The Hindu Business Line : Voltas total income up 25%

Mumbai, May 15 Tata group company Voltas Ltd posted an increase of 2.9 per cent in its net profit for the year ended March 31, 2008 at Rs 207.6 crore (Rs 201.7 crore).

“This year, our focus was on increasing volumes and generation of cash, so we can be prepared for acquisitions as and when the opportunity presents itself. We also changed the way we do business and started stocking and selling equipment like small excavators,” said Mr M. Miyajiwala, Chief Executive Officer.

The total income for the year ended grew by 25 per cent at Rs 3247 crore (Rs 2588.9 crore). The net sales for the same period rose by 26.7 per cent at Rs 3202.9 crore (Rs 2526.7 crore).

The order book was healthy with Rs 800 crore this year in domestic and Rs 3,800 crore in the international market, but Mr Miyajiwala said that they would be cautious in not taking too many orders, as there were chances of rising manpower costs in the overseas businesses in the future. He explained that the company might have to give pay hikes to its employees to avoid manpower shortage for them in the Middle East.

The company is looking at organic business opportunities in South Africa, North Africa, Vietnam, Singapore and more parts of the Mid-East to geographically diversify its risk.

The rising commodity prices have not affected the profitability of the company due to high volumes and passing on of the burden to suppliers of equipment, he said. But the engineering and machine tools business did see some slow down, he added.

The company’s scrip closed at Rs 167.75 down 3.84 per cent, against the previous day’s cost of Rs 174.45.

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