The Hindu Business Line : Gokaldas net up 12.4%

Gokaldas Exports has posted a net profit of Rs 20.79 crore for the second quarter of 2005-06, recording an increase of 12.4 per cent while revenues grew 14.08 per cent to Rs 282.54 crore during the same period.

The company has also gone in for a stock split in the ratio of 1:2 with each share priced at Rs 5.

A press statement from the company said because of increase in capital expenditure, depreciation too increased 41 per cent to Rs 5.96 crore, marginally impacting the PAT.

Gokaldas has already invested Rs 42 crore towards capex and is expected to end the fiscal with a total capex of between Rs 60 crore and Rs 65 crore. The statement said that the apparel export's business model has been changing with the third quarter too showing higher sales. Traditionally, the second quarter and the fourth quarters show higher sales. The company has an order book of Rs 260 crore for up to December. The headcount in the company too has increased to 46,500 employees.

The new SEZ at Chennai has commenced operations on October 2 and about 400 workers have been enrolled. The unit will be fully operational by January.

Recent operations

During the fiscal, Gokaldas commissioned a laundry facility in June and a knitwear unit in May while the Doddaballapur unit, which makes bottoms and jeans, is working to its full capacity. The 1.5 lakh sq ft building for structured suits will start operations by January. The existing units in Bangalore will now be shifted to two new buildings there, consisting of 2 lakh sq ft and 1.45 lakh sq ft space respectively. The Mysore unit is expected to be completed by April, 2007 while the construction of the Hyderabad unit will commence by December, 2006.