WeP plans IPO in Q4-03

BANGALORE: WeP Peripherals Limited, erstwhile Wipro ePeripherals Limited, is planning an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in the fourth quarter of 2003, calendar year, announced WeP, MD and CEO, Ram Agarwal.

But was quick to add, "The public offering is subject to market conditions being supportive. The size of the IPO and whether it will be raised by creating new equity or by selling some of the existing shareholders equity has not yet been decided." WeP is one of the largest employee-owned company with 61 percent of the company held by employees of WeP and Wipro. Wipro Limited holds the rest of the 39 percent stake.

"The public offer is not meant entirely as a money raising exercise, but more of a branding and visibility exercise. Right now about four to five manufacturing companies in the technology sector are listed in the market and I am sure the market will have place for one more credible and well performing company," said Agarwal.

Started in 1996, WeP, manufactured its one-millionth printer with annual sales revenue of over Rs 200 crore. After restructuring in September 2000, the company had an equity base of Rs 18 crore, while generating Rs 38 crore of cash from profits, depreciation and increased efficiency in working capital deployment. The company is also planning to invest the cash generated in manufacturing facilities after making the company debt free with sizeable investible cash available readily.

In the road ahead, the company plans to focus on investing in products and services. In the product stream, WeP, plans to export its products to Europe, SAARC countries and China and expects 20 percent of its business to be contributed from exports of its products. It also plans to roll out storage and networking products, apart from its printers and UPS.

On the services front, WeP, has launched India’s first business printing outsourcing services and has introduced initially in five cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. It has also launched print and save services contributing 25 percent of the total contribution from products. On the growth strategy, the company targets one acquisition per year for expanding its existing products and services businesses and in transformation areas.