NIIT back in the black

BS 200 SCORECARD

NIIT Ltd today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 4.8 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2004, as against a loss of Rs 11.6 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The turn around is attributed to managing seasonality and volumes in a quarter which is typically a low sales period for the education sector said Vijay Thadani, CEO, NIIT Ltd.

Global system-wide revenues increased 11 per cent to Rs 132.7 crore in Q3 2004 from 119.3 crore reported in the quarter ending December 31, 2003. Net revenues of the company grew 13 per cent to Rs 86.1 crore in December 2004 from Rs 76.2 crore in 2003 December.

For the third quarter ending December 31, 2004, the company and its subsidiaries have reported a consolidated operating profit of Rs 9.2 crore compared to a loss of Rs 20 lakh for the same period last year.

This led to a 1070 basis points improvements in operating profit margin to 11 per cent. The 9-month operating profit of Rs 36.1 crore is up 145 per cent year-on-year.

The company's EPS in December 2004 was Rs 2.5 as opposed to Rs 6 in December 2003. The nine month EPS of Rs 14.3 exceeds the EPS of Rs 9.8 during 2003-04 by 46 per cent.

The company posted a 28 per cent rise in its career enrollment, despite the impact of a large percentage of the target population being absorbed into the BPO industry, said Thadani.

The company's board decided to issue $ 10 million Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds to Intel Capital to fund its expansion plans in international and domestic markets according to Thadani.