News @ Jains - Jain Irrigation declares strong growth in Q1 FY 09

Highlights :

Mumbai, July 28, 2008 : Jain irrigation: the agri irrigation leader has declared unaudited results for the Q1 FY 09 and Audited consolidated numbers for the FY08.

Q1 FY09 :
The Company has registered 45% growth in net sales to Rs. 474.31 crores as against Rs. 327.4 crores for Q1 FY 08. While the domestic sales have grown at 56.7% at Rs.374.5 crores, the exports have grown 12.9 % at Rs.99.8 crores. The business has grown on the back of 88% growth in micro irrigation, 60.5% growth in processed agro products and 27% growth in piping division. The company has an order book of almost Rs.630 crores to be completed over the next few months with MIS/SIS leading with an order book of Rs.301 crores followed by Rs.118 crores of processed fruits.

The EBIDTA growth for the quarter has been 67% at Rs.94.4 crores compared with last years corresponding quarter at Rs.56.5 crores. The Q1 FY09 corporate EBIDTA margin is reported at 19.9% against 17.3% in FY 08 resulting in a 260 bps margin jump. This has been mainly achieved through a better product mix as well as improved scale of operations and efficient raw material procurement. Profit before tax and exceptional items have jumped 126% at Rs.51.96 crores. However, due to unrealized notional forex loss of Rs.22.04 crores, the net profit is at Rs.29.56 crores registering a marginal growth of 4.5% compared to Rs.28.2 crores of same period last year.

Consolidated FY08
The consolidated net income has grown 58% at Rs.2, 234.5 crores over last year’s level of Rs. 1,414.3 crores. This growth when compared with the 38% growth reflected in standalone results exhibits the strong growth in acquired companies during FY 08. The major contributors to the growth are MIS/SIS at 105%, piping products at 55% and agro products at 35%.

The consolidated EBIDTA at Rs.361.0 crores (FY07 Rs.208.3 crores) works out to 16.2% EBIDTA margin as compared with 14.7% reflected last year, thus recording a 73.4% increase in the consolidated EBIDTA number. The consolidated interest and finance cost has gone up to Rs.132.7 crores (FY 07 Rs.76.9 crores), whereas the increased capacity building via acquisitions has led to a higher consolidated depreciation charge of Rs. 55.8 crores (FY 07 Rs.42 crores).After providing a increased consolidated tax outgo of Rs. 54 crores (FY 07 Rs.20.1 crores) the consolidated net profit is reported at Rs.132.4 crores exhibiting an increase of 59% over the last years consolidated net profit of Rs. 83.3 crores. The basic consolidated EPS has thus jumped from Rs.13.5 per share (FY 07) to Rs. 19.5 per share for the FY 08.

Dividend
The Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of Rs.2.2 per share (22%) on the Equity Shares of the Company.

Mr. Anil Jain, Managing Director said "Our Company has given very good operating performance during this quarter despite daunting and volatile  external environment in relation to polymer prices, currency rates, availability of fruits etc. We continue to have strong demand outlook for micro irrigation and agro processing segment. We are gearing our production capacities to meet growth in demand".

About Jain Irrigation
Jain Irrigation is a diversified Company with more than 5,000 employees and consolidated turnover in excess of Rs.2,200 crores and a product portfolio encompassing Irrigation Products, Piping Products, Plastic Sheets, Dehydrated Foods, Fruit Puree and Juice concentrates. Jain Irrigation has pioneered drip irrigation for small farmers in India and has a major market share in one of the fastest growing irrigation markets in the world and is also the second largest drip irrigation Company in the world.