Kale's Airline Revenue up 58% & Operating Profit up 143% in Q4 Recent Order Wins Drive Growth
Kale Consultants Limited (Kale), the leading provider
of software solutions and outsourced services to the Travel
& Transportation industry, has recorded operating revenues
of Rs. 154.99 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2005
a s compared to Rs. 97.96 million from the Airline segment
for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, a growth
of 58%. Operating profit has grown by 143% to Rs. 27.25
million from Rs. 11.22 million in the corresponding quarter
during the previous year.
For the year ended March 31, 2005, Kale has recorded operating
revenues of Rs. 492.92 million as compared to Rs. 376.16
million from the Airline segment during the previous year,
a growth of 31%. Operating profit has grown to Rs. 36.72
million from Rs. 31.67 million during the previous year.
Kale has made a provision for a diminution in the value
of its investments in two subsidiaries viz., Kale Australia
Pty. Ltd and Antah Kale Sdn. Bhd, after undertaking an extensive
review of the financials of these ventures. These provisions
amount to Rs. 29.19 million and have been made during the
quarter ended March 31, 2005 ,
The profit after tax is Rs 7.52 million after taking the
above into account.
Commenting on the performance,
Mr. Vipul Jain , Group CEO & Managing Director said,
“This year has been an encouraging year for Kale.
We have had added many customers, enhanced our product and
service portfolio and renewed long term contracts with our
existing customers. All of this work will ensure sustained
revenue and profit growth going forward.”
Kale eTravel Technologies Ltd (formerly
known as Cognosys Software Pvt Ltd ) a subsidiary that Kale
acquired in March 2004, posted revenues of Rs 76.33 million
during FY 05. This company is in the process of being merged
with Kale.
Business Outlook
The calendar year 2004 finished with the strongest airline
traffic rebound since 1991 with 15% growth in passenger
traffic and 13% in cargo traffic. At the same time, the
industry has run up losses of $4.8 billion in 2004 largely
due to the increase in fuel price.
Though the industry is poised to grow at 6% CAGR for both
passenger and cargo with China and India being among the
fastest growing markets, passenger fares and cargo yields
continue to decline, increasing pressure on profitability.
The travel industry is facing similar dual challenges –
the opportunity to grow on one hand and reducing commissions
and margins on the other. On-line travel is one of the big
success stories of Internet usage and is expected to continue
to cannibalize traditional business models.
The need of the hour for the Travel and Transportation
industry is to continuously drive for greater cost efficiency
in all parts of their business.
Kale delivers its solutions in a variety of innovative
delivery models that span software products, customised
software services and managed process services to deliver
sustained business value to its customers.
With industry focus and domain knowledge, Kale is emerging
as the supplier of choice in strategic areas of Revenue
and mid-office accounting, Enterprise Cargo Solutions and
eTravel Technology. The company's competitive edge is in-depth
understanding of the industry processes and ability to deliver
demonstrable value through a fine blend of domain consulting,
technical and processing skills. The increased volume in
airline and travel across the globe has enhanced the opportunities
for the company's offerings.
The company has over the past few years made major investments
in product development, marketing and expanding Managed
Process Service Operations. The results of these efforts
are clearly becoming visible with many milestones that demonstrate
industry acceptance and credibility.
Investor Relations
Kale Consultants Ltd is committed to create long-term sustainable
shareholder value through successful implementation of its
growth plans. The company's investor relations mission is
to maintain an ongoing awareness of its performance among
shareholders and financial community.
For additional information,
please contact:
Mr. Sumeet Nadkar
Chief Financial Officer
Kale Consultants Ltd.
Tel: 91-22-28259580
Email: Sumeet_Nadkar@kaleconsultants.com
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this release concerning our future
growth prospects are forward-looking statements which involve
a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking
statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these
statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties
regarding fluctuations in earnings, our ability to manage
growth, intense competition in IT services including those
factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases
in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled
professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time
frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration,
our ability to manage our international operations, reduced
demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions
in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully
complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability
for damages on our service contracts, withdrawal of governmental
fiscal incentives, political instability, legal restrictions
on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India,
and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general
economic conditions affecting our industry. The company
does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement
that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the
company.
