KEC International net up marginally

KEC International, the RPG Group promoted power transmission engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, has posted a marginally higher net profit of Rs 25.50 crore for the for the first quarter of 2008-09, compared with the Rs.25.31 crore net profit for the corresponding previous year quarter.

Total revenue of the company increased by 17.3 per cent to Rs 600.15crore, compared with the previous year corresponding period revenues of of Rs 511.60 crore.

"Our margins were squeezed during the quarter and in our line of business it is difficult to get a margin of more than 10 per cent in the current circumstances,"said Ramesh Chandak, managing director, KEC International.

The company’s order book position has risen from Rs 3250 crore in 2007 to Rs 4700 crore and that would help the company perform better in the coming quarters, he said.

The current figures are not comparable to first quarter of last year, since RPG Transmission (RPGT) and National Information Technologies Limited (NITEL) were merged into KEC during the last year, said the company.

Ramesh Chandak said 30 per cent of the company's business come from the domestic market and the rest from Middle East countries, Africa and Kazhakistan. KEC is also venturing into the markets of Myanmar and some more African countries, he said.