Birla Corporation has announced its consolidated results for FY 2007-08. It has been another good year riding on the back of rising cement prices. However the last quarter has experienced a set back due to rising input costs and a strike at the company's cement plants.

However Birla Corporation's expansion plans are on in full swing and what is more, the company won't be resorting to debt. It has a good portfolio of investments to dip into.

(Rs in Cr.)

	Mar ' 08	Mar ' 07	Mar ' 06	Mar ' 05	Mar ' 04
Sales	1,996.78	1,794.51	1,433.44	1,342.64	1,168.91
Other Income	38.27	26.50	13.12	18.22	32.19
Stock Adjustment	-29.63	-4.22	10.49	5.99	-6.71
Raw Material	196.31	169.17	157.34	168.39	124.70
Power And Fuel	328.32	305.95	322.37	319.31	293.88
Employee Expenses	141.45	125.10	122.89	118.96	119.34
Excise	272.00	227.60	217.95	203.90	193.77
Admin And Selling Expenses		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Research And Devlopment Expenses		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Expenses Capitalised		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Other Expeses	512.93	477.49	423.65	399.09	375.73
Provisions Made		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Operating Profit	575.40	493.42	178.75	127.00	68.20
Interest	21.05	18.53	13.62	21.69	25.14
Gross Profit	592.62	501.39	178.25	123.53	75.25
Depreciation	41.44	39.65	34.16	29.83	33.67
Taxation	157.61	135.51	18.33	6.83	0.02
Net Profit / Loss	393.57	326.23	125.76	86.87	41.56
Extra Ordinary Item		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Prior Year Adjustments		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Equity Capital	77.01	77.01	77.01	77.01	77.01
Equity Dividend Rate	40.00	0.00	22.50	15.00	10.00
Agg.Of Non-Prom. Shares (in Lacs)	285.71	285.71	279.20	279.15	260.09
Agg.Of Non PromotoHolding(%)	37.10	37.10	36.26	36.25	33.78
OPM(%)	28.81	27.49	12.47	9.45	5.83
GPM(%)	29.12	27.53	12.32	9.07	6.26
NPM(%)	19.33	17.91	8.69	6.38	3.46
EPS (in Rs.)	51.11	42.36	16.33	11.28	5.40

hi snehal,

The company paid a dividend of 35 per cent last year. In fact it has been paying dividend since March 2003 at least as per the info I have with me.

Regarding asset stripping, there is already a bar on Rajendra Lodha from selling off or disposing off any of the property belonging to Birla Corporation with out permission of the Supreme Court.

One really cannot expect the Birlas  not to put hurdles in the path of someone they consider an usurper.

And someone like Rajendra Lodha who spent a lifetime closely in the service of the Birlas is unlikely to be unaware of the tricks of their trade either!

At least for the moment, Lodha seems to be doing all the right things. Not for nothing that Azim Premji of Wipro holds a big chunk of equity in Birla Corp.

I am not tracking either Prism or Kesoram, so I cannot say. I chose Birla Corp earlier because of its return to profitability and constant management effort to pare down costs. Also the general pessimism that drove down this stock appealed to me.

Since then, I am getting out of commodities and cyclicals, but continue to hold a small exposure to this scrip.

The company did an EPS of Rs 20 in Q1.  Can we say for full year, with current capacity, EPS will be approx. Rs. 80   And with capacity increasing by 1.5 times approx. by end of current financial year, can we expect an EPS of 120 for FY11 and  160 for FY12 with implementation of current expansion plans? I am not taking into account other efficiencies that will get created on building scale.  Further, the cement dispatches in general reported have been going strong.