Sasken PAT down 31 percent

BANGALORE, INDIA: Sasken Communication Technologies Limited has posted consolidated profit after tax of Rs 6.39 crore, for the first quarter ended June 30, 2007, a dip by 31 per cent, when compared to Rs 9.19 crore posted last year.

The company’ s consolidated revenues increased 41 per cent to Rs 128.37 crore, from 91.12 crore, posted in the first quarter last year.

Rajiv Mody, chairman and CEO, Sasken, said, "We recorded 2 per cent dollar terms growth in our business. We signed up some key Tier 1 customers for our services business. The rupee appreciation, along with wage hikes, have meant that our services EBITDA is at 12.4 per cent for the quarter."

"In Q1, the products business had two design - wins on the multimedia subsystem side – one each with a Japanese Tier 1 and a Global Tier 1. The pipeline we have in our services and products business is encouraging," he added

The consolidated Forex-hedged position on June 30, 2007 was $39.4 million at an average rate of Rs 45.79, Sasken said in a statement.

The company added 199 employees during the first quarter, taking the total employee strength to 3,513 as on June 30, 2007. Eight new customers were added during the quarter, with a total of 87 active customers.