Bartronics Promoters confident ?

Bartronics India Ltd has informed BSE that pursuant to the special resolution passed by the members of the Company through Postal Ballot on January 11, 2010 and the approvals given by the Stock Exchanges, the Management Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company at their meeting held on February 18, 2010 have approved the resolution to issue and allot

1. 22,00,000 Equity Shares and 63,00,000 Warrants convertible into Equity Shares of Rs. 10/- each at a premium of Rs. 222/- each to promoters and promoter group.

2. 4,93,065 Equity Shares and 20,00,000 Warrants convertible into Equity Shares of Rs. 10/- each at a premium of Rs. 152.25 each to non promoters

Under Section 81(1A) of the Companies Act, 1956 by way of Preferential Allotment.

E-passport In India - An Opportunity for Bartronics

The Union Government has kick-started the process of scouting for suppliers of electronic components for another 20 million e-passports, in a move that could bring fresh business for smart card vendors, chip makers and IT firms.

This is part of the Government’s mandate to extend the e-passport programme beyond diplomats and Government officials to the ‘aam aadmi’ starting September.

Over the next 24 months, the Security Printing & Minting Corporation (SPMC) of India expects to procure 20 million electronic contacts-less inlays along with its operating software for the production of e-passports.

According to the tender document, the inlays have to be electronic contact-less type according to SCOSTA-CL requirements. (SCOSTA is a smart card operating system standard as developed by the National Informatics Centre.)

The inlay is a laminate consisting of a core containing the RFID chip and antenna, with outer layers of sheet material.

Each inlay that the Government is going to procure is expected to cost between Rs 10 and Rs 60 depending on the sophistication required, says Mr Sudhir Rao, Managing Director, Bartronics India, a leading smartcard maker.

Based on the 20 million inlays required for the first batch, the SPMC tender would be valued around Rs 60 crore, he said.

Apart from Bartronics, Germany-based Sagem Orga (through Smart Chip India) and Amsterdam-based Gemalto are expected to bid for the project.

Mr Alok Mukherjee, Director- Finance of Smart Chip India, is of the view that the entire process of deployment of the inlays would begin by next fiscal.

At present, a passport contains facial imprint, but an e-passport will have all the personal details, including fingerprints, of the person carrying it.

The pilot e-passport Programme was started on June 25 last year and the first 10,000 passports were issued to diplomats and senior Government officials.

However, the most important component in an e-passport is the RFID chip, which contains the biometric data of the passport holder.

The Ministry of External Affairs is expected to come out with a ‘multi-million’ dollar tender for the same within the next one month, Ministry sources told Business Line.

Chip makers NXP Semiconductors and Infineon (a Siemens company) are expected to bid for this project.

“We have already made presentations to the Government authorities; our chips are fully certified to work on the local SCOSTA standards. We have deputed one architect level person from India who is working to ensure that our chips are interoperable,” said Mr Neeraj Paliwal, Vice-President, SoC Design, NXP.

He is of the view that the country could have around 200 million e-passports in the next 3-5 years.

Experts believe that the IT infrastructure required for operating the e-passport system – which includes electronically linking various e-passport terminals – would be anywhere upwards of Rs 300 crore.

This would provide significant opportunities for firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, HCL and Wipro.

“Each card is expected to cost from between Rs. 10 -- Rs. 60″, Mr Sudhir Rao, Managing Director, Bartronics India said. The company is a leading smartcard maker. There will be several companies bidding for the project.

As of now, around 10,000 passports have been issued since June 25th last year. If reports are to be believed, we could have around 200 million of these in the next 3-5 years.

We’ve been hearing about the Unique Idenitification Number for quite some time, that along with the e-passport is a significant step the government is taking towards better, more organized governance.

The benefits, of course are humongous, starting from easy issuing, to enabled verification. It is expected to result in the issue of passports within three days and in cases requiring police verification, within three days after completion of the verification process. Tatkal passports would be issued on the day of submission of the application. The Government has planned to have 68 passport facilitation centres across the country to verify documents and decide on granting the passport. Police verification would be expedited through electronic linkage of these facilitation centres with the police authorities in State capitals.

