Solectron Centum Electronics was unstoppable today as the market seems impressed with the financial performance of the company for the quarter ended 31 March 2003.

By 13:10 IST, the stock of the electronics components maker spiraled up 14.05% to Rs 42.20. It recorded volumes of 16,770 shares on BSE so far. The stock of Solectron Centum has now risen 173% from its 52-week low of Rs 15.45 on 31 March 2003.

For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003, Solectron Centum Electronics has registered a net profit of Rs 3.43 crore (against Rs 1.67 crore) on a top line of Rs 8.3 crore, that has fallen by 12%. The company has attributed the improved results to a better product mix and strong exports.

OPM during the quarter improved substantially to 41.2% (against 16.9%) leading to a 115% rise in operating profits to Rs 3.42 crore.

Solectron Centum Electronics is the largest manufacturer and exporter of frequency controlled products (FCP) and hybrid micro circuits (HMC) in the country.

For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company's net profit fell by 16% to Rs 68 lakh. Top line registered a drop of 30% to Rs 21.49 crore.

The company started foraying into the defence and aerospace segments since the third quarter ended 31 December 2002. But actual supplies materialised only in the previous quarter, thereby, pulling up both top line and bottom line. The company had incurred a loss in the first nine months ended 31 December 2002.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, the company registered a 21.5% growth in sales to Rs 7.02 crore and registered a net profit of Rs 53 lakh (against Rs 59,000 in the previous corresponding quarter).

After the entry in the defence and aerospace segments, Solectron Centum is now targeting the automotive segment. The company is quite hopeful that the new segment will start generating revenues by FY 2004-05.

The company has recently forayed into electronic manufacturing services (EMS) as globally, more and more leading OEMs are relying on EMS providers to assemble their products. The company is making an initial investment of up to Rs 10 crore in the EMS business.

The company forecasts a revenue of Rs 60 crore in the year 2003-04 and around Rs 100 crore in the year 2004-05.

Solectron Centum Electronics, formerly known as C-MAC Centum Electronics (C-MCEL), is a subsidiary of C-MAC Industries of Canada. The parent company is a leading, internationally-diversified designer and manufacturer of advanced electronic components, sub-systems, and frequency control products (FCP), and provides contract assembly services for the telecom, automotive instrumentation, defence, and aerospace industries. It factories are spread across Europe, the US and China.

C-MCEL was primarily set up to cater to the telecommunications requirements in the country. Its major customers include ITI, HTL, BI Technologies, Punjab Communication, Crompton Greaves, L&T, ABB and Deltron. The company supplies 80% of its products to the telecom industry. Due to this dependence on a single sector, the company has had to suffer losses in the past. So the company is diversifying its products and is entering newer avenues to engender revenue stability.

As on 31 March 2003, promoters held 69.26% stake in the equity of the company, while the public and institutions held 22.93% and 0.08%, respectively.