Bartronics net up 343% y-o-y

[N.Sukumar]

Stabilisation of smartcards production, coupled with increased
revenues from overseas subsidiaries, saw Hyderabad-based Bartronics
India Ltd's net profit up 342.63 per cent in the fourth quarter ended
March 31, 2008, to Rs 20.14 crore, as compared with Rs 4.55 crore
during the same period last year.

During the quarter under review, the automatic identification, data
capture and radio frequency identification solutions provider's net
sales increased 494.85 per cent to Rs 106.30 crore, as against Rs
17.87 crore.

"We faced a few production-related issues, including machinery
breakdown, at our 80-million capacity smartcards facility in Hyderabad
during the second and third quarters of 2008. We, however, stabilised
operations and utilised 30 million production capacity in the last
quarter. Besides, our wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US and Asia
have started yielding revenues, which reflected in the quantum jump in
our topline and bottomline," Sudhir Rao, managing director of
Bartronics, told Business Standard.

For the full year too, the company reported a rise of 259.36 per cent
in net profit to Rs 48.37 crore, as compared with Rs 13.46 crore last
year, while net sales rose 324.85 per cent to Rs 269.74 crore, as
against Rs 63.49 crore the previous year.

With plans to achieve 70-million smartcards production utilisation and
increased revenue generation from subsidiaries abroad, Bartronics
expects its topline to touch Rs 500 crore during the current fiscal,
Rao said.

N.Sukumar
Research Analyst