That however, is not then only case of technology aided recognition / governance.

Source : Business Line & Watblog

Buy Bartronics

Investments with a two-three year perspective can be considered in the shares of Bartronics India, considering the company’s strong order book position, increasing Indian footprint on the back of large government deals and prospects of winningmore orders over the next few years.

At Rs 166, the stock trades at 5-6 times its likely 2009-10 per share earnings. As Bartronics is seeing high growth in revenues and profits and, despite being in a hardware-intensive business, has consistently managed an operating profit margin of over 25 per cent and net profit margin of close to 15 per cent, there may be scope for further capital appreciation.

Between 2006-07 and 2008-09, the company has seen its revenues and operating profits grow nine-fold. It has increased its revenues from India to nearly 65 per cent in recent times from about 30 per cent a couple of years ago. This was made possible by growing presence in government deals, where heavy technology spends are happening. The company also delivers smart cards (mostly SIM cards) to telecom operators, again a high-growth area.

A few quarters ago, Bartronics secured a Rs 5,000-crore deal from the “Aapke Dwar” project of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi spread over nine years. Revenues are set to kick in from October with the launch of 300 kiosks in the first phase. The deal also confers on Bartronics the right to advertising revenues from these kiosks. With the Commonwealth Games set to begin in Delhi in 2010, the scope for substantial advertising revenues makes this deal even more lucrative. The company has tied up with banks for the Rs 750 crore capital expenditure needed for this deal. This could step up interest costs and strain margins. But with interest coverage of over six times, the burden of servicing debt may not be too heavy.

Apart from this deal, the company has an order book worth Rs 600 crore as of June 2009, to be executed over the next year. A large part of this has come from its high-margin RFID solutions business. Armed with key technical certifications, Bartronics hopes to win deals from the Delhi Metro and Indian Railways, with both entities set to increase technology spends. The company has several deal wins from State governments and Government projects in Singapore. Another target area is animal tagging, where the company has the necessary certification.

Source : Business Line

Buy Bartronics - On UID projects hope

Bartronics (Cmp 170) - Confirms another higher bottom. Buy for target price of 205 with a stop loss of 160.

Bartronics & National UID Project- Buy, Sell Or Hold ?

Bartronics (Cmp 181) Hyped stock by Media.
Weekly chart -Strong resistance at 188 & 199.
Only on confirmation of Order can move it to next resistance zone of 249.
Above 249 next targets should be 292-359-444.(Don't Dare to dream Big yet)
170 below either it will lose the race for getting handsome pie and can get support at 140.
Co closely associated with national ID proj: Bartronics
Watch Sudir Rao recent Comments on Project Click Here

Few things that makes Bartronics an failure for million $ baby.
1. First Generation Promoters.
2. Promoter Pledges shares.
3. Continuous rising debts.
4.Falling Promoter stake.
5.In spite of good sales i havent yet noticed their products in Market.
6.Fails to get any Employee ( Very Rare are ) on Social Network Sites like LinkedIn.Raises Questions. Is it next Satyam? (Satyam do have false employee list)
7.Since last three years i had not got annual report although i am shareholder.Any Explanation ?

What can make it million $ Bartronics.
1. Tie up with IT peer be it Infosys / TCS for bidding
2. Trading above 250 Rs.Only Big Fish can support it and they don't fall in love with anyone without any reason.
3.Should take Lessons from Infy.As my friend says "Expect the unexpected".

National ID project is a Big Dream Project for many (India /Nandan Nilekani/ Bartronics/Gemmni Communication).

Next 3 years can metamorphose Bartonics & India.

Lets see how the things unfold for Bartronics.

Disclosure- I hold Bartronics.Icould be Biased.

Bartronics India - An Update (5000 Cr Order)

Bartronics India has bagged an order worth Rs 5000 crore from Delhi government for setting up kiosks. These kiosks will act as data bank of local customers, service providers and business. In addition to this, Bartronics has also bagged the radio frequency identification (RFID) project. Sudhir Rao, MD and COO of Bartronics India, said, "In the last quarter, we won few high profile assignments specifically in the Delhi area. We are looking at the next five years to be a rapid growth area for us specifically in the Indian government sector."

