Bharat Forge Q4 net down 52 pc at Rs 100.33 cr

Auto component major Bharat Forge today reported a 51.65 per cent decline in standalone profit at Rs 100.33 crore for the fourth quarter ended March on account of impairment provisioning on investments in non-core areas.

The company had posted a standalone profit of Rs 207.5 crore in the same quarter a year ago, Bharat Forge said in a BSE filing.

During the quarter under review, revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,466.61 crore. It was at Rs 1,183.18 crore in the year-ago period.

Post implementation of GST from July 1, 2017, revenue from operations is required to be disclosed net of GST. Thus the revenues from operations for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018 are not comparable with the corresponding year-ago periods, the company said.

Bharat Forge said in the past, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary in India, Bharat Forge Infrastructure Ltd (BFIL) had made investments in certain non-core areas such as oil exploration and certain EPC contracts.

Due to unsatisfactory outcome of these projects, the company has made a provision of Rs 130.57 crore in standalone financial results towards impairment of investments/advances given, among others and expected losses on contracted payments on these projects, it said.

The company said consolidated profit for the year ended March 31, 2018 was at Rs 753.97 crore as against Rs 710.73 crore in the previous fiscal.

Consolidated revenue from operations for 2017-18 was at Rs 8,414.67 crore. It was at Rs 6,598.16 crore in 2016-17.

"Financial year 2017-18 has been a record year for the company with revenue growth surpassing underlying demand growth across sectors and geographies," Bharat Forge Chairman and Managing Director B N Kalyani said.

During the year, the company secured long-term orders of Rs 700 crore across various segments and geographies, he added.

The company is undertaking an expansion of its forging and machining capacity at the Baramati facility by investing Rs 400 crore. This will cater to the requirements of automotive and industrial markets globally, Kalyani said.

"Looking ahead into FY19, we expect continued strong performance across sectors primarily driven by combination of continued growth in end-market and new product ramp up," he said.