ABB reports net profit of Rs 52 crore for first quarter

ABB India Limited today reported a net profit of Rs 52 crore for the first quarter ending March 31, 2014, up from Rs 43 crore for the same period in 2013, despite subdued market sentiment.
The company received orders worth Rs 1,982 crore during the quarter, compared to an order intake of Rs 1,540 crore for the same period last year. The large orders were for transformers, substations as well as medium-voltage drives and traction converters.
ABB continued its progress towards localisation and value-chain optimisation to remain competitive, it said in a release here.
The company's order backlog remained strong at Rs 7,876 crore at the end of the quarter as against Rs 8,257 crore for the corresponding period in 2013.

The revenue for the first quarter ending March 31, 2014 was Rs 1,810 crore while for the corresponding period in 2013, it was higher at Rs 1,964 crore supported by the execution of one large order from renewable sector.
The company posted a PBT of Rs 77 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2014 against Rs 64 crore in the same quarter last year.

Solid execution and continuous cost optimization helped improve profitability, it said.
"We had a satisfactory first quarter despite an indecisive investment climate. A balanced portfolio of customer offerings and relentless execution has helped us deliver profitable growth," said Bazmi Husain, Managing Director, ABB India Limited.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 1,50,000 people.