Sterlite Tech Q4 profit jumps 4-fold; to hive off power biz

Power and telecom gear maker Sterlite Technology today reported about fourfold jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 39.13 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 10.15 crore in the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, the company has decided to restructure itself into a pure-play telecom products and solutions company. The power business will be hived-off into a separate entity, the company said in a filing to the BSE.
"The standalone results includes both telecom and power. Our telecom business has been a major driver of growth. Almost 90 per cent of profit is coming from telecom side. We are seeing correction in power business as well since 4-5 quarters," Sterlite Technologies CEO and Director Anand Agarwal told PTI.

The company's standalone income during the March quarter increased by 51.62 per cent to Rs 979.10 crore from Rs 645.74 crore.
For the full year ended March 31, the standalone net profit increased by 67.8 per cent to Rs 84.24 crore from Rs 50.2 crore it posted at the end of March 2014.

The revenue of the company on standalone basis increased by 11.14 per cent to Rs 3,030.10 crore from Rs 2,726.34 crore during the period under review.
However on consolidated basis, the company reported narrowing of its loss to Rs 2.64 crore for the financial year 2014-15 as against Rs 35.51 crore in 2013-14.

Consolidated revenue increased to Rs 3,097.06 crore from Rs 2,563.85 during the period under review.
The board of the company approved restructuring of Sterlite Technologies, which will now become pure-play telecom products and solutions company providing broadband solutions.
The power product and transmission grid business will be hived-off into a separate company -- Sterlite Power Transmission.
"We have created opportunities and scale on both sides. It is the right time to create two pure-play entities. Both are operating in very different business model. This process will take 9-10 months to complete. We hope to get all approvals by end of this fiscal," Agarwal said.

Shares of Sterlite Technologies closed at Rs 66.00 a unit, up by 4.27 per cent at the BSE.