| Chennai,
30th January 2007: Sical Logistics Ltd, India’s
leading provider of integrated multi-modal logistics for
bulk and containerized cargo, today announced that its un-audited
net profit for the third quarter-year ended 31st December
2006 was Rs 107.8 million, up by 8.4% from Rs 99.4 million
in the same period a year ago.
Unaudited Q3 profit before interest, depreciation, and
taxes (PBIDT) was Rs 307.00 million, up 35% from Rs 227.40
million a year ago on Q3 sales of Rs 2.25 billion (2.19
billion).
Nine Months net sales of Sical’s logistics division
was Rs 3.89 billion, down 13% from Rs 4.47 billion a year
ago. Nine Months net sales of Sical’s non-logistics
businesses, consisting of building materials, services,
and manufacturing, was Rs 3.24 billion, up 31.7 % from Rs
2.46 billion a year ago.
Nine Months profit before interest and tax (PBIT) of the
logistics division was Rs 390.30 million, down 37.74 % from
Rs 626.9 million a year ago.
While the company’s earnings have been impacted due
to continuing challenges in ship berthing at Chennai port,
coal handling and unorganized sector pricing pressures,
the offsetting influences have been put in place this quarter.
These include:
- The buildup of multimodal hubs anchored by off city
grids on rail siding regions with a minimum size of 50-60
acres, which will be available to 3rd party users on the
Rail Corridors linking Chennai, Nagpur and Bangalore.
The work for the first hub will be shortly commenced with
the land acquisition for the rail terminal and road terminal
at Nagpur almost complete.
- Firming up of traffic in the Rail corridors between
Nagpur, Chennai and Bangalore
- The discussions for strategic tie ups with other operators
and users to better leverage the facilities are also well
under way
- Decision to acquire new build vessels for term charters
from the preallocated capital outlays set aside, instead
of acquiring older off shore vessels
- Progress of discussions with both 4 wheeler and 2 wheeler
auto manufacturers on end-to-end logistics supply chain
management facility and building a dedicated fleet for
the same
VICE CHAIRMAN ASHWIN MUTHIAH'S COMMENT
Mr. Ashwin Muthiah, Vice Chairman, Sical Logistics said
that Q3 results, especially for the logistics business ,while
not as expected in absolute terms, should be seen in the
context of major changes in the company's business profile
and organizational structure.
"We have been able to protect our bottom line by focussing
on smaller parcel business contracts which offer good profit
margins. We expect the long term change to vertical product
logistics to start yielding both top line and bottom line
growth from the 3rd quarter of the next fiscal," he added.
"Building material segment which is our main non logistics
business has seen good improvement in margins due to volume
benefits. This is in line with our objective of finding
a strategic investor as per FDI norms. The investor would
bring expertise in retail format for building material,
while we would continue providing the logistics" he commented.
"Going forward, we believe, our ability to construct a
multimodal services is going to be the driving factor for
cost efficiency to reach our customers. In this context
the rail backbone which we intend to construct is going
to be a critical success factor," he commented.
"In keeping with our disinvestment agenda, the demerger
of the oil palm division is also complete and discussions
with the buyer are at an advanced stage" he added. Even
as the benefits of the business and financial restructuring
are beginning to accrue to Sical, gains in Q4 might be affected
by the same adverse factors that affected Sical's Q2 & Q3
financials.
About Sical
Sical Logistics Ltd is India’s leading provider of
integrated multi-modal logistics for bulk and containerized
cargo-port logistics; inland logistics; container logistics;
and offshore logistics. Sical's delivery network includes
an exclusive walk-in berth at Chennai for ships carrying
bulk cargo; a container terminal at Tuticorin, 1.9 million
square feet of storage across over 100 warehouses; owned
and regularly contracted fleet of over 2400 transport vehicles,
and container freight stations at 4 locations across India.
Sical's FY2005-06 revenue was Rs 9.60 billion on Rs 301.9
equity capital.
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