HCC Q3 net drops 29% to Rs 19 crore

Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today reported 28.5% dip in standalone net profit at Rs 19.38 crore for the quarter ended December 31.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 27.14 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.

Total income from operations declined to Rs 1,058.04 crore from Rs 1,123.60 in the year-ago period, it said.

"HCC has registered a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs 76.2 crore without considering exceptional items as compared to Rs 40.5 crore in the corresponding quarter last year," the company said in a statement.

"However, after accounting for exceptional item for the quarter for Rs 45.6 crore, the Profit After Tax (PAT) stands at Rs 19.4 crore against Rs 27.1 crore in the corresponding quarter last year," it added.

The company further said its turnover is at Rs 1,058 crore compared to Rs 1,123.6 crore in the previous year.

"We are seeing a revival in infrastructure sector with an enhanced capital expenditure commitment by the government, aptly reflected in the order book of HCC...Our endeavour now is to improve execution efficiency and target minimum 20% turnover enhancement in 2016-17," Group Chief Financial Officer Praveen Sood said in the statement.

"Along with this, we will pursue collection of arbitration claims to improve cash flow and bring down debt levels by 20% in the same year. This should bring down the interest cost (as a percentage of turnover) to around 10% and will be a major step for HCC to address its cash flow issues," Sood said.

As of date, in the current financial year, HCC has won orders worth Rs 3,707 crore and is also the lowest bidder in projects worth Rs 5,978 crore where the contracts are yet to be signed, the statement said.

With this, the combined orders in hand and in the pipeline have crossed Rs 21,000 crore mark, which is the highest in last five years, it added.