The accompanying video.

Q: If you can take us through what kind of fresh orders you have bagged in the last quarter. Has there been any move in terms of e-governance initiatives which has brought more orders your way?

A: I think in the last quarter or so we have been at the forefront of some of the key government initiatives and to that extent we have won few high profile assignments specifically in the Delhi area. Now that elections are over, we have a fairly stable government at the centre where we are really looking at the next five years to be a rapid growth area for us specifically in the Indian government sector.

To come to some specific initiatives of the government, we are looking forward to the national identity card programme, which is already on a rollout on pilot basis. But now that the new government is in place we should see this project really kicking off during this current financial year.

A couple of other initiatives which the government has taken during the last five year period is the financial inclusion projects. Many of them got held up mainly because of the election process and now that the election is over and we have continuity of the government. I think we will see many of these projects really moving fast.

Q: Just need to discuss one particular project that you recently got “AapKe Dwar” with Rs 5000 crore over nine years. So, I am assuming about Rs 500 crore every year but you expect a capex of Rs 750 crore just for the first year. So, in that sense how much debt are you planning to raise and I am assuming that this project will not be making money for you for the next two-three years?

A: As far as the “Aapke Dwar” project is concerned, we are looking at investment of around Rs 750 crore but this is spread out over a period of 18 months. In fact, the first phase of 300 out of the 2000 kiosks which have been planned is expected to be rolled out by October 2009. While the last few kiosks is expected to roll out by October 2010, we are talking about an 18 month period beginning April 2009 to really look at usage of those funds.

As far as the capabilities of Bartronics is concerned, in terms of raising this capital, I think we are already there. As far as financial closure is concerned, we are only looking at how to structure the entire capital expenditure in such a way that it does not strain the balance sheet.

Coming back to the point of profitability, the internal calculation of the project show that in our first case scenario; we should be able to breakeven by the end of two and a half years. So, it is not really a major challenge for us in terms of fund raising, operations or profitability. We are expecting this project to take us to the next growth phase.

Q: If you can give us an idea of what kind of run rate you are looking at in terms of revenue growth over this and the next year considering the orders that you are expecting and you have had a negative other income from mark to market (MTM) losses, how will they shape up in FY10 and FY11 as also your interest cost?

A: As far as the revenue run up is concerned, we have given the guidance for FY10. We have retained that guidance at around Rs 1000 crore for topline and bottomline of 15-18%. As far as the mark-to-market (MTM) losses are concerned, I guess it is just a function of time—part of them are related to MTM losses on the outstanding,foreign currency convertible bonds, part of them are related to MTM losses on foreign exchange losses. But this is a trend that is going to continue and as the dollar-rupee variation happens, we need to take care of the MTM as per the accounting guidelines.

Coming back to profitability and the interest costs, I think interest costs are significant during to the last quarter or for the last financial year and they are going to slightly increase during the current year as we draw down for the Aapke Dwar facility. But I guess as the operations grow the profitability on the Aapke Dwar project, it is also fairly good for us to easily take care of the increased interest burden.

Bartronics India raises $ 50 mn via FCCB

Bartronics India has raised USD 50 million via an FCCB. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18,Sudhir Rao, MD & CEO, Bartronics India said that 100% of the funds are expected to go into the solutions side of the business. He added that right now the company was at the stage of financial closure of the acquisition. Talking about phase-II of their smartccard project, he said that they are currently in the process of acquiring machinery and installing it. According to Rao, overall, from a sales point of view, they should be crossing around Rs 200 crore in terms of topline.

Excerpts of CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Sudhir Rao:

Q: There are three streams in terms of products, AIDC, RFID and now the smart card business. Where do you intend to deploy the funds that you have raised?

A: 100% of the funds are expected to go into the solutions side of the business. So, out of the three segments that you pointed out it would be AIDC and the RFID business.

Q: None of this will go into the possible acquisitions that’s doing the rounds, that you may consider in the US at this point in time?

