Sterlite Technologies Ltd, a part of Sterlite group, has declared the results for the three month period ended December 31, 2008.

The leading global provider of wire and cable solutions for the power and telecom industry has posted a growth of 19.13 per cent in net profit for the three month period, which stood at 314.50 million from Rs 264 million the previous year.

The company was greatly helped by cutting costs and excess inventory, sharp rise in order book plus new customers.

The total income of the company had a rise by 27.88 per cent to Rs 6,422.20 million for the three month period ended December 31.

There was an increase by 27.88% to Rs 6,419.90 million in the net sales of the company for the quarter, as against Rs 5,020.30 million in the same period a year ago.

As far as the earning per share of the company is concerned, it grew to Rs 4.87 per share, up 14.32 per cent for the quarter ended December 31.

Shares in the firm extended gains after the result, closing up 21.2 per cent at 56.4 rupees in a choppy Mumbai market.

“We added more clients in terms of geographies,” Mr. Anand Agarwal, company’s CEO, said. “Africa continues to be a very good market but this quarter we focussed more on India for sales.”

During the third quarter, the order book of the company, whose clients include state-run telecom operators BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, stood at Rs 142 crore.

The company's power transmission business contributed Rs 430 crore during the third quarter (Q3), whereas the telecom products business accounted for Rs 210 crore.

Mr. Agarwal said that the firm’s EBITDA margin improved significantly quarter-on-quarter as costs of raw materials including metals and furnace oil fell sharply and on cost cutting.

Sterlite expects to achieve its target revenue growth of 35-40 per cent during the existing year, Mr. Agarwal added.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company scrip, on Monday (Jan 19) was up by 19.1% to Rs 55.45. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 674940. Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 11.73 and 4.73 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 279.85 and a low of Rs 40.70 on BSE.