Punjab Tractors has posted a net profit of Rs 112.52 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001, as against Rs 133.26 crore recorded in the previous year. Net operating revenue is lower at Rs 964.48 crore in the fiscal compared with Rs 1,016.84 crore a year before.
Dividend income is at Rs 2.03 crore during the year as against Rs 8.14 crore in the previous year. The company said it had strengthened the operating margins to 19.30 per cent in 2001.
The board recommended a dividend of Rs 7.50 per share subject to the approval of the shareholders at the annual general meeting.
On its model - Swaraj's -- performance during the year, Yash Mahajan, company's vice-chairman and managing director, said: "For the first 11 months from April to February, our market share was 18.9 per cent with a sale of 42,547 tractors out of an industry volume of 225,500.
However, Swaraj did not participate in the year-end over billing, which reduced its market share for March to 11.6 per cent. Notwithstanding this, we have for the year as a whole regained the number-two slot with a market share of 18.1 per cent by selling 45,712 tractors (last year 50,705)."
Aggregate industry volumes reached 2,53,000 tractors for the year (2,73,000 in the last year). Mahajan said Swaraj's new models, introduced in calendar 1999 (Swaraj 733 & Swaraj 744), have already come to represent 25 per cent of sale volumes (12 per cent). Reflecting the added thrust on the upper range of Swaraj models, the 40-plus HP models have reached 29 per cent of Swaraj sale volumes (17 per cent).
Elaborating on the drop in Swaraj's sale volumes, Mahajan pointed out that farm income and tractor demand had been affected substantially by drought in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and by low open market prices and staggered procurement in surplus states such as Punjab and Haryana.
Additionally, pressure from over supply of some lead players and consequent inventory pile-up had led aggregate industry volumes drop by eight per cent to 2,52,800 tractors.
For the first two months of the current fiscal April-May 2001, the industry volumes dropped close to 15 per cent from 36,200 to 30,800 tractors. Punjab Tractors, however, sold 6,536 tractors during the period as against 6506 units sold in the year-ago period.
The firm's market share, too, for the two months improved to 21 per cent compared with last year's 18 per cent. With monsoon starting on a good note, the company expects the demand, particularly in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, to improve.
Punjab Tractors is planning to widen its product variants, expand network and upgrade service infrastructure and training.
