HAL PBT up 4%, sales rise 19%

State-owned aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has posted profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 2,260 crore which is an increase of 4.4 per cent over the last fiscal. According to the provisional financial results declared at the fiscal-end, the company has registered a sales turnover of Rs 10,260 crore in fiscal 2008-09, an increase of 19 per cent on year-on-year basis.

The company will declare net profit after auditing the accounts for the fiscal under review by September 2009 when the company will present it to Parliament for approval as a state-run enterprise.

“With this record performance, we have met the memorandum of understanding (MoU) parameters signed with the defence ministry and will achieve ‘excellent’ rating under the government criteria for performance evaluation of public sector undertakings,” the defence navratna company said in a statement. The company’s net profit for fiscal 2007-08 was Rs 1,632 crore.

“The PBT is 22 per cent of the turnover, which is impressive vis-à-vis that of similar aerospace firms the world over,” said the statement.

The value of production has gone up by 27 per cent YoY to Rs 11,161 crore from Rs 8,791 crore.

The export earnings of the company have gone up by 30 per cent to Rs 421 crore as against Rs 325 crore in fiscal 2008. Recently, the company exported its flagship Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv to Ecuador.

HAL has already paid the highest-ever interim dividend of Rs.300 crore for fiscal 2008-09, which is 249 per cent of the paid-up capital.

The company’s order book position for fiscal 2009-10 stands at Rs 60,000 crore. Meanwhile, HAL’s Bangalore complex managing director Ashok Nayak has taken over as the chairman of the company following the retirement of Ashok K Baweja.