A: In both the technology areas we are looking at acquisitions As you rightly pointed out, that was the main objective of the FCCB issue. Right now we are at a stage of financial closure of the acquisition. This proposed acquisition is in the RFID technology area, where we are looking at a company that can give us some patents, which is I think an absolute must looking at the leadership position that we have in the market.

Apart from the patents, we are also looking at acquiring a few customers that the target company already has and some key personnel. So, part of the funds will go towards acquiring the target company and part of the funds would go in running the enterprise for the next six to eight months.

Q: Give us an idea of the kind of earnings performance we can expect? The market expects that Bartronics will pack in about Rs 195 crore on sales and do a PAT of about Rs 33.24 crore. Would you like to raise the bar on that and from AIDC alone, how much would the contribution be?

A: I think we should be doing much better than that. Internally our targets are slightly higher than the figures that you have mentioned. As far as the breakup between the various segments is concerned, the solutions segment should constitute about 50% of the overall figure, while the smart card business, that we have started during the current year, should generate the other 50%. So, overall I think from a sales point of view, we should be crossing around Rs 200 crore in terms of topline.

Q: Can you give us an idea of the smart card business because that has been spoken off as a pressure point for margins? Where do margins stand with smart cards, and if you pull out smart cards, where do they stand for AIDC and RFID?

A: As far as the smart cards are concerned, if you really look at the business in its isolation, it is a business that is driven by manufacturing, and in any manufacturing capacity utilisation becomes very critical. So, at the breakeven capacity, utilisation, which is approximately 70%, we should more or less be able to take care of our expenses.

But the capacity utilisation that we are looking at right now, and also for the next 12-18 months, is nearing almost 100% in terms of production. At those levels, we still are confident that our EBITDA from the smart cards manufacturing business should be around 33-34%, which is the current EBITDA in the solution side of the business.

So, we are not expecting significant strain on margins by entering into the smart card business.

Q: Phase-II of your smart card expansion that dealt with your entire silicon manufacturing chips, was due to be commissioned in January 2008. Can you give us an update on that? Consequently what sort of capital outlay plans do you have over the next 12-18 months?

A: As far as phase-II of the project is concerned, we are right now in the process of acquiring machinery and installing it. So, as earlier projected, we should be able to finish off the installation and commissioning during the current month. As far as further capex is concerned, for the expansion plan, the company has no further capital expenditure programme for the next 12 months.

As far as inorganic growth is concerned, we have now finished the 50 million FCCB issues, which is going to be spent in the overseas market for acquisition and growth. We are still looking at a possible acquisition in the European market, because from a global perspective, we are currently the market leaders in India.

We expect to be having significant market share in the US in about a year’s time. We believe that we will be one of the leading players in the Southeast Asian region with the start of our Singapore subsidiary. It’s only the European and the Middle East market that is something that we have not yet tapped. So, we may be looking at tapping into that market in the next 8-10 months.

Q: For your sales of Rs 200 crore, what sort of profits will you do at the end of FY08?

A: Our internal target is for a net profit margin of around 20%. If you look at the track record of Bartronics, we have been doing somewhere 18-20%. So, we can expect a similar kind of net profit margin.

Video link : Moneycontrol

A Review on Bartronics

An Investment Idea Bartronics ( Click here for Old Post ) @ 125 discussed during Feburary ,2007 have given excellent returns. Even beaten my expectations by an year. Good Numbers , Expansion plans ,Brave steps by Management and Niche Area caught the attention of many Investors.

Please Click Following Image for Enlarge view

After steep Run up , profit booking happened. 242-235 is nearest support zone and 188-177 is next one .

A Gap left in 202-205 can be filled in case of correction.

On Upside , 330 can be possible Technical target.

European RFID Industry Outlook (2007-2010)

Bartronics are into RFID , does recent spurt in its stock price has something to do with the following report ?



This report "European RFID Industry Outlook (2007-2010) provides extensive research and rational analysis on RFID industry in Europe. This report helps clients to analyze the opportunities and factors critical to the success of RFID industry in Europe. The report underlines the key issues related to the success of the industry and provides a prudent analysis on its various aspects. The countries that have been analyzed in the report include UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and others (include France, Finland, Denmark & Rest of Europe).

