Legler Nafees Denim Mills Ltd, has changed its name as on April 07,2004 to Azgard Nine Limited. It is a public limited company incorporated in the province of Punjab. It was listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Ltd in 1996.
The company is a composite spinning, weaving, dyeing, stitching unit engaged in the manufacturing of yarn, denim and denim products.
It is a constellation of two giants from East and West. Legler SPA of Italy and the Nafees Group of Pakistan. Legler has a market share in excess of 20% in the Denim Sector.
Legler is also one of the largest producers of corduroy and flat cotton goods in Europe. The Nafees Group is one of the oldest business groups on the Asian subcontinent dating back to 1885. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, the Group saw massive growth.
In 1972 the group became internationally expanding to Ireland in the textile sector.
In 1978 the group established its presented in the United States by acquiring Burke Mills Inc in North Carolina. By 1980 there was addition of another company Tennessee Textiles.
In 1996 it expanded its America operations into Mexico where it set-up a yarn twisting operation as another joint venture between the Nafees Group and the Alpha Group, which is the largest industrial group in Mexico.
The company's claim on its website is that it is manufacturing some of the finest denim products in the world. It has a fabric manufacturing capacity of eighteen million meters a year and the garment manufacturing capacity is ten thousand pieces per day.
As regards operating performance the company's turnover increased to Rs 1.368 bln as compared to Rs 1.123 bln posted in the first half of the preceding year (FHY 2003-03) registering 21.8% growth.
The Chief Executive of the company Ahmed H Shaikh said that the turnover was below its targeted turnover of Rs 1.50 bln for which he reasoned that there was slow market conditions resulting in the under utilisation of the production capacity.
There was another internal factor also as there was slower than projected build up of the new garment production capacity. The company's gross and operating profits were on the higher side.
The sharp reduction in the financial charges provided further boost to its profitability. Additionally tax rate has gone down from 0.87% to 0.62% of net sales.
Resultantly the EPS improved to Rs 2.00 from Rs 1.02 during six months. During the last one year the market capitalisation shot up more than three times as the price of its share appreciated from Rs 9 to Rs 30 per share.
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Performance Statistics (Million Rupees)
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Balance sheet -As At-
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March 31 September 30
2004 2003
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Share Capital-Paid-Up: 868.65 868.65
Reserves & Surplus: 597.03 412.76
Shareholders Equity: 1,465.68 1,281.41
Surplus on Revaluation
Of Fixed Assets: 318.41 330.25
L T Debts: 829.53 803.86
Deferred Liability-Gratuity: 28.63 25.51
L T Deposits: 6.28 6.39
Current Liabilities: 2,817.09 2,382.30
Fixed Capital Expenditure: 2,699.81 2,333.75
L T Investments: 19.66 2.66
L T Deposits & Deferred Costs: 34.73 14.55
Current Assets: 2,711.42 2,478.76
Total Assets: 5,465.62 4,829.72
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Profit & Loss A/c For the
Half Year Ended March 31 2004 2003
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Sales Net: 1,368.10 1,123.45
Gross Profit: 321.41 304.79
Operating Profit: 240.08 215.47
Other Income: 0.35 0.14
Financial Other (Charges-Net): (57.87) (117.07)
Profit Before Taxation: 182.55 98.55
Profit After Taxation: 174.05 88.72
Earning Per Share (Rs): 2.00 1.02
Share Price (Rs) 07/09/04: 21.45 -
Price/Earning Ratio: 10.72 -
Book Value Of Share (Rs): 16.87 14.75
Debt/Equity Ratio: 32:68 33:67
Current Ratio: 0.96 0.96
Gross Profit Margin(%): 23.49 27.13
Net Profit Margin (%): 12.72 7.90
R.O.A: 3.18 1.84
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