Hfcl Profit Soars 138%

Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) recorded a 138.13 per cent increase in net profit during 1999-2000. The company's net profit increased to about Rs 85.60 crore from about Rs 35.95 crore in the previous year.

The group's income from operations registered a 44 per cent increase to Rs 565.69 crore. During 1998-99 the company's net turnover was Rs 392.11 crore. The earning per share also increased from Rs 5.20 to Rs 9.97, an increase of about 91.75 per cent.

At the board meeting held yesterday the company's board recommended a 25 per cent dividend. This is the same as the dividend that had been approved as interim dividend earlier.

During the fourth quarter of the last financial year HFCL's net profit increased to Rs 30.71 crore, an increase of about 200 per cent compared to the Rs 10.27 crore during the same period in the previous fiscal. In the fourth quarter, however, turnover only rose by about Rs 33 crore, an increase of about 21 per cent over the Rs 156.86 crore in the fourth quarter of 1998-99. During the last financial year, HFCL's interest and finance charges only recorded a 26 per cent increase. The company had paid interest of about Rs 30.45 crore in 1998-99, but last year the figure stood at about Rs 38.34 crore.