The net sales of these outperformers grew by 57.7 per cent, while their net profit rose by 69 per cent in the nine months of the current financial year over the same period of the previous year.

The nine-month sales were higher by 12.3 per cent and the net profit was up by 26 per cent over their full-year net sales and net profit in 2007-08. The corporate sector as a whole, on the contrary, reported a 24 per cent decline in net profit, although their sales were up by 27 per cent in the nine months of this year.

The 138 companies did extremely well in all the three quarters by posting a net sales growth of 61 per cent in the first quarter, 56 per cent in the second and 57 per cent in the third quarter.

The quarterly net profit growth rate was outstanding with a rise of 81 per cent in the first, 77 per cent in the second and a little lower at 54 per cent in the third quarter. The net margin for the 138 companies was higher at 13.5 per cent in the first nine months of this financial year compared to 6.1 per cent reported by the 2,809 companies during the same period.

The sample of these 138 companies was arrived at by taking into account the following criteria. Only companies with net sales of over Rs 10 crore in 2007-08 were considered for this exercise. From a long list of such companies, the only ones that had posted net profit growth in all the three quarters of this fiscal were shortlisted for growth consistency.
The companies whose profits were bloated by a one-time extraordinary gain were then excluded from the sample. Finally, the companies whose nine-month net profits surpassed their full-year profit in 2007-08 were included in this analysis.

The sample is relatively small and accounted for only 4 per cent of the net sales and 8.8 per cent of the net profit of the corporate sector in the first nine months of this year. These 138 outperformers belonged to various sectors, including auto ancillaries, computer-education, software services (mid-cap), construction (turnkey), fertilisers, food and dairy, oil exploration, pesticides, pharmaceuticals (bulk drugs), ship breaking, tea and transport (logistics).

Among the outperformers, three fertiliser firms -- Coromandel Fertilisers, GSFC and RCF -- recorded a stunning growth in sales on account of higher offtake by farmers and increase in subsidy by the government to compensate for the rise in raw material cost. Coromandel Fertilisers, one of the largest producers of complex fertilisers and DAP in India, almost doubled its profits in the first nine months on the back of a 100 per cent sales growth during the period.

The company has a pan-India distribution reach with eight manufacturing plants located in five states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, J&K, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.