DSQ Software profit slides 40%

CHENNAI, OCT 15: After BFL Software, one more company has reported a fall in profits. DSQ Software Ltd has reported a 40 per cent dip in ...

CHENNAI, OCT 15: After BFL Software, one more company has reported a fall in profits. DSQ Software Ltd has reported a 40 per cent dip in its net profit earning Rs 12.36 crore for the half-year ended September 1999 as compared to Rs 20.52 crore secured during the corresponding period last year. This is at a time when other software companies are raking in bumper profits.

The slide in the net profit, the company said in a statement, was due to the accelerated depreciation policy adopted by the firm. Depreciation charges have seen a 160 per cent hike and have been provided at Rs 14.95 crore (Rs 5.73 crore).

Net sales of the company has registered only a marginal 5.5 per cent increase at Rs 100.25 crore (Rs 94.96 crore). Total expenditure has gone up to Rs 65.22 crore (Rs 63.48 crore). Interest charges were higher at Rs 8.02 crore (Rs 5.41 crore) during the first half of the current fiscal. Gross profit after interest but before depreciation and taxation was Rs 27.31 crore (Rs 26.25 crore). The paid-up equity share capital of the company stood at Rs 20.25 crore.

Since the systems, procedures and operations of the company are Y2K compliant, there will not be any adverse impact on account of millennium issue, the company release said. The board of directors of the company took the results on record at a meeting held on Friday, October 15, 1999.

With a view to improving its quality of sales, the company had adopted a change in its strategy by approaching the end-users directly. It had decided to do away with the system of booking orders through channel partners. And this has had its impact on the sales figures of the firm. However, significant progress has been made by getting direct contact with the end-users, the company release claims.

The company has also opened three new offices in the US during the last six months for expanding its marketing base. It has identified e-commerce, engineering consultancy and telecom and networking business as core areas of growth, the release added.