Links: [AvC] Re: Does the Universe have a Purpose?

Capri HIT de veludo, Tam PP, mas veste P/M, NOVA Valor: 55,00 ACEITO OFERTAS PARA TODOS OS PRODUTOS!brechodamila@hotmail.comhttp://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=15133843115053153942



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ASHOK LEYLAND LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 DIRECTOR'S REPORT Part I - Performance/Operations The Directors are pleased to present the Annual Report of the Company, together with the audited Accounts, for the year ended March 31, 2008. Millions) 2007-2008 2006-2007 Profit before tax 6,381.50 6,045.06 Less: Provision for taxation 1,688.40 1,632.20 4,693.10 4,412.86Add: Transfer from/(to): Debenture redemption reserve 50.00 135.00 Balance profit from last year 3,616.86 2,303.70 General Reserve (1,000.00) (1,000.00) 7,359.96 5,851.56 Add: Excess provision written back - Dividend (Including Corporate Dividend Tax) - 29.62 Profit available for appropriation 7,359.96 5,881.18 Appropriation: Dividend 2006-07 - 1,985.81 Proposed Dividend 2007-08 1,997.71 - Corporate Dividend Tax 339.51 278.51 Balance profit carried to Balance sheet 5,022.74 3,616.86 Earnings per Share (Face Value Re.1/-) - Basic 3.53 3.38 - Diluted 3.53 3.36 Dividend The Directors recommend a dividend of 150% (Rs.1.50 per equity share of Re.1/-) for the year ended March 31, 2008. Business operations The domestic market for the Company's products experienced a slowdown in the year under review. Your Company was however able to secure a higher share in the passenger vehicles market. External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) During the financial year, despite a difficult situation in the financial market, the Company contracted for ECBs for a sum of US$ 270 mn. Ltd., Japan The Company will be expanding its business and entering the area of Light Commercial Vehicles with the promotion of Joint Venture with Nissan Motor Co. Automotive Infotronics Private Ltd., the Joint Venture Company is slated to commence commercial activities during 2008-09. The plant will have capacity to assemble and produce upto 2000 buses per year and will cater to the growing market for the Company's products in UAE and other neighbouring countries. (AALM) The commercial vehicles business of Avia acquired by the Company in 2006, through a special purpose vehicle, has made steady progress during the year 2007. During this period, AALM focused on consolidating its business, setting up processes, integrating its research and product development activities with the Company, widening its market reach, etc. Albonair GmbH Your Company has made an investment in Albonair GmbH for development of vehicle emission treatment / control systems and products. Part II - Corporate matters Change in the Registered Office of the Company Your Directors are happy to inform that your Company has constructed a modern Corporate Office at a prestigious location at No.1 Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 032. The Statutory Auditors of the Company have examined the Company's compliance, and have certified the same, as required under SEBI guidelines. Bearing in mind the above, the Remuneration Committee and the Board consider it essential to continue to secure his leadership of the Company and have decided to foreclose / overlap the last year of his current term and has re-appointed him as Managing Director for a period of three years from 1/4/2008 to 31/3/2011 with a suitable revision in the terms of remuneration, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing General Meeting. Cost Auditors The Government has stipulated Cost Audit of the Company's records in respect of motor vehicles as well as engines. The Company has received confirmation from both the firms that their appointment will be within the limits prescribed under Section 224(1B) of the Companies Act, 1956. Specific areas in which R & D carried out by the Company - 'H' series 6 cylinder engines rated at 152 KW (with common rail) and 135 KW, both meeting Bharat Stage III norms, now in commercial production. Directors' Responsibility statement as per Section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956 Responsibility in relation to financial statements The financial statements have been prepared in conformity, in all material respects, with the generally accepted accounting principles in India and the Accounting Standards prescribed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in a consistent manner and supported by reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates. Going Concern In the opinion of the Directors, the Company will be in a position to carry on its existing commercial vehicles / engines business and accordingly it is considered appropriate to prepare the financial statements on the basis of going concern. Directors have overall responsibility for the Company's internal control system, which is designed to provide a reasonable assurance for safeguarding of assets, reliability of financial records and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities. Commercial Vehicle (CV) Industry The share of 'Second hemisphere' markets in the Global Commercial Vehicle market is increasing. Of the total industry volume in the Indian commercial vehicle industry over the last few years, contribution from vehicles in the sub 7.5 T GVW and greater than 16 T GVW segments has been continuously increasing. Product trends in the Indian commercial vehicle market point towards an increase in the electronics content in vehicles and a shift towards higher power to-weight ratios. The Company sold 76,045 vehicles in the Indian market during the fiscal 2007-08. The Company registered significant market share improvement in the bus segment but lost market share in the truck segment mainly due to production constraints arising out of supply chain bottlenecks. Domestic Sales: 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 Buses 8420 9925 11354 10777 14168 12006 18198 Trucks 19103 23969 33518 37151 42608 65069 57847 The Company sold 7,285 vehicles in the overseas markets during 2007-08 - representing an increase of approximately 21% over the previous year. A total of 12,169 engines were sold, including engines sold under the LEYPOWER brand of generator sets, a new line of business being pursued by the Company. The Company fully utilized its production capacity of 84,000 vehicles across the five existing manufacturing units. The Company has always endeavoured to offer its customers the best value proposition in the market through product innovations and refinement and is pursuing the same with ever increasing vigour. The Company is executing a transformational change programme, with external assistance, to facilitate the development and marketing of winning products to suit the changing customer requirements. The Company has entered into a joint venture with the Europe based Continental Group (who acquired Siemens VDO in September 2007) to develop and produce cutting edge vehicle electronics products. Albonair GmbH The Company has made an investment in Albonair GmbH for development of cost effective vehicle emission treatment/ control systems and products, which, over the longer term, are expected to find application in the first hemisphere markets as well. AALM focused on initiatives to consolidate its business, set up the processes, integrate product development activities with the Company and widen its market reach. The company achieved sales in excess of 700 units during the previous calendar year. The Company has plans to increase its annual capacity to 184,000 vehicles (medium and heavy duty vehicles) over next two / three years. This would enable the Company to overcome capacity constraints during the coming years. In addition, the Company is moving ahead with capacity addition of 50000 vehicles per year at the Uttarakhand plant which needs to be completed before March 2010 to avail the fiscal benefits. The Company is pursuing plans to increase the share of non-cyclical business including exports, non-auto engines and sale to Defence sector to mitigate the impact of cyclicality. The Company is preparing to face these challenges through focused R & D efforts in designing / developing vehicles that offer appropriate transport solutions and meet the changing preferences of customers. In a competitive market, the Company may not be able to pass on the cost increases fully through pricing action. The Company's foreign exchange exposure has increased manifold, through contracting External Commercial Borrowings of US$ 315 mn. 30,000 mn.) in the next three years, the Company may face uncertainty in fund availability at reasonable costs. Information security and IPR protection initiatives While the Company endeavours continuously to align IT investments to business strategies, efforts have simultaneously been made to safeguard the Company's invaluable information assets and intellectual property. Subsequently, the scope of the certification was extended to Advanced Engineering activities of the Company during 2007, as a part of Company's strategy to extend the scope to all critical business units, where intellectual property and critical information are either created, handled or stored. The Company achieved an overall growth in sale revenue by 7.8% over the previous year. Summary of Profit and Loss Account Rs millions 2007-08 2006-07 Inc/(Dec)%Income Sales (Net of Excise Duty) 77,291 71,682 7.8 Other Income 740 708 4.5 Total 78,031 72,390 7.8 Expenditure Material Cost 57,647 54,632 5.5 Employee Expenses 6,162 4,807 28.2 Other Expenses 5,443 5,216 4.4 Depreciation 1,774 1,506 17.8 Financial Expenses 497 53 838.5 Total 71,523 66,214 8.0 Profit Before Extraordinary item 6,508 6,176 5.4 Extraordinary item-VRS Expenses Amortisation (127) (131) (2.6) Profit Before Tax 6,381 6,045 5.5 Tax Provision - Current 1,014 1,351 (24.9) - Deferred 604 230 162.7 - Fringe benefit tax 70 51 37.3 Profit After Tax 4,693 4,413 6.3 Basic Earnings Per Share (in Rs.) 3.53 3.38 4.4 Diluted Earnings Per Share (in Rs.) 3.53 3.36 5.1 Revenues: The Company was able to earn revenue through the following streams of business activities: i) Vehicles: Income from vehicles was Rs 68,819 mn. During the year the Company offered factory built genset engines, which accounted for 17% of total engine volume. iii) Spare Parts and others: Income from Spare parts including sale of kits to Vehicle Factory, Jabalpur increased to Rs 6,551 mn., a jump of 50% over the previous year level of Rs 4,380 mn. However, the Company mostly neutralized these increases through continued efforts in value engineering initiatives and better product mix. The Company also managed to secure from global sources (including from China where it has recently set up an office) components at lower costs to offset the commodity price induced input cost increases. The Company was also able to get the full year benefit of VAT, introduced by Tamil Nadu Government in January 2007. Capital employed Total capital employed by the Company increased by 21% from Rs 27,075 mn. Capital expenditure and Investments During the year, the Company incurred Rs 6,959 mn. The Company also started making investments in Ashley Alteams India Private Limited (Joint Venture Company with Alteams O.Y. These two companies will focus on supplies to meet specific component requirements for fitment in Commercial Vehicles. In addition the Company made investments in a vehicle manufacturing / assembly plant at Ras Al Khaimah, Design Engineering services business viz., Defiance Testing and Engineering Services Inc. During the year the Company had tied up External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) for USD 270 mn. Assuming conversion of this balance portion, the equity of the Company will increase to Rs 1331.8 mn. The Company manages its liquidity through rigorous weekly monitoring of cash flows and surplus funds are invested, mainly in units of mutual funds and in bank deposits. The Company's principal sources of liquidity are: a) Existing cash and cash equivalents b) Cash generated by operations c) Unutilised limits with banks d) Unutilised limits out of term funding limits tied up with financial institutions and Banks. Results of operation The Company generated profit from operations after tax of Rs 6,956 mn. After meeting working capital requirements and extraordinary item of payments for Voluntary Retirement Scheme of Rs 48 mn., the Company earned net cash inflow of Rs 10,657 mn. This enabled the Company utilise internal generation for meeting capital expenditure (including capital advance) requirements and minimise the borrowings during 2007-08. During the year, the Company charged Rs 127 mn. The Years ahead The Company has set itself the task of consolidating and enhancing its position in the Indian commercial vehicle market, both in terms of volumes as well as in customer satisfaction, in the medium term. The Company aspires to widen its footprint in the global commercial vehicle industry through organic and inorganic growth and is examining opportunities towards this end. In order to compensate for the cyclic nature of the domestic commercial vehicle industry, the Company has been focussing on increasing its presence in allied businesses like non-auto engine, Defence, Exports and Parts so as to achieve a significant portion of its revenues from such non-cyclical businesses.
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Continuing on...doodled at work, working out the comp...need to tweak the face...:P



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