Bajaj Hindusthan posts Rs 44 crore loss in Oct-Dec

Bajaj Hindusthan, the country's largest sugar company, today reported a loss of Rs 44.43 crore for the quarter ended December 31, mainly due to poor sales and higher interest outgo.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 57.86 crore in the year-ago period. It follows October-September as its fiscal, in line with the sugar marketing year.

The total income fell 58% to Rs 617.80 crore during the first quarter of 2011-12, as against Rs 1,483.01 crore in Q1 last fiscal, Bajaj said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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Net sales dipped to Rs 556.62 crore from Rs 1,475.66 crore in the reviewed period.

The sugar segment made a significant loss of Rs 84.55 crore in the quarter, as against a profit of Rs 118.88 crore in the corresponding period last year.

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Besides, the company paid Rs 113.11 crore as interest in the first quarter of the 2011-12 fiscal, as against Rs 106.99 crore in the year-ago period.

Bajaj has 14 sugar plants in Uttar Pradesh with cane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh TCD (tonnes crushed per day).

The company's scrip was down over 4% at Rs 34.35 on the BSE yesterday