Key Findings

- Rising consumer awareness and government support is driving the European RFID Industry.
- It is expected that European RFID industry will account for approximately 40% of the global RFID industry by 2016.
- In terms of global RFID projects, UK is the second largest market after US.
- The RFID market continues to expand by research & innovations in various application areas like supply chain and pharmaceuticals.
- In 2006, RFID application in retail and supply chain accounted for 55% of the total Western European RFID industry.
- RFID has become a top priority for many European countries in retail sector in terms of planned IT investment.
- Germany alone is expected to account for 25% of RFID tags usage in retail trade in Europe by 2010.
- Mass transportation is turning out to be a new area for RFID application.
- Wi-Fi in RFID has emerged as an opportunity for the RFID and related vendors.

Key Issues and Facts

The research report addresses the issues and facts critical for the success of RFID industry in Europe, like:

- What are the current industry trends in various European countries?
- What are the future prospects of the RFID industry in Europe?
- What are the various challenges and opportunities before the industry?
- How the rising consumer awareness and increasing government support is driving the European RFID industry?
- What are the initiatives taken by European countries to deploy RFID in various fields?
- Who are the major players in European RFID industry?

Key Players

This section covers the overview of key players currently operating in the European RFID industry, their key financials, and frequencies in which they are offering RFID tags. These include Siemens AG, AirGATE Technologies, Checkpoint Systems, Inc., Datamax Corp, ADT Security Services, Brooks Automation (Germany) GmbH, BT Auto-ID Services, CIBER, Inc, Intermec, Inc., and NCR Corporation.

Research Methodology Used

Information Sources

Information has been sourced from various credible sources like books, newspapers, trade journals, and white papers, industry portals, government agencies, trade associations, monitoring industry news and developments, and through access to access to more than 3000 paid databases.

Analysis Method

The analysis methods include ratio analysis, historical trend analysis, linear regression analysis using software tools, judgmental forecasting and cause and effect analysis.

Bartronics India

Operating in a business that is growing at 35 per cent per annum, Bartronics looks incredibly cheap.

After its debut on the bourses in January 2006, Bartronics India did not do too well as its share price fell all the way to Rs 46 within a year. The slide in the share price was attributed to its high valuations in the context of its net profit being fairly low at Rs 5.33 crore and a turnover of Rs 29.5 crore in FY06.

But the company has justified its worth to the market by recording a substantial jump in its earnings.

In FY07, the company registered a sales growth of 120 per cent at Rs 63.5 crore and a net profit growth of 150 per cent at Rs 13.46 crore.

Recognising this change, the market has re-rated the stock with its price moving back to 131. There could be further upside as the company would continue to growth quite fast on the strength of its products mainly focused on the booming retail sector.

The recent growth, in the light of better industry outlook and strong client base, seems sustainable in the long-run.

Besides, its increasing focus on the international market and commissioning of new facility to venture into new products augur well for the future. Along with this, the company also has an order book of Rs 175 crore (about 2.7 times FY07 revenue) to be executed over the next two years.

Bartronics provides end-to-end solutions in inventory and logistics management, attendance and asset tracking systems. The company offers automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies, barcode, biometrics, radio frequency identification (RFID), radio frequency data communications (RFDC) and electronic article surveillance (EAS).

The company is primarily a solution provider and procures products and equipment from international markets according to customers' requirements.

In the domestic market, Bartronics is a leading player with a market share of about 24 per cent with a strong client base of 1600, which includes well known companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, HLL, ITC, Ashok Leyland, TVS, CMC, Ranbaxy, Compaq, Dr Reddy's to name a few.

Growth in core businessGlobally, especially in the developed world, the market for inventory and supply chain management products is huge.

The Indian market however is still not mature and it is in the initial phase of development where companies are investing in integration of processes, and managing businesses with the application of the technology.

However, following the success of enterprise solutions like ERP, CRM and SCM, AIDC is receiving a good amount of attention, as it can leverage past tech investments better through automated data collection and input.

