Aditya Birla Nuvo director Vikram Rao (left) and managing director Sanjeev Aga in Mumbai on Friday. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, April 28: Aditya Birla Nuvo today joined the billion-dollar league by posting a 49 per cent rise in consolidated net sales to Rs 4,759.36 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 3,189.11 crore in the previous year.

The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 190.67 crore, a 225 per cent jump from Rs 58.72 crore a year back.

Net sales for the fourth quarter rose 68 per cent to touch Rs 1,674.20 crore from Rs 995.81 crore a year ago, while net profits jumped 89 per cent to Rs 66.17 crore from Rs 35.04 crore.

Operating profit of the company saw a jump of 119 per cent in 2005-06 to Rs 573.39 crore from Rs 261.35 crore a year ago.

The company’s subsidiaries have also performed well. According to a company statement, Nuvo’s share in profit of joint ventures and subsidiaries jumped from a negative Rs 55 crore to positive Rs 13.74 crores, mainly driven by the BPO and the telecom business.

In fact, during the year, the company’s stake in Idea Cellular, its telecom business, has gone up from 4.3 per cent to 20.7 per cent. The company also plans to get into three more circles, thus increasing its presence to 11 circles. Idea has also seen its subscriber base swell by 45.3 per cent to touch 7.37 million and revenues ride up to Rs 2,965.78 crore. Revenues in the BPO business TransWorks rose by 50 per cent to Rs 163.30 crore compared with Rs 108.23 crore in the previous year.

Nuvo promoted Madura Garment’s also plans to set up more large format exclusive brand outlets. In fact, most of the Madhura Garment’s brands like Louis Philips have shown strong growth. Madura Garments revenues has jumped by 31.3 per cent to Rs 620.55 crore for 2006-07, almost 31 per cent higher than last year.

With the Bombay high court giving its approval, the company is set to bring Birla Global Finance into its fold.

The board recommended a dividend of 50 per cent for 2005-06 against 40 per cent a year ago.