Production and visual effects company Prime Focus had a lacklustre listing today. The stock was listed at Rs 322 on the NSE and at Rs 349 on the BSE versus an issue price of Rs 417.
Prime Focus MD, Namit Malhotra says that the company expects a turnaround with its recent acquisition of a UK firm with a £20 million revenue. Prime Focus had acquired a UK-based company with revenues of £20 million for about £4.2 million cash. Malhotra says that the UK acquisition is cash positive, but PAT negative.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Namit Malhotra:
It's not a great listing but your shareholders would want to know what you can deliver in terms of numbers this year as some of your expansions projects kick in. What can you do in terms of sales and profit this year?
As per Sebi restrictions we are not able to give any forward-looking statements. But most investors can take solace from the fact that one of the key aspects of our expansion, which is a UK acquisition, was successfully completed a couple of months back. Things are already underway to try and bring about the restructuring and the instant
How big is the UK acquisition and what it could add to your revenues this year? Just give us a sense of size there?
It is a £20 million revenue company and if one uses that as an indicator for what one can expect going forward; then that should bring about four-five times increase overall.
Is it a profitable company?
It is cash positive, PAT negative at this point but with their integration with us, we are hoping to bring about something that will turn it around quickly.
You will not give us specific expansion plans that you have in mind, can you set out a roadmap in terms of your growth targets now?
As per our prospectus we cannot go beyond December. We have commissioned a new facility in south Mumbai, which would add into the revenues of FY07. We are in the process of commissioning our facilities in Chennai, which hopefully in the next ten days will be on stream and it will be the most modern infrastructure that south India has ever seen.
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