In Q4FY14, an other income of Rs.2 crore and forex gain of Rs.7 crore, helped the company post a hefty rise in net profit at Rs.8 crore compared to Rs.5 crore in Q4FY13 on an otherwise flat sales of Rs.85 crore. But then the full year, FY14 numbers tell us the real story. Its net sales the fiscal remained flat at Rs.292 crore and net profit came in at Rs. 4 crore v/s Rs.8 crore in FY13. This would have more than halved but for the lower tax of Rs.13 lakh v/s Rs.4.25 crore tax it paid in FY13. At end of 9MFY14, the company was actually sitting on a net loss of Rs.6 crore.

This maker of calcinated petroleum coke (CPC) has a manufacturing capacity of 75,000 TPA but its operations vary significantly every quarter, due to erratic delivery schedules of customers and company’s inability to pass on price hikes. Its Goa plant during the quarter was shut for 47 days and Bilaspur plant for 31 days. There is no mention of its Paradeep plant. The company is in the process of establishing a greenfield 3 lakh tpa CPC plant in China, which appears quite ambitious. It has got approvals from Chinese administration but now awaits nod from RBI and bankers for funding this project. It hopes to get all clearances within a year. The company, as at 31^st March 2014, is sitting on reserves of Rs.78 crore and cash balance is at Rs.136 crore. Debt is around Rs.220 crore while equity remains pretty small at Rs.9.15 crore.