An analysis of BSE-500 companies' second-quarter results shows that the picture is not as bright as it seemed initially.
The profit of 1,731 companies studied by Business Standard rose over 35 per cent, but this was on the back of a turnaround by public sector oil companies, whose operating margins shot up due to a sharp drop in cost of production due to the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar and decline in interest costs, among other things.
If public sector oil companies, banks and financial sector companies are excluded, the aggregate net profit of manufacturing and services sector companies, adjusted for extraordinary income, shows a decline of around 3.8 per cent.
Only 13 BSE-500 companies have seen a turnaround in the quarter, while 17 have been in the red in this quarter as well as the corresponding quarter of last year. And the 13 companies that had reported profit in the second quarter of the previous year have reported a net loss this time.
Automobile, cement, entertainment, fast moving consumer goods, pharmaceutical, real estate, sugar and software services sectors gave a fillip to the second quarter profit of the sample companies.
Also, a few sectors such as auto ancillaries, diamond & jewellery, and readymade garments reported a rise in profit compared to a double-digit decline in profit in the first quarter.
However, chemicals, mining and minerals, non-ferrous, petrochemicals and steel companies reported a decline in second-quarter sales and profit. Construction and infrastructure sectors underperformed, showing they have not come out of the woods yet.
Out of the 400 BSE-500 companies studied here, the second-quarter performance of 144 companies in manufacturing and services sectors were healthy in terms of sales and profit.
The aggregate profit of these companies increased 41.6 per cent. Even after adjusting for extraordinary income, the rise is 40.5 per cent. These companies have reported a healthy 20 per cent rise in sales. They have also seen a robust 350-basis point rise in operating profit from core operations.
Among top performers, only 24 companies from manufacturing and services sectors have done extremely well with a quarterly net profit growth of over 100 per cent from core operations. Interestingly, none of these firms is from a sector that has benefited from decline in raw material prices.
These firms, however, benefited from the stimulus package in the form of cut in excise duty and easing of liquidity through cut in interest costs. Apollo Tyres outperformed all BSE-500 companies with an outstanding second-quarter performance. The company's net sales grew 24 per cent on the back of a healthy growth in passenger radial car market. Upward demand from the replacement market also led to rise in revenues.
Net profit rose a whopping 1,211 per cent on the back of an impressive operating profit margin, which was up 1,000 basis points over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
