Apcom sets Rs 100 cr target despite dull Q1

Chennai-based Apcom Computers focusing on the networking industry is confident of attaining the Rs 100 crore-revenue target for this fiscal despite a Q1 result 15 percentage less than the Q1 of 2000-2001. It had registered Rs 8.7 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal. It expects a fall of 10 percent in the second quarter of this fiscal also but expects Q3 and Q4 to make up for the losses. The first and second quarters together had contributed to about 45 percentage of the revenue last fiscal.

"We had recognized the lull in the market conditions in February itself. And by early May, we had revised our targets and offloaded some of the targets from Q1 and Q2 to Q3 and Q4. Surveys show that corporate and SMEs have not curtailed their IT spending but have merely stalled it for the time being. So we hope we will have a good Q3 and Q4 which would take us to our targets," said C Sujit Singh, Country Manager,
DAX.

Sujit Singh said that the drop in revenue in Q1 and Q2 would be due to lower IT spending than due to price drops. The average price drops on entry-level products year to year was 15-20 percent and on high-end products, it was negligible.

To Apcom's revenue target of Rs 100 crore this fiscal, its DAX brand is expected to contribute about Rs 72 crore growing at a rate of 200 percentage. Last fiscal, DAX had accounted for Rs 36 crore out of the Rs 52.5 crore revenue for
Apcom.

Apcom would be investing about 6 percentage of its sales revenue in upgrading the support services and brand building.

Apcom also announced its new management team. Sudha Jagadish has taken over as the Chief Operating Officer who would look after operations, logistics and HR. C Sujit Singh will be the Country Manager for DAX taking care of the DAX brand. B Jagadish is the Marketing Controller while B Pasupathy is the new National Sales Manager and A Shivakumaran, the Financial Controller.