The domestic market which largely comprises of smart-card and bar code solutions, were estimated at Rs 100-odd crore in 2005. This segment is expected to grow at 20-30 per cent per annum.

However, within this segment, RFID and biometric solutions are emerging as new technologies and hence growing faster at about 50 per cent per annum. This segment is poised to grow rapidly since it is increasing finding application in the retail and manufacturing sectors.

Since retailing in the country is presently in a growth phase, this alone has the potential to create a huge market for these products.

Besides, a majority of the larger companies have already invested in ERP and SCM software that need to be leveraged further. Bartronics with its first mover advantage and relevant technological expertise has potential to grow its existing line of business at about 35-40 per cent over the next few years.

Smart moveParallel to its existing business, the company has recently invested in a manufacturing facility to make Smart cards. Smart cards find their applications in several growing businesses such as mobile sim-cards, government projects and magnetic banking transaction cards.

According to industry estimates, there is demand for more than 150 million units of smart card per year and this is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 45 per cent.

In India, most of the demand will be driven by telecom and banking sector. According to Visa and Master card consortium, the existing magnetic swap cards used for banking transaction will be converted into smart cards to facilitate multiple applications and prevent fraud.

If all the exiting swap cards are converted into the smart cards, it will mean a big opportunity. However, this is still a distant reality considering that it will require a complete ramp up of the reading machines too.

Besides, there is ample opportunity for smart card applications thanks to certain government initiatives. The central government has already planned to implement Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC), for which Bartronics has been selected as a vendor.

The MNIC project is currently in pilot mode in 20 selected sub-districts of 13 states and union territories.

“It is a huge opportunity for which there are no adequate capacity as of now, but it may take another 2-3 years for this programme to take-off. Considering the huge opportunity, we believe 3-5 new players will enter this segment,” says Sudhir Rao.

To capture the fast growing demand for smart cards, the company is spending Rs 260 crore to put up a capacity to produce 80 million units of smart cards.

In the first phase, which is expected to start production in January 2008, the company will have the capacity to produce 60 per cent of the total. The entire capacity will come into force in FY09.

Depending on the product and application, smart cards are estimated to have a realisation of about Rs 30-98 per unit. Considering 60 per cent capacity utilisation in the current financial year, and the said realisation rate, the turnover for the year is estimated to be in the range of Rs 144-470 crore.

On a conservative basis, one can expect a revenue of about 195 crore this year and about Rs 310 crore in FY09.

Rao says, “The smart card segment alone has the potential to contribute about Rs 600-700 crore of revenue. But a lot will depend on the product mix. As we move towards value added products, which fetch higher realisation, this kind of revenue is achievable.”

Global spreadLike India, many of the developing markets seem to be developing an appetite for these products. Bartronics generates about 45 per cent of revenue from the export markets. It has five international distribution centres catering to the growing AIDC market in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Dubai.

The company has tied-up with Watchdata Technologies for sourcing and marketing of smart cards in Singapore while it is expanding in the Sri Lankan market through a tie up with Hayleys group. The company is also looking at business worth $20-30 million in the US market.
Valuations and outlookThe company is in the growth phase and is expected to grow at a rapid clip in the next few years. Its core business is growing at 35-45 per cent, however, higher growth will kick in with the increase in smart card production.

On the diluted equity, which builds in recently raised Rs 100 crore FCCB, the stock is trading at 9.3 times its FY08 earnings and 5.9 times FY09 earnings. Considering the high growth the company promises, valuations look attractive.

Source : Business Standard

Bartronics india

Bartronics India Limited had informed the Exchange regarding the incorporation of Wholly Owned Subsidiary Company named M/s Bartronics Asia Pte. Ltd on June 14, 2007 in the Republic of Singapore vide Registration No: 200710613N. The Company has now informed the Exchange regarding the correction in earlier intimation.

Source : Nseindia.com

Live briefing on the RFID

Frost & Sullivan's Automation & Electronics Practice in Asia Pacific will host an exclusive live briefing on the RFID Supply Chain market in Asia Pacific on June 28, 2007 at 11:00 hrs (GMT+ 08:00hrs) Singapore time.

