The board of Apollo Tyres today authorised the buyback and cancellation of 36.90 lakh (3.69 million) shares, representing 10.16 per cent of the company's present equity capital, from the special court dealing with the benami shares of the securities scam.

Consequent to this, the share capital of the company shall get reduced to Rs 32.63 crore (Rs 326.3 million).

Another 4.9 per cent of the current equity of the company, that is the balance of the 15.1 per cent holding of notified parties, the Harshad Mehta group, put up for block sale by the custodian, has been acquired by the management under their annual creeping acquisition limit, a company statement issued here said today.

The board also approved the audited financial results of the company for the year ended March 31, 2003.

The company has registered a 226.05 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 120.02 crore against Rs 36.81 crore (Rs 368.1 million) registered for 2001-02.

Gross Sales recorded an increase of 18.5 per cent at Rs 2,025.62 crore (Rs 20.26 billion) during the year against Rs 1,710.14 crore (Rs 17.10 billion), registered in the previous year. Total income improved 16.65 per cent at Rs 1,609.72 crore (Rs 16.10 billion) from Rs 1,379.91 crore (Rs 13.8 billion) registered in 2001-02, the company said in a statement.

The board has recommended a 45 per cent (Rs 4.50) dividend per share of Rs 10 each for the year, aggregating Rs 16.34 crore (Rs 163 million).

The tyre major's net profit and total income for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003 stood at Rs 45.58 crore (Rs 18.51 crore) and Rs 442.59 crore (Rs 380.53 crore) respectively, according to the statement.

Gross sales for the quarter touched Rs 542.28 crore (Rs 5.42 billion), up 15 per cent compared with Rs 473.15 crore (Rs 4.73 billion) registered for the same period last year.

Neeraj Kanwar, chief operating officer, said: "Apollo's consistent high growth has been owing to thrust in the commercial vehicle segment -- trucks, LCVs, jeeps and passenger cars.

"On the operations front, we have achieved full capacity utilisation, effective current asset management and lower interest costs."