Finolex Cables (FINCABLES) Q4 01/02 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY02 total income rose 7.5% to Rs. 6,749.55 million; profit after tax fell 9% to Rs. 659.48 million amid lower BSNL tender prices, FTL losses and reduced other income.

• Cable production increased 29.4%; exports grew 157.8% to Rs. 473.12 million, supported by new products and overseas orders.

Financial highlights

• Standalone turnover, including excise duty, was Rs. 6,749.55 million versus Rs. 6,278.79 million; operating income including excise was Rs. 6,589.82 million versus Rs. 6,046.42 million.

• Standalone profit before tax was Rs. 724.46 million versus Rs. 926.09 million; PAT was Rs. 659.48 million versus Rs. 725.09 million.

• Profit before interest, depreciation and tax was Rs. 1,098.41 million, down from Rs. 1,297.97 million; finance charges fell to Rs. 163.56 million from Rs. 196.02 million.

• Consolidated income was Rs. 8,089.65 million, PBT Rs. 742.09 million, PAT Rs. 674.95 million and EPS Rs. 19.7.

Outlook and guidance

• Management expected reasonable growth in electrical cables as construction, automotive and water-resource-management markets showed signs of recovery.

• Foam-skin JFT exports were expected to offset lower domestic BSNL demand; both JFTC plants were expected to be fully loaded on export orders and likely domestic business.

• Optic fibre expansion was planned in two stages of 1.2 million fibre-km annual capacity each; first-phase capex was estimated at Rs. 1,250 million, with trial runs expected by Sep/Oct 2002.

• PVC sheets growth remained slow; a review of whether to continue the division at its current scale was underway.