KANORIA CHEMCIALS AND INDUSTRIES

Kanoria Chemicals is a leading maker of chemical intermediates of India. But its performance for the first quarter ended 30^th June 2008 has not been too encouraging. Rising costs and exchange loss have dented the profit margins.

YoY, the company’s sales revenue was up 19% at Rs.126 crore. Operating expenses rose 17% and consequently, EBIDTA was down marginally by 1.75% at Rs.26.36 crore. PBT fell down further by 37% at Rs.7.68 crore. OPM was down from 25.39% to 20.92%.

The company suffered an exceptional MTM loss of Rs.6.24 crore on the various FCCB related transactions and this pulled down the PAT, which was down 45% at Rs.5.68 crore. NPM thus declined sharply from 9.72% to 4.51%. In Q1FY08, the company had an exceptional gain of Rs.6.74 crore on its forex transactions.

The company recently commissioned Chlorinated Paraffin project with an installed capacity of 11,500 TPA. It recently completed the acquisition of land, around 30 acres, for its greenfield project in Vizag to manufacture pentaerythritol. The new unit will have an annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes, with an estimated capex of Rs 175-200 crore, to be spread over two years. This unit is expected to go on stream by March 2010. It already has one more pentaerythritol unit in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.

Kanoria Chemicals also has a caustic soda manufacturing facility at Renukoot and it recently commissioned the expanded capacity from 90,00 to 130,000 tonnes per year. IFC, the private arm of the World Bank Group, has invested up to $20 million in the company, to fund the expansion.

The company expects to end the current fiscal on a high note as it expects higher growth due to the expanded capacity also going online. The price of caustic soda has been on the rise and if the company manages to bring down the costs, then it may be able to reap better gains. Stay invested.
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