Escorts Q2 net up 44.26% at Rs 9.68 cr

[N.Sukumar]

Escorts Limited today announced net profit of Rs 9.68 crore for the
second quarter ended March 31, 2008, a 44.26 per cent increase over
the corresponding period last year driven by operational
efficiencies.

The company had registered a net profit of Rs 6.71 crore in the second
quarter in the last financial year, the company said in a
release.

"We have made significant gains in the past quarter, because of
improved operational efficiencies. We have significantly improved our
cost performance and that has aided the bottomline growth. We have
improved upon the previous quarter sales, recording a significant 23
per cent growth in the second quarter as compared to the first quarter
of the current fiscal," Escorts chairman and managing director Rajan
Nanda said in a release.


The total expenditure fell sharply to Rs 485.48 crore for the quarter
as opposed to Rs 529.04 crore in the corresponding quarter last year,
as per unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31,
2008.


The profit for six months was up to Rs 3.75 crore, from Rs 3.67 crore
in the year-ago period.


Total sales of the company dropped for the half year to Rs 963.45
crore this year, from Rs 1091.46 crore in the previous year. However,
sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was at Rs 531.47 crore as
against the first quarter of the current fiscal when total sales had
stood at Rs 431.98 crore.

Nanda said, the company aims to grow business volumes for tractors by
about 20-25 per cent over the next two years.

According to joint managing director Nikhil Nanda the company was
poised well to ride the growth sectors it has aligned its
businesses.

In afternoon trades, the company's shares were trading at Rs 104.50,
up 5.4 per cent on BSE.


N.Sukumar
Research Analyst