ABB India on Tuesday posted more than two-fold jump in net profit to Rs 151 crore for the January-March quarter compared to the year-ago period mainly on the back of higher revenues.
The company had a net profit of Rs 66 crore in the quarter ended on March 31, 2020, according to a regulatory filing by the company.
Total revenue from operations rose to Rs 1,629.15 crore in the quarter from Rs 1,522.24 crore year ago.
The company follows January to December financial year.
“The first three months of the year continued to be impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent supply & demand disruptions across several market segments. At ABB India we continue to keep our employees’, contractors’, suppliers’ and customers’ health and safety as our highest priority,” Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India, said in a statement.
The company’s cash position continues to remain robust at Rs 2,528 crore at the end of Q1 2021 (January-March) vis-a-vis Rs 1,464 crore in Q1 2020 (January-March).
“With a stable and growing order backlog, robust cash reserves, cost optimization initiatives and business continuity plans, we believe that we are reasonably positioned to deliver on our ambitious goals while managing renewed market uncertainty.
“As a highlight, during the past quarter, we have secured several orders in high-growth segments such as robotics and automation solutions for the world’s largest scooter factory located in India,” Sharma said.
Overall, ABB India has recorded a significant sequential order increase with improvements across all our divisions, he added.
Total orders at Rs 1,825 crore for the quarter (January-March 2020) reflect the company’s continuous journey of improvement on a sequential basis, representing growth of 24 per cent over Q4 2020 (October-December 2020), while being lower by 7 per cent Y-o-Y (year on year) owing to a large order previous year.
During the quarter under review, Robotics and Discrete Automation, and Process Automation business areas both posted solid growth by converting the available opportunities. Robotics secured significant wins during the quarter, which will strengthen the installed base and leverage our expanded operational capacity.
Investment decisions by the customers belonging to core sectors, i.e., metals & mining, which were earlier held back as a result of the market uncertainty and enhancement of channel business in process industries, led to order growth in Process Automation, the company stated.
The quarter was also marked by orders in high growth segments like pharmaceutical, e-mobility, renewables, etc, it added.
The company reported Rs 1,629 crores revenue for the quarter based on the successful backlog conversion, it stated.
The company reported a Profit Before Tax of Rs 204 crores mainly driven by operational improvement initiatives, capacity utilization and reduced expenses. It also included a one-time gain of Rs 75 crore due to disposal of an asset as a part of footprint rationalization initiative.
About the pandemic, it stated, “While the global economy is facing headwinds due to the pandemic, India has come under severe pressure with a sharp increase in cases and subsequently a restriction in activities owing to the second wave of COVID-19.
“The start of the vaccination drive in the country did initially lead to a momentary recovery, however, the resurgence of the virus has brought in renewed market uncertainty and unpredictability.” “For now, we are continuing to see marginal recovery in certain segments and industries like datacenters, renewables, electronics, F&B and pharmaceuticals. ABB India will continue to focus on order wins and seamless execution across projects while continuing to engage closely with customers,” it added.
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