Sundram Fasteners' export sales up 15 p.c.

Export sales of Sundram Fasteners have registered an increase of 15 per cent at Rs. 75.75 crores in the year ended March 31, 2001 against Rs. 65.55 crores in the previous year.

The company's policy of consciously increasing exports, even while retaining leadership in the domestic market, has helped it achieve a total turnover of Rs. 424.21 crores against Rs. 431.91 crores. Domestic sales were Rs. 348.46 crores against Rs. 366.36 crores. Other income amounted to Rs. 2.54 crores (Rs. 2.33 crores).

With sharp decline in offtake in the automobile sector and continuous pressure on prices, the gross profit, before depreciation, interest charges and extra-ordinary items, has declined to Rs. 70.72 crores from Rs. 76.54 crores.

The company has proposed a dividend of Rs. 7 per share against Rs. 11 per share and the amount required, including tax on dividend, is Rs. 7.88 crores (Rs. 12.47 crores).

Interest charges were higher at Rs. 16.72 crores (Rs. 14.08 crores) due to increase in receivables and hike in interest rates during the early part of the financial year. Depreciation claims Rs. 11.95 crores (Rs. 11.15 crores). The company has incurred Rs. 5.06 crores towards extra-ordinary expenditure in respect of early retirement scheme.

The provision for taxation is Rs. 8.20 crores (Rs. 8.69 crores). The profit, after tax, is thus sharply lower at Rs. 28.78 crores against Rs. 42.62 crores. Earnings per share have slumped to Rs. 28.17 from Rs. 41.73.

After providing for dividend, the transfer to general reserve is Rs. 10 crores and contingency reserve a similar amount.

The company has won the `Best of the Best Supplier of the Year' award for the fifth consecutive year from General Motors.

It is one of the 165 award-winning suppliers from 20 countries recognised by General Motors of the U.S. as `Supplier of the Year' from a base of over 30,000 supplier companies. It is one of the nine suppliers to have won the award for five consecutive years.

Escorts

The directors of Escorts have recommended a dividend of 45 per cent for 2000-01, same as previously. The company has recorded a profit after tax of Rs. 107.39 crores, down marginally from Rs. 112.35 crores in the previous year, on a turnover and other income of Rs. 1,578.84 crores. This is against Rs. 1,570.01 crores in 1999-2000. The equity-reserve ratio stands at 13 times, a company release says.

The company sold 45,000 tractors in 2000-01 and ended the fiscal with a 19.4 per cent share of the market. Having made substantial investments over the last few years in R & D and business process re-engineering, Escorts now says it has a range of products to address all market segments.

The Escorts chairman, Mr. Rajan Nanda, said the company had set a target of 23 per cent market share based on its enhanced product offering which could give it up to 10 per cent growth in volumes. Exports of tractors are gaining momentum and the company shipped 2,176 tractors during the year, up 29 per cent. It expects to export 2,500 tractors in the current year.

Mr. Nanda said sales by the industry as a whole were down this year by almost 10 per cent despite bumper crops. However, the company viewed the slackening in demand for tractors as a temporary phenomenon as it had been in the agricultural machinery business for 56 years.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Sony to expand India operations
Next     : Tenth Plan: some priority areas