Buoyed by the annual results for the year 1999 (December 31), the board of directors has also recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per share with a face value of Rs 10. The company has clocked a 51.48 per cent surge in net profit to Rs 51.08 crore during 1999 from previous year's Rs 33.72 crore.

Registering a growth of 40.05 per cent rise, Aptech's global revenues (including subsidiaries) were 394.09 crore (Rs 281.39 crore) during the period. Income from the company's education and training and software solutions is Rs 313 crore (Rs 252.04 crore) and Rs 53.50 crore (Rs 25.62 crore), respectively.

"The company achieved a net cash position during the year which led to a substantial saving in interest costs. Net margins improved to 13.9 per cent from 12.1 per cent dueto the introduction of higher value-added courses in the training division,'' Aptech chairman Atul Nishar said.

The contribution of the software division to global revenues was 19 per cent as against 10 per cent in 1998. Global software revenues increased by 167 per cent to Rs 73.22 crore for the year. The training division's global revenues surged by 26 per cent during the year to Rs 320.87 crore.

The board has also decided to issue 5.5 lakh warrants (about 5 per cent of the total equity) to senior and middle level employees as stock options. About 200 employees would be entitled to get the Esop under the new scheme. As per Sebi guidelines, each employee would have to spend about Rs 490 per share. With this, the company would cover a total of 240 employees under the Esop scheme.

Nishar said the market capitalisation of Aptech rose to Rs 2,205 crore in 1999 from Rs 70 crore in February 1997 when the group spun off its training division into a separate company. ``Global expansion is to be our thrust areafor growth,'' he added.

Having set up branches in over 28 countries, Aptech would spread its wings to another 12 countries in a phased manner. The global expansion programme would help the software training company set up another over 100 centres abroad, taking the total number of centres to around 150.