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Ashok Leyland’s UK arm Optare said it was looking at boosting exports to reduce its dependence on the domestic UK market.
“The export strategy is taking longer to realise than what was originally envisaged. The first tender for Bahrian, however, has been successful. Optare continues to promote its products in the export markets to reduce its reliance on UK customers,” said the company.
Optare reported a two per cent increase in the market share in the UK's single-deck market in the first half of the current fiscal (up to September 2014), when compared with the same period a year ago. It noted the overall single-deck UK market was down by nine per cent in 2014.
Its turnover for first half (H1) ended September 30, 2014, stood at £29.4 million. While Ebitda loss stood at of £1.4 million, loss from operations came at £ 2.1 million.
Enrico Vassallo, Optare’s CEO said, “We have seen a difficult trading period in the first half of the 2014-15 financial year due to the contraction of the UK bus market and the launch of several new products and the Euro 6 specification vehicles. We have continued to invest in new products and, for the first time, the company can offer an extended product range to meet the operators’ urban and suburban requirements. The management is committed to topline growth in both UK and export markets and to reduce fixed costs to ensure a long-term sustainable future for Optare Plc.”
The company’s capital expenditure in the H1 stood at £0.8 million.
The expenditure was principally on product development - the lightweight Euro 6 integral double deck (‘MetroDecker’) and the low weight midi-bus (‘MetroCity’) and Euro 6 integration into current ranges.
It also said banking arrangements had been renewed by Barclays with a total bank facility of £23 million still available and it has announced it has entered into a £1.5 million loan facility agreement with Ashok Leyland (UAE) LLC, Ashok Leyland's subsidiary.
It said it was looking at continued integration with Ashok Leyland through the planned launch of Optare’s Solo EV with AL branding at the Bus Expo in New Delhi early next year.
