Frontier Springs manufactures coil and leaf springs.
It is a market leader in this niche segment and supplies to
prominent customers such as Indian railways, BHEL, BEML, etc. Moreover, Siemens
Germany approved its manufacturing facilities for use in its switch gears
production.
Management aims to focus on exports to increase future
profitability.
The company reported growing operating profits on growing
revenues in the last five years, although this has taken a slight dip in the
last twelve months (see below) – with operating profits of over 5cr on revenues
of over 35cr. It operated with a modest
net debt load as at 31st March, 2012.
The business is largely dependent on the capital investment
cycle for its revenues, which is adversely impacted by high interest rates (such
as now).
It is also exposed to increasing costs of steel, its primary
raw material. This is, in turn,
dependent on the global steel demand/supply scenario. Management is attempting to enter long-term
supply contracts with vendors to mitigate this risk.
Further, there has been an increase in competition, which is
putting downward pressure on selling prices.
Its easing would depend on the quality of the company’s
products/services as well as demand growth and the creation of additional capacity
in the industry.
The company generally imports its plant and machinery
(albeit infrequently) and is therefore adversely impacted by a weakening INR –
as currently.
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