Sterlite Technologies Ltd, on Thursday announced its financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2016.

The quarter saw a strong and expanding global demand for Optical Fibre, supported by growth in China market. Sterlite Tech posted a total volume of 6.1 million fkm in Q2FY’17 vs 5.5 million fkm in Q1FY’17, operating at close to 25 million fkm annual capacity. At the start of this year, the Company had embarked on the journey of expanding its Optical Fibre capacity to 30 million fkm by mid FY18, which has been progressing well.

Financial Highlights for Q2FY17 (Consolidated - All figures are in Ind AS & Rs crore)

• Recorded revenues of Rs 551 crore with an EBITDA of Rs 109crore (20%).
• International sales doubled from Rs 115 crore in Q2FY’16 to Rs 231 crore in Q2FY’17.
• Added new orders worth Rs 731 crore in the current quarter, leading to healthy order book of Rs 2,324 crore at the end of H1FY’17.
• Profit after Tax (PAT) stood at Rs51 crore which included one-time tax benefit on account of merger of passive infrastructure business of Speed on Network Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company) into parent company Sterlite Technologies.
• The Board of Directors has approved the Company’s Dividend Policy that entails dividend of around 30% of net profits on the Consolidated Financials basis. In line with the philosophy of the said policy the Board will consider declaration of interim dividend by Circular Resolution on November 2, 2016.
• Cable volumes remain subdued due to slow uptake in India demand.

“We are witnessing an expanding optical fibre demand globally and good traction in upcoming network & system integration opportunities in India. With strong industry sentiments around 4G, Smart City, BharatNet and FTTH deployments, we remain bullish on India market and opportunities it presents across our business segments from optical communication products to services and software. With an expanding order book of currently Rs 2,324 crore and a strong pipeline of over Rs10,000 crore of opportunities under decision, we are committed to deliver stronger performance in the coming quarters,” said Dr Anand Agarwal, CEO, Sterlite Technologies.

Sterlite Tech also announced its smarter network order win from Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd, a public transit system of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. As part of the project, an optical fibre backhaul infrastructure will be deployed to interconnect Ahmedabad’s BRTS corridor to the Main Data Centre and Disaster Recovery Site through passive network integration. Various smart city components will ride on this network.

On the business outlook, Pravin Agarwal, Vice Chairman, Sterlite Technologies, said, “With growing data demand, broadband infrastructure will amplify revenues for telecom providers and ensure needed customer experience and loyalty.” He also highlighted the criticality of broadband highways to bridge the urban-rural divide and create numerous opportunities to increase the internet economy. On the role Sterlite Tech can play in this transformation, he said, “We are focused on executing our customer-centric strategy and increase emphasis of our smarter networks offering to leverage the broadband explosion”.