Voltas' Q2 sales up by 13 per cent, net profit up by 33 per cent
October 20, 2006

The board of directors of Voltas, a global air conditioning and engineering services provider of the Tata Group, have today announced the unaudited financial results, including the segment report, for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2006.

Highlights for the quarter ended 30th September 2006:

• Sales / income from operations at Rs 540.65 crore, up by 13 per cent year-on-year
• Profit before tax at Rs 31.92 crore, up by 50 per cent
• Profit after tax at Rs 25 crore, up by 33 per cent year-on-year
• Total order-book at Rs 2070 crore, up by 30 per cent

Quarter ended September 30, 2006
The company's sales / income from operations rose by 13 per cent to Rs 540.65 crore, as against Rs 476.10 crore in the same period last year. Profit after tax rose by 33 per cent to Rs 25 crore as compared to Rs18.85 crore in the same period last year, despite much higher tax charge of Rs 9.21 core (previous year - Rs 4.75 crore).

Profit before tax rose by 50 per cent to Rs 31.92 crore as against Rs 21.28 crore in the same period last year. This was achieved despite a 44 per cent increase in staff cost.

Announcing the results, Mr M M Miyajiwala, executive vice president (Finance) and CFO of the company, said, "Voltas continues to successfully leverage its own strengths vis-à-vis the wide range of opportunities and positive trends in the economy, reflected in significant growth in all its businesses. The upward trend is evident even in the international electro-mechanical projects and services business, in which considerable orders are on hand. Being still under initial stages
of execution, the expected revenues will be reflected in subsequent quarters. In fact, the growth in international business now and in the future is indicated by the company's investment in employing over 1400 more people in the last six months in its overseas operations."

The company's electro-mechanical projects and services segment's revenues dipped by 2.7 per cent. Since some large-value international projects are still in their initial phase of execution, their revenues have not yet been realised, and this has affected the segmental revenue for the quarter. However, the domestic air conditioning and refrigeration business, which has been the major contributor to revenues in this segment, has grown by 31 per cent in revenue. The order book of this segment stands at Rs 1834 crore representing a growth of 30 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.

The engineering products and services segment registered a revenue growth of 80 per cent. Textile machinery business achieved 27 per cent growth in sales, while materials handling business achieved 73 per cent growth in sales.

The unitary cooling products for comfort and commercial use segment registered a revenue growth of 38 per cent. The air conditioner business has grown by 34 per cent in volume and water coolers and dispensers grew by 38 per cent in volume.

Six months ended September 30, 2006
The company's sales / income from operations grew by 23 per cent to Rs 1139.94 crore as against Rs 926.64 crore in the corresponding period last year. Profit before tax rose by 64 per cent to Rs 64.77 crore as against Rs 39.53 crore in the same period last year. Profit after tax rose by 32 per cent to Rs 46.75 crore compared to Rs 35.40 crore in the same period last year.

Issued by:
B.N. Garudachar
General Manager
Corporate Communications
Mumbai
Tel: 56568787
        66656280/1