Blue Dart, South Asia's premier courier and integrated air express package Distribution Company, offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 14,000 locations in India and 220 countries worldwide. Blue Dart was selected a Business Super brand from over 1699 brands across 169 product categories and a Readers Digest's Most Trusted Brand across 42 product categories in India.

Performance for the quarter ended Sep’06:

Blue Dart for the third quarter-ended Sep’06 registered a Net sales growth of 29% to Rs 176.50 crore. Despite decent growth in sales the 810 bps increase in fright handling and servicing cost reduced the OPM by exact 810 bps to 11%. This led 26% decline in the operating profit to Rs 19.50 crore. The freight, handling and service cost as a proportion to sales increased by 810 bps to 67.8%. The staff cost also increased by 40 bps to 14.6% for the period. However the increase in staff cost was well cushioned by 40 bps decline in other expenses at 6.6%.

The other income for the period turned profit at Rs 0.70 crore compared to loss of Rs 0.10 core in the corresponding previous quarter. The other income for the Sep’05 stood at loss of Rs 0.10 crore as it included Rs 6.80 crore on reversal of provision on account of one-time retention compensation to the then Managing Director and the same being accounted as Extraordinary income. Also the interest cost for the quarter reduced by 63% to Rs 0.30 crore. Nevertheless, the depreciation provision for the period increased by 28% to Rs 6.40 crore thus pulling down the PBT further by 33% to Rs 13.50 crore. In view of the deployment plans for the 737 and 757 aircraft fleet, the Company has re-evaluated the remaining useful life of -9A aircraft engines resulting in accelerated depreciation of Rs 2.20 crore during the quarter.

The extraordinary income reminded nil for the quarter compared to income of Rs 6.80 crore during the previous quarter owing to reversal of provision on account of one-time retention compensation to the then Managing Director. Despite the tax element declined by 49% to Rs 4.80 crore, the PAT stood at Rs 8.70 crore, down by 51% on y-o-y basis.

For the nine months ended Sep’06, the Net sales of the company increased by 25% to Rs 485.80 crore. The Company has changed its year-end date to 31^st December as against 31^st March in the previous year. Consequently the financials for the nine months ended Sep’05 has been not YTD figure but aggregated to facilitate comparison. Despite the operating margin declining by 210 bps to 15.7%, the operating profit advanced by 11% to Rs 76.42 crore. The other income for the period stood increased by 114% to Rs 1.50 crore.

The interest cost declined by 43% to Rs 1.30 crore. However the 15% increase in depreciation cost at Rs 15.90 crore restricted the PBT at Rs 60.72 crore, up by 15% on y-o-y basis. The extraordinary expenses stood at Rs 2.32 crore compared to income of Rs 3.60 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. Moreover the tax outgo increased marginally by 3% to Rs 20.30 crore confining the PAT growth by 1% to Rs 38.10 crore.

• Effective June 1, 2006 the Company has inducted two Boeing 757 freighter aircraft on its routes connecting Hyderabad as an outbound gateway and adding Ahmedabad as its seventh aviation hub, which has resulted in increased Freight, Handling and Servicing costs.
• The Company divested 100% of its equity holding in Skyline Air Logistics Limited, on August 10, 2006. Pursuant to this divestment Skyline Air Logistics Limited has ceased to be a subsidiary of the Company.
• At an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the shareholders held on September 20, 2006, shareholders of the Company approved the delisting of the shares of the Company from the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited pursuant to the SEBI Guidelines.

The company’s share price is trading at Rs 586.