rs 175 crore in the year-ago period.

The revenue increase was driven by growth in the E&C business of JAL, which grew by around 67.6% to Rs 1,613 crore compared with Rs 962.4 crore in the first quarter.

The contribution from this segment was 52.5% of the total revenue of the company in the September quarter.
In addition, the cement division, which contributed 35.7% of the total revenues, grew by 35.6%.

“The momentum in all the business sectors such as cement, E&C, power and real estate remained strong,” Manoj Gaur, executive chairman, JAL, said, commenting on the company’s performance. “We have been constantly adding cement capacities and our growth in despatches is a reflection of demand in our natural markets proving our decision to undertake capacity creation right,” he said.

Mr Gaur said that Uttar Pradesh has become the largest cement consuming state in the current financial year and Jaypee Cement is a market leader there.

The company is likely to commission the 1,000-MW Karcham-Wangtoo project in Himachal Pradesh six months ahead of schedule by March 2011, he said.