ABB Q4 net profit up 7 per cent

Power and automation major ABB India has posted a modest growth in its fourth quarter net profit despite deferring some large orders and softness in some of the traditional sectors such as power systems and process automation.

The Bangalore-headquartered company posted a 6.8 per cent increase in its December quarter bottom line at Rs 193 crore compared to the year-ago period. The company's revenue during the quarter grew by almost 19 per cent to Rs 2,217 crore. The EBITDA margin was 13 per cent as against 12.8 per cent in the corresponding quarter the year ago.

The company's order book for the quarter dropped 37.1 per cent to Rs 1,261 crore as against the same quarter a year ago. ABB India Managing Director Biplab Majumder attributed the drop to the deferment of some large orders in the automotive and mining segments. In CY08, the company posted a 11.3 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 547.4 crore.

Firm names new chairman ABB on Friday appointed Gary Steel as the chairman of the Board of Directors.

Steel is now the Head of Human Resources and member of the Group of Executive Committee, ABB Group will be an executive chairman of ABB India and will be located in Zurich.

In CY08, the company posted a 11.3 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 547.4 crore when compared with the same period. Revenue for the year increased 16 per cent to Rs 6,967 crore. In CY07, the company's net profit and revenue grew by 44 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively on a year-on-year basis.

"There is an air of uncertainty hanging over the domestic industry because of the slowdown. We have not experienced the brunt of the slowdown due to the fact that we are by and large reliant on domestic consumption for growth. However, we will certainly see demand rationalisation in the short term," Majumder added.

The company said they have initiated various cost-cutting measures, including cut in the travel budget, administrative expenses and a brace on their new expansion plans, as they expect the demand environment to be soft for the next three to four quarters.