ABB bottom line rises 69% on order boost

CORPORATE SCORECARD

With the domestic power sector on an upswing, power equipment and automation technologies