Announcing the audited annual financial results here on Friday, managing director J Schubert said that in view of the prevailing political and economic climate the company's performance has been excellent.

During the period under review, turnover has gone up by 5.5 per cent to Rs 1,050.58 crore from Rs 995.93 crore in the last year, he said. Lease and other income account for Rs 64.18 crore as against Rs 52.52 crore.

The operating profit has gone up by 13.52 per cent to Rs 91.25 crore as against Rs 80.38 crore in the previous year. The gross profit has improved significantly by 87.7 per cent at Rs 63.43 crore as against Rs 33.78 crore last year.

The company's expenditure has gone up to Rs 1,023.52 crore from Rs 968.06 crore in the previous year. Interest component has come down at Rs 27.82 crore as against Rs 46.60 crore last year. Depreciation has been reported at Rs 35.80 crore as against Rs 47.27 crore in the previous year.

The company has registered a significant growth in the new orders booked during the year at Rs 1,274 crore compared with Rs 838 crore during the previous year, said Schubert.

According to the company, in addition of the paid up equity capital of Rs 28.39 crore the company has a 10.5 per cent cumulative redeemable preference share capital aggregating to Rs 107 crore.

During the year company launched a right issue of 7,099,250 million equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium of Rs 190 per share aggregating to Rs 141.99 crore.

Under the present circumstance the company expects a moderate growth next year. However, the growth will be more if the pending infrastructure projects, specially in power sector are implemented, said Schubert.

He said that the political scenario during the last few years in the country has been a cause of concern particularly for international investors. However, the new government's commitment to reforms has been considered as a positive feature to boost the sentiments of local and foreign investors, Schubert added.

As for the Year 2000 risk the company stated that the risk pertains to the hardware and software installed base as well as the manufacturing facilities. The company is also depended on Y2K compliance by providers of critical materials and services. Thought the company has almost completed its programme on Y2K compliance and only a few suppliers depended areas are still on the way to become Y2K compliant, it has also prepared a contingency plan.

INSIGHT:

Good order book position
As has been said by its managing director earlier, Siemens has managed to turnaround for the year ended September 1999. A positive bottomline has been a result of restructuring more than a growth in its activities. A Rs 41.12 crore jump in its profit before exceptional items has been a result of higher lease and other income, lower interest and depreciation charges.

In fact operating profit of the company has dropped marginally. However, the future looks promising on the operational front as the company has a 52 per cent higher order book position. Thus along with the financial restructuring the growth in income from operations is expected to contribute to the bottomline in the current year.

-- Shishir Asthana