HCC Q2 net up over 5-fold to Rs 38.44 cr;closes sale of a proj

Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today reported over fivefold jump in standalone net profit to Rs 38.44 crore for the quarter ended September 30, on the back of higher turnover.
The Mumbai-headquartered company had posted a net profit of Rs 6.76 crore for the July-September quarter of 2014-15.
"HCC net Profit is up 468 per cent to Rs 38.4 crore in Q2 FY 2015-16... The company's turnover is at Rs 961.8 crore compared to Rs 958.9 crore," the company said in a statement.
Its total expenses declined to Rs 787.94 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs 791.99 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The company said it has won orders worth Rs 3,664 crore in the current fiscal as of date and is also the lowest bidder in projects worth Rs 4,381 crore where the contracts are yet to be signed.
With this, the combined orders in hand and in the pipeline has crossed Rs 20,000 crore mark, which is the highest in last five years and nearly five times of the turnover achieved in financial year 2014-15.

"Today, HCC Concessions closed the sale of its stake in the Rs 1,420 crore, Dhule Palesner Tollway Ltd to the Sadbhav Group for Rs 204 crore, which results in consolidated debt reduction of Rs 395 crore," the company said.

With the closing of Nirmal BOT Ltd to the IDFC Group expected in the coming days, consolidated debt at HCC will stand reduced by a further Rs 225 crore, it said.
The stake sale in 247 Corporate Park was also accomplished in the Q2 FY2015-16 to Blackstone at an enterprise value of Rs 1,047 crore, which includes assumed debt, resulting in a net cash inflow of over Rs 200 crore to HCC Group, it said.
Praveen Sood, group CFO said, "There is visibility of outlay by public sector/government undertakings and reflects in the contracts secured by HCC. The prospects in infrastructure sector have started looking promising.

"In addition, the recent arbitration ordinance will help HCC to monetize the stuck claims faster to improve the cash-flow. HCC has a prominent presence and proven capabilities over a wide spectrum of infrastructure sectors. We are hopeful of benefitting from the growth opportunities as they emerge."
As far as performance its arm HCC Infrastructure Company was concerned, the Rs 1,720 crore Farakka-Raiganj highway (102 km) has achieved 70 progress progress, it said adding tolling on the Rs 1,424 crore Baharampore-Farakka highway (101 km) is proceeding smoothly and the monsoon quarter collection averaged Rs 20 lakh daily.
"The company is evaluating various solutions with NHAI and its lenders for the restart of its development between Raiganj and Dalkhola (Package 5) which has suffered a nearly 5 year delay in land acquisition, and for which 80 per cent ROW has now finally been procured," it said.