Tata Elxsi (TATAELXSI) Q4 98/99 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY1998-99 sales and services rose to Rs. 9,422.26 lakhs from Rs. 8,080.49 lakhs; profit after tax increased to Rs. 277.28 lakhs from Rs. 207.04 lakhs.

• Business covered domestic system integration and overseas software and hardware design and development; software development continued to grow steadily.

Financial highlights

• Total income was Rs. 9,515.49 lakhs vs. Rs. 8,178.30 lakhs; profit before tax was Rs. 309.81 lakhs vs. Rs. 231.33 lakhs.

• Profit before financial expenses and depreciation reached Rs. 1,047.73 lakhs vs. Rs. 978.87 lakhs; financial expenses were Rs. 338.53 lakhs vs. Rs. 360.58 lakhs.

• Personnel expenses increased to Rs. 1,508.49 lakhs from Rs. 1,066.84 lakhs; depreciation was Rs. 399.39 lakhs vs. Rs. 386.96 lakhs.

• Operating cash flow was Rs. 754.01 lakhs, compared with an outflow of Rs. 22.43 lakhs in FY1997-98; cash and cash equivalents ended at Rs. 358.60 lakhs.

Outlook and guidance

• Marketing reach for software design and development was to be expanded in FY1999-00 to support faster growth; productivity and project execution quality remained priorities.

• Y2K readiness was targeted by August 31, 1999; replacement costs were estimated at Rs. 26 lakhs, with contingency plans in place.