ABB Dec qtr net dips 35% to Rs 354 cr

ABB Ltd on Friday posted a 35 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 354.64 crore for the year ending December 31, 2009 amid sluggish economic conditions.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2009, ABB reported a 43 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 109.61 crore, ABB said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

The cumulative revenue for 2009 was Rs 6,237.2 crore, about 9 per cent down form the previous year. Revenue in the fourth quarter stood at Rs 1,885.2 crore, as against Rs 2,166.3 crore in the same period previous year.

"We remain optimistic in terms of the market and expect our business to grow further. The company received significant orders for automation and power products including substantial orders from new revenue streams like water, renewable energy and railways," ABB India Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Biplab Majumdar said.

Sluggish economic conditions and project delays witnessed in the earlier part of the year and the fact that large share of orders were with longer gestation period brought down the overall revenues during the year, the company said.

Decline in revenues was also caused due to exit from the rural electrification business in line with the company's decision, ABB added.

However, the order backlog of the company increased significantly. ABB booked orders worth Rs 8,684.7 crore during the year ended 2009, up 8 per cent from the year ago period.

Order intake for the fourth quarter 2009 was Rs 2,376.7 crore, while in the corresponding period it stood at a modest Rs 1,261 crore, it added.

ABB plans to recruit and train people aggressively to handle large projects in the coming months across all major business verticals to execute the large order backlog as well as to tap opportunities in the niche market segments, it said.

The board of directors have declared a dividend of 100 per cent subject to shareholders approval.

Net sales of the company also declined to Rs 1,885.25 crore for December quarter against Rs 2,166.34 crore a year ago.