Mascot Systems remained in focus on Wednesday on recording an impressive result that beat market expectations.

By 11:20 IST, the scrip of the Bangalore-based software company surged 14.92% to Rs 111.30. It registered volumes of 91,206 shares on BSE till then. In last one month, the scrip of Mascot Systems rose 28% from its 52-week low of Rs 87 till the current levels.

On Wednesday, after market hours the company declared its fourth quarter as well as full year results.

For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003 results the software company posted a 36.7% rise in net profit to Rs 11.72 crore on a 11% increase in total income to Rs 100.30 crore (Rs 1 billion).

The company's quarterly net profit has surpassed analysts expectation that estimated the company to recorded a net profit in the range of Rs 6.2-6.9.

For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company's net profit stood at Rs 29.36 crore on total income of Rs 382.25 crore (Rs 3.82 billion).

On consolidated basis, for the quarter ended 31 March 2003, the company posted a net profit of Rs 10.26 crore on total income of Rs 143.76 crore (Rs 1.43 billion).

For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company's consolidated net profit stood at Rs 28.37 crore on total income of Rs 430.94 crore (Rs 4.3 billion).

Meanwhile the company's board has recommended a dividend of 40% for FY 2002-03.

Analysts said the rise in the stock is due to its good quarterly performance, which beat market expectation as well as on the good performance from its newly acquired companies.

Meanwhile going ahead too, the company feels that the newly acquired companies of eJiva and Aqua Regia, are expected to provide critical mass, enhance client profile, expand depth and range of services and strengthen sales and marketing, increasing Mascot's potential to compete for large business engagements. Consolidation of eJiva's financial performance has provided a significant upside to Mascot's financial performance in the final quarter of FY 2003. Going forward this is likely to will lead to business and earnings growth in FY 2004 as the performance of the acquired entities accrues to Mascot for the entire year. Furthermore, the business acquisitions will diversify earnings streams and enhance the company's ability to grow in variable business conditions.

Mascot acquired eJiva (including a Toronto-based development center), effective 1 January 2003, and Aqua Regia, effective 1 April 2003, to provide critical mass, enhance client profile, expand depth and range of services and strengthen sales and marketing, increasing Mascot's potential to compete for large business engagements.

Mascot Systems is a leading provider of solutions for application maintenance outsourcing, e-business, business intelligence, application re-engineering, custom solutions and embedded systems. Mascot uses its proprietary solutions suite, SmartAPPSSM, as the framework for its distributed delivery. Mascot Systems has established operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Singapore and Australia. The company has built a strong infrastructure capability that comprises over 1,600 employees worldwide and world-class offshore development centres in Bangalore and Chennai.

Mascot focuses on the finance and banking, retail and distribution, manufacturing, telecommunications and service industries.

In the September-December 2002 quarter, the company acquired the prestigious SEI-CMM (Software Engineering Institute - Capability Maturity Model) Level 5 certification for quality of software processes. The company was also awarded the BS7799 Security Compliance Certification that assesses security of a wide range of information systems and processes. These certifications enhance the company's competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

Meanwhile, Mascot is also looking at investing in the Business Process Outsourcing space and is also considering acquisition of companies in this space in India. The company is planning to acquire early stage BPO companies with 300 to 500 agents, either into call centres or transaction processing (claims management, post sales support, etc.).

As on 31 March 2003, the promoters' holding in Mascot was 88.35%, while the public and institutions held 5.37% and 5.03%, respectively