Usha Beltron Bottomline At Rs 33.70 Crore

Net sales and other income of Usha Beltron (UBL), the amalgamated wire rope to jelly-filled cable manufacturing company of the Jhawars, for the year ended March 31, 1998, rose to Rs 459.98 crore from Rs 228.23 crore the year before. The amalgamated entity reported a net profit of Rs 33.70 crore. The board has recommended a 50 per cent dividend.

UBL sales turnover include the second half figures (October 97 to March 98) of Usha Martin Industries (UMIL) which received the Calcutta and Patna High Court (Ranchi Bench) approval for being amalgamated with the former, effective last October. UMIL had posted a first half (unaudited) turnover of Rs 314.50 crore. Of the total turnover in 1998, other income accounted for Rs 5.07 crore and profits on sale of investments stood at Rs 19.07 crore.

Following the formalities of the amalgamation scheme UBL will be renamed Usha Martin Industries. The balance sheet of the company for the year ended March 31, 1998, will be published as Usha Beltron.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Prashant K Jhawar, director, UBL, said "We plan to invest Rs 250 crore over the next two years. This includes the setting up of a Rs 120-crore coal-based captive power plant at Jamshedpur."

Other investments will include the setting up of an oxygen plant at a cost of Rs 10 crore and a Rs 3 crore lime plant besides upgradation and modernisation of its existing facilities.

The company `in a major initiative' is planning to enter into the business of wires, an intermediate product, to shore up the steel division's bottomline. This will result in proper capacity utilisation and also create additional capacities.

Wire ropes, which accounted for 75 per cent of the company's export income during 1997-98, will continue to be the major area of focus. The company hopes to notch up Rs 140 crore worth of exports during the current year, of which, wire ropes will account for nearly 80 per cent.

"Plans to set up a Rs 60-crore export oriented unit at Haldia for manufacturing heavy wire ropes is under active consideration," Jhawar said.

A scheme for setting up a captive DRI plant with co-generational facilities is currently being finalised.

"We have embarked on a plan to cut manufacturing costs of steel in order to make it competitive in the south Asian markets," he revealed.

As a backward integration move, UBL has bought an iron ore mine in Orissa and is scouting for few more in Bihar.

The department of telcommunication's decision to increase its target by 15 per cent will benefit the company's jelly-filled telecom cable (JFTC) division as government offtake is likely to rise during the year. UBL currently has a 10 per cent market share in JFTC.