Net sales down 3% (YoY) at Rs.4839 crore and net profit dropped by a drastic 93% at a mere Rs.3 crore, down from Rs.43 crore in Q1FY13 and sequentially, it is down 96%. Apart from falling topline, the huge outgo in interest cost at Rs.140 crore, up 49% (YoY) is also what pulled down the bottomline. For FY13, it was at Rs.317 crore.

The company has stated that profitability was affected due to low refining capacity, meaning demand was low. The sector in which the company operates – edible oil is currently hit by three major troubles – low price realizations, depreciating rupee which increases cost but low demand prevents passing on cost increase to the consumers. The 2.5% import duty on crude palm oil, imposed from Jan’13 will continue to hit margins. The only good news going for the company is that monsoon has been good and soya crop is expected to hit a record high, which in turn will improve capacity utilizations. But the other macro issues will keep margins under pressure. The stock hit a new 52-week low yesterday at Rs.29.05.