Chennai based Manali Petrochemicals Limited reported a steep drop thus resulting in negative growth during first quarter of the current quarter.

 

The revenue for Q1FY21 dropped significantly to Rs. 70.33 crore from Rs. 183 crore in Q1 FY 2019-20. 

 

Profit before tax dropped during the quarter leading to loss of Rs. 1.18 crore compared to gain of Rs. 10.54 crore in the same quarter previous year.

 

The company said that the pandemic situation has affected the normal business operations of the company. Production, sales and profitability, inter alia, have been put at risk.

 

Though the lockdown started in March 2020, the impact on the business was not much during the last quarter of FY20 except that the product delivery scheduled during the last week could not be fulfilled resulting in a lower sales than planned.

 

The adverse affect of the Covid-19 pandemic was very significant during the first quarter of FY21. Though the sale of Propylene Glycol - IP grade was near normal, the off-take of Polyols, which during a normal period contribute more than 60% to the revenue was almost nil. The company has incurred a quarterly loss after almost 16 years.

 

The performance of the company is purely market driven due to cut-throat competition from imports, oil prices and related parameters, is not uniform through the year. Hence it is not possible to have a benchmark to assess the financial impact of the pandemic accurately, said the company.