Business   

Usha Martin plans office in China

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Usha Martin is planning to open an office in China to begin exploring the vast market for wire ropes, the company's main product. Joint Managing Director, Rajeev Jhawar, said at a press conference here on Friday that the office would be opened by June either in Shanghai or in the Guangzhao province.

"We are open to the idea of locating a plant in this vast market but will finalise our plans only after exploring the Chinese market," he said, adding that while China made a huge quantity of general purpose ropes, Usha Martin's forte was speciality ropes (for use in mining and construction sectors among others), which constitute 70 per cent of its capacity.

The company, which also makes speciality steel, has units in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Hoshiarpur, the UAE and the U.S. It is also implementing a Rs. 20 crore bright bar unit in the SIPCOT industrial area near Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Bright bars are steel items used in auto component manufacturing. Usha Martin already manufactures this product at its Ranchi unit and is setting up a new one as part of its southern foray.

Pays 75 p.c. dividend

The company turned in a 14.4 per cent increase in net sales in 2006-07, which touched Rs. 1,408.60 crore with a post-tax profit of Rs. 138.40 crore. It recommended a 75 per cent dividend on a face value of Rs. 5. The board has recommended a stock split of equity shares of Rs. 5 each into equity shares of Re. 1 each. The company is now implementing a Rs. 1,350 crore plan for expanding steel-making capacity to one million tonnes from 3.65 lakh tonnes now along with an expansion of the wire rope capacity. It will also spend a part of this money on development of its coal mine, which is set to begin production by the fourth quarter.

Towards financing the entire plan, a Rs. 200-crore preference issue had already been made while debts would provide Rs. 575 crore and internal accruals would fill the balance.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

BHEL questions NTPC entry into equipment making
Tata Teleservices to enter North East
HD video-conferencing system from Sony
Usha Martin plans office in China

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu