Skipper Q4 net jumps 46 pc to Rs 52.78 crore

Power Transmission and distribution major Skipper Limited today reported a net profit of Rs 52.78 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 17', up by 46 per cent over last year's profit of Rs 36.12 crore during the corresponding period.
"Our profit was higher than sales, partly due to the Rs 16.37 crore income from forward contracts in this quarter attributed to better profitability," Skipper director Sharan Bansal said here today.
Sales were at Rs 564. 66 crore during the quarter, up by 8 per cent from last year's sales of Rs 522.73 crore during the same quarter.
Bansal said demonetisation had minor impact on the engineering products business and hoped to maintain topline growth of minimum 15 per cent in the current fiscal.

"In the next five years, expenditure in power transmission and distribution by states and the Centre will be 40 per cent higher," he said.
With new orders worth Rs 900 crore during the quarter under review, the total order book size of the company is Rs 2,500 crore, Bansal said.
Exports, which account for about 25 per cent of the topline of engineering business, continues to do well and the company has added two more countries, Botswana and Philippines, apart from 20 countries where it is already present, he said.
Skipper is also planning to setup a new transmission tower testing facility in West Bengal at an expenditure of Rs 25 crore.