The Hindu Business Line : Phillips Carbon net falls on high global fuel prices

THE unprecedented rise in global fuel prices has made a huge impact on the profitability of Phillips Carbon Black Ltd, an RPG Group company, for the quarter ended September 30, 2004.

The company, which only recently became the largest carbon black producer in India with the completion of its capacity expansion programme of the Baroda unit, has decided to change its accounting year from October-September to April-March.

In view of this, it has not closed its annual accounts on September 30, 2004. Instead it has been extended by another 6 months and will complete the 18-month accounting period on March 31, 2005. Necessary approvals have been received from the Registrar of Companies for the purpose.

Gross sales of Phillips Carbon Black in the last quarter jumped by 17 per cent to end at Rs 188.55 crore against Rs 160.49 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However, profit after tax dropped to Rs 65 lakh from Rs 8.55 crore.

A senior company official said that the profitability of the company suffered due to the increase in the international oil prices. "All of it could not be passed on to customers. We had to absorb a lot of this impact," the official said.

Along with the quarterly results, the company has further stated that its 12 MW co-generation power plant at Baroda would be completed this month.