RFID supply chain deployments in Asia Pacific have been relatively slow as compared to Europe or the United States due to various factors. Among them have been high deployment costs and the inability to realize the ROI through such initiatives.

As more proof of concept and pilot projects are being carried out, better awareness on this technology's potential in the supply chain has been brought about. Furthermore, as the cost of this technology gradually reduces, more end-users will find it feasible to embark on an RFID initiative.

The growth of the RFID supply chain market is slowly gaining momentum. End-users are beginning to realize the potential benefits RFID technology can bring to a supply chain in terms of efficiency. We are beginning to see more large scale deployments in many parts of the Asia Pacific and this trend is expected to continue forward.

This briefing will provide an overview of the Asia Pacific RFID Supply Chain Market and an analysis of the industry challenges and drivers and a look at the potential market growth. Highlights of the briefing include an investigative comparison of the competitive structure, a market forecast and the future of RFID in the Asia Pacific supply chain market.

Richard Sebastian, Research Analyst for the Automation & Electronics Practice of Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific said in a release, "The revenue growth rate for the RFID supply chain market in Asia Pacific observed in 2006 was 7.9 percent. This is considered relatively low, and this figure was achieved primarily by contribution from projects that were carried out driven by compliancy to mandates."

Bartronics India allots FCCBs

Bartronics India Ltd has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 31, 2007, has allocated Zero coupon unsecured Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds to the tune of US$ 25,000,000.

Bartronics India

Bartronics India Ltd has announced the commissioning and dedication of its new state-of-the-art Smartcards Manufacturing facility to the nation. The facility, first of its kind in India has been setup about 40 kms outside Hyderabad. With the completion of the first phase of an ambitious Rs 270 crores expansion plan, the Company has successfully demonstrated its capability to conceive and implement its plans within tight timelines. As a Company, the manufacturing facility has opened up the hitherto non-existent Smartcards technology area as a business expansion for the Company.

The Company has been providing end-to-end solutions in the Automatic Identification and Data Capture technologies for over last 16 years. Today, the Company has over 1600 customers spread throughout India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Known for its quality and customer orientation, the Company has successfully provided solutions by executing large-scab turnkey projects in Bar-coding, Radio Frequency Based Identification (RFID) and Biometrics technologies and is the acknowledged market leader in its domain. The Company declared a sales turnover of over Rs 62 crores for the current year growing at more than 100% over the last year. For the next year, with the commissioning of the manufacturing plant, the Company is expected to cross the milestone of Rs 200 crores in sales.

The 80 million cards per annum facility is one of the largest facilities for manufacture of smart cards in South Asia. A recent study by one of the reputed market research Companies has projected the demand for smart cards to be over 150 million units this year and growing at a CAGR of around 45%. In line with the market demands, the Company intends selling its new products and solutions initially to the telecom industry and then gradually moving on to government projects and the banking sector over the next 3-4 years. The Company has already entered into selling arrangements with a few leading consumers for the next two years and consequently move up from an estimated 70% capacity utilization in the first year to 100% in the second year of operations.

The culmination of the first phase of the project also effectively completes deployment of the funds raised by the Company over the last two years. The Company successfully closed its maiden Initial Public Offer (IPO) in the year 2005 and raised funds through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue in early 2007. For the second phase of the expansion, the Company has plans to raise around US$ 25 million through a FCCB issue during May / June 2007. The second phase is a backward integration project, where the Company intends manufacturing chip modules required for the production of smart cards. The Company has already identified the equipment necessary for the second phase and intends deploying the same by the end of 2007 / early 2008. In addition, the Company is actively considering the acquisition route to open up new geographical markets for selling its products and solutions in other parts of the world.

Source : BseIndia

Bartronics

Bartronics has announced its fourth quarter results. The company posted Q4 net profit of Rs 4.55 crore (Rs 45.5 million) versus Rs 1.47 crore (Rs 14.7 million) in same period of previous year.

Sudir Rao on CNBC : Video