HCC Q3 net dips 46 per cent

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) on Friday reported a 46 per cent fall in third-quarter net profit at Rs 7.9 crore, compared to Rs 14.7 crore in the year-ago quarter. The company attributed the drop in net profit to foreign exchange losses of Rs 6.1 crore and tax liability of Rs 2.8 crore of earlier quarters.

Turnover rose 8.7 per cent to Rs 1,027 crore from Rs 945 crore. The order book was at Rs 18,505 crore against Rs 15,703 crore.

Vinayak Deshpande, head of HCC’s construction business, said the company’s order book was expected to be at Rs 20,000 crore by the end of this financial year.

“There is a slowdown and that is impacting the order inflow,” Deshpande said. He said the slowdown implied the order backlog would be under pressure.

Nearly half of HCC’s overall business comes from hydro projects and the rest comes from non-hydro projects like roads and others. HCC shares closed 1.35 per cent down at Rs 40.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.