Leading Indian road express transport operator Gati returned to the black in the first threemonths of 2010 with revenues soaring by 22% thanks to stronger marketing and new
products.In the third quarter of its 2009/10 fiscal year, the company made a net profit of Rs 41.1million (€0.7 million) compared with a loss of Rs 170.6 million (€2.9 million) one year earlier.Its operating profit rose by 79% to Rs 145 million (€2.4 million), giving it an operating profitmargin of 7.7%. Turnover for January-March 2010 rose 22% to Rs 1.9 billion (€32 million).
The dominant express/supply chain business increased revenues by 34% to Rs 1.6 billion (€27million), and improved operating profits significantly to Rs 185 million (€3.1 million) from Rs 49million (€0.8 million) one year earlier. The express operating margin went up to 11.4% from 4%.
Commenting on the best-ever Q3 performance of the company, CEO Mahendra Agarwal said: “Themeasures such as better key account management, increased ‘go to market’ presence and adding newnetwork routes on railways taken by the company in the last few months contributed to the best-everperformance.”
Looking ahead, he said the company’s focus would now be to substantially increase the networkreach beyond the current 611 districts, and reach out to rural areas. In line with this, thecompany has extended its network to 20,382 post-codes out of the total 26,300 post codes in thecountry.
