Sterlite Optical profit up 133% to Rs 15 cr

BS 200 SCORECARD

Sterlite Optical net profit stood at Rs 15.1 crore for the quarter ended December 2005, a rise of 113 per cent over the same quarter last year.

Aided by a 169 per cent jump in revenues, its earnings per share jumped 13 times quarter-on-quarter during the quarter under review. Revenue growth was even higher at Rs 258 crore, 25 per cent higher than the combined revenues of the first two quarters of the year.

The growth in revenue was fuelled mainly by the rapidly expanding access instrument division that markets non-trunk products such as copper-wires and modems.

Against 57 per cent contribution a year ago, the 'access' products division has increased its contribution to the total revenue to around 69 per cent.

As a result, the optical fibre division, which grew 92 per cent in revenue standalone, contributed 30.9 per cent last quarter, down from 43.2 per cent a year ago.

However, due to higher margins in the optical fibre business, it contributed a higher share of the profits at 34 per cent compared with its share in the topline.

As expected, margins in the 'access' products division, in which the company outsources its manufacturing, was lower than the fibre-optic division by around 90 basis points at 6.6 per cent.

Overall margins improved from 2.1 per cent a year ago to around 6.9 per cent in December 2005.