Asahi India Q4 Net Sales up by 18.4%

The OP Margin was down by 400 bps from 27% to 23%. The PAT Margin was down by 200 bps from 15.3% to 13.3%.

YoY basis the Net Sales were up by 20% from Rs 4898 mn in year ending March, 04 to Rs 5886 mn in FY05. The PAT was up by 9% from Rs 717 mn to Rs 782.5 mn. The OP Margin was down by 300 bps from 24.6% to 21.6%. This can be mainly attributed to the rise in cost of raw material consumed by 90 bps from 28.26% to 29.16% and an increase in the other expenses by 91 bps from 25.92% to 26.83%, as a percentage of Total Income. The NPM was down by 150 bps from 14.6% to 13.1%. The Other Income has gone down by 160 bps from 2.94% to 1.24%, as percentage of Total Income. The EPS has risen from Rs 8.97 to Rs 9.73.

Segment wise, the revenues from the automotive glass segment were up by 17.6% from Rs 27961 mn to Rs 32901 mn and the revenues from the float glass segment were up by 19% from Rs 23399 mn to Rs 27923 mn.

The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs. 1.50 per equity share (150%) on 7,99,63,793 equity shares of Re.1 each. The total dividend inclusive of interim dividend works out to Rs 2.50 per share (250%) and dividend @ 0.01% on 6,00,000 non-cumulative preference shares of Rs. 100 each for the financial year 2004-05.

Asahi India Safety Glass Ltd. (AISG) was established in 1987 with the objective of providing international quality safety glass to a rapidly expanding and modernising Indian automobile industry. It is promoted by M/s B M Labroo & Associates, Asahi Glass Co Ltd, Japan, and Maruti Udyog Limited, India. Asahi India Safety Glass Ltd. is India`s largest manufacturer of world class automotive safety glass and one of the largest in its field in the Asian region. It has the complete capability to design and develop new glass models in house. Clients include Telco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai, Toyota, Kirlosker, Ford India, Honda Siel, Hindustan Motors, General Motors, Fiat and Daewoo. AISG meets 50-70 per cent of the needs of Telco, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda. It has also emerged as the sole supplier of windshields to Daewoo Motors and General Motors in India. AISG enjoys a 20 per cent share of the replacement market. AISG is the first Indian glass company to get the QS-9000 and ISO 9002 certification through TUV Bayern Sachsen, Germany for the production and servicing of automotive safety glass. It also has the ECE`s `E Mark` for its entire product range.

With a market share of 90 per cent in automotive safety glass OEM market and 55 per cent share of the replacement market the company has a dominant position in the industry. With both divisions operating at full capacity the company is undertaking an expansion plan, which will fuel future growth. In the non automotive segment AIS has been manufacturing and supplying architectural glass to cater to the growing requirement of housing and construction sector.