Exide Industries (500086) Q4 00/01 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY01 sales reached Rs 9,543.77 million versus Rs 9,396.92 million; profit after tax fell to Rs 415.51 million from Rs 488.92 million amid weak industrial demand and price pressure from imports.

• Production reached 7.2 million automotive batteries and 397.84 million amp-hours of industrial batteries; automotive original-equipment share remained 90%.

Financial highlights

• Profit before depreciation was Rs 919.26 million versus Rs 947.34 million; reported PBT after exceptional items was Rs 485.51 million versus Rs 551.42 million.

• Exceptional items were Rs 35.63 million, including VRS, ERP/Y2K, website development and foreign-currency loan exchange loss; tax was Rs 70 million versus Rs 62.5 million.

• Net profit was Rs 415.51 million versus Rs 488.92 million; EPS was Rs 11.10 versus Rs 13.58 in the financial results table.

• Export incentives credited against materials consumed were Rs 105.14 million versus Rs 67.27 million; export income was Rs 462.11 million versus Rs 317.73 million.

Outlook and guidance

• Medium-term outlook was described as positive, with expected infrastructure deregulation supporting industrial battery demand, particularly in telecom, power and railways.

• A recently awarded railway tender was expected to improve order flow; part of the Indian Navy submarine order was to be fulfilled in the current year.

• Caldyne planned to begin operating from its new Salt Lake facility by Q3 of the current year and pursue VRLA and other industrial battery production.