During the year, Voltas recorded a sales turnover at Rs 1,538.7 crore, up six per cent from last year. "The postive aspect of this year's performance is that losses have been contained, even as other income constitutes only a fraction of what it was in the previous year," company officials said.

During 1997-98, other income stood at Rs 1.1 crore (profits on sale of property), as against Rs 13.6 crore in the previous fiscal. Cash profit shot up 62 per cent to Rs 17 crore, from Rs 10.5 crore in 1996-97, while gross profit (before interest and depreciation) increased from Rs 55.8 crore to Rs 63.5 crore during the period.

The company's interest liability has risen marginally to Rs 46.5 crore, up from Rs 45.3 crore in the previous financial year.Even the provision for depreciation recorded a modest rise to Rs 25 crore, up from Rs 22.8 crore last year. Voltas wrote off deferred revenue expenditure aggregating Rs 1.3 crore during the year, as against Rs 4.5 crore in 1996-97. It has proposed payment of pro-rata dividend aggregating Rs 0.2 crore on the 14 per cent preference shares.

The company, which is in the midst of a major restructuring exercise, has finalised plans to transfer its loss-making white goods division to a joint venture company with a multinational corporation in which Voltas will hold a minority stake. The proposal is, however, subject to obtaining the requisite approvals, including that of FIs.