Orient paper, part of GP - CK Birla group, has reported an increase of over 30% in its turnover for the 3^rd quarter from Rs. 206 crores last year to Rs. 270 crores this year.

Similarly for the 9 months ended December 06, the Company's net sales have gone up to Rs. 758 crores compared to Rs. 590 crores last year.

An analysis of the segment results for the quarter indicates that all the three business segments of the Company i.e. Cement, Paper and Fans, have achieved substantial growth in turnover with cement business reporting highest growth.

The Company has reported a jump of over 640% in its net profit for the quarter ending December 06_: with a net profit of Rs. 36.55 crores compared to Rs. 5,68 crores for the same quarter last year. For the 9 months' period of the current financial year, Orient has posted a net profit of Rs.82.69 crores against Rs. 11.50 crores for the same period last year. This translates to an EPS of Rs.54,52 for the 9 months.

With these results, Orient Paper has made a comeback to the dividend-paying list. The Board of Directors, at the meeting held on 30^th January, decided to declare an interim dividend of 40% for the year 06-07.

At the same meeting, The Board also approved plans to expand the Company's cement capacity to 5 million tons per anum at its plants at Devapur (A.P) and Jalgaon (Maharashtra). It would be recalled that orient paper, had earlier taken up expansion of its cement capacity from 2.4 mtpa to 3.4 mtpa.

The Company has also decided to enhance capacity of its proposed Captive Thermal Power Plant at Devapur from 30 MW envisaged earlier to 50 MW, to meet the increased power requirement, considering a 5 mtpa capacity.

Commenting on the Company's performance, Mr. M L Pachisia, Managing Director, Orient Paper said "The Board and management had always believed in the Intrinsic strengths of the Company even during its difficult period in the last few years." Mr. Pachisia asserted that all plants of the Company were amongst the most cost effective in their businesses.

Clarifying further on expansion plans of the Company. Mr. Pachisia mentioned that the first phase of cement capacity expansion to 3.4 mpta was progressing as per schedule and was expected to be completed during financial year 07-08. The additional capacity of 1.6 mtpa was being taken up to meet the growing demand for cement and in view of the increasing popularity of its cement brand "BIRLA A1", which had emerged as one of the preferred brands in its markets of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The increase in capacity would be achieved at relatively low investment due to full utilization of the plants' infrastructure and balancing of capacities.

Commenting on the power plant project, Mr. Pachisia said that while Orient cement was already one of the lowest cost producers in the Country, its cost would further reduce substantially on commissioning of the power project.

These projects were expected to result in an additional investment of Rs. 410 crores, which would be funded mostly through internal accruals, supplemented by some debt, if required.

Orient Paper had earlier announced plans to raise up to Rs. 175 crores through a rights issue and has already submitted its draft ietier of offer with SEBI and Stock Exchanges for approval. 

Sourced From: Perfect Relations Limited