| The company recorded a turnover of Rs 245 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2004. |
| Speaking to Business Standard, Rakesh Khanna, senior vice-president (sales) Hitachi Home and Life Solutions (India) Limited said: "The company has been in the black since the fourth quarter of 2003-04, after posting repeated losses for the previous two years. For the first quarter ended June 30, 2004, the company posted a net profit of Rs 6 crore." |
| Khanna, who was in Hyderabad to launch the company's new range of air conditioners, said that HHLI expects the net profit to cross Rs 8 crore by the end of the current financial year. |
| "We would be investing in developing the existing dealer service centres, developing on the product range and infrastructure, and therefore we are not looking at the profits being very high," he said. |
| According to him, the company was back in business after the product portfolio was restructured and by concentrating on technology and quality. |
| "The company also restructured the financial structure with Rs 70 crore being invested by way of debt and equity. The parent company has invested Rs 27 crore by way of equity and Rs 45 crore was raised through external commercial borrowings (ECB)," Khanna said. |
| The company which has its manufacturing facility at Kadi and Silvassa in Gujarat manufactures 2.5 lakh air conditioners per year out of which 1.3 lakh units are sold. |
| "Out of the total number of units sold around 0.3 per cent are exported to the Saarc, Middle East and African countries. During the current financial year, we are expecting exports to cross Rs 55 crore up from Rs 30 crore earned during the previous financial year," Khanna said. |
| The company which at present has 12 per cent market share in air conditioners, expects a surge to around 15 per cent in the next 18 months. Khanna also said that despite the increase in the raw material prices, HHLI does not intend to increase the prices of air conditioners. |
| He also said that discussions were on with the parent company to extend the product range that the company offers. "We expect to launch other products starting with refrigerators in the next 12 months,"he said. |
| He said that the new launch, the Hitachi Quadricool which is available in the 1 tonne, 1.5 tonne and 2 tonne capacities has a twin turbo technology which reduces the noise and distributes the air uniformly. |
| "Quadricool also offers a new removable front cover which is available in four different colours. The company would be offering three front covers free as an initial offer," Khanna said. |
| Apart from Quadricool, the company has also launched micro-cool cassette, a ceiling air conditioner, the Hitachi Sense-i, the smallest variety of split air conditioner which is available in 1 tonne, 1.5 tonne and 2 tonne capacities. |
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