KEC International posts bigger-than-expected Q1 profit on strong demand

Consolidated profit for RPG Group's flagship company rose 36.5% to Rs 42.3 crore ($5.11 million)

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Engineering and construction company KEC International posted a bigger-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday boosted by strong infrastructure demand.

Consolidated profit for RPG Group's flagship company rose 36.5% to 423.3 million rupees ($5.11 million), while revenue rose 27.9% year-on-year to 42.44 billion rupees.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 332 million rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

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KEY CONTEXT

With less than a year to go for India's general elections, there has been an increase in government spending on infrastructure. KEC International operates in the power transmission & distribution, civil and railways sectors among others.

Rival Cummins India reported an almost 79% increase in profit, led by the strong sales in engines segment while Thermax posted a smaller-than-expected 1.7% rise in first-quarter profit. ABB and Siemens are yet to report results.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

(next 12 months)

months)

RIC PE EV/EBI Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div

TDA growth growth rating* analysts price yield

target** (%)

KEC 23.40 11.80 14.95 127.61 Buy 20 1.15 0.47

International

Ltd

ABB India Ltd 81.91 62.39 20.87 29.44 Hold 21 1.17 0.12

Cummins India 41.13 37.09 13.81 4.90 Buy 11 1.15 1.32

Ltd

Thermax 47.33 31.91 14.33 29.08 Hold 22 1.13 0.38

Limited

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE OF KEC INTERNATIONAL VS PEERS

-- All data from Refinitiv

-- $1 = 82.7700 Indian rupees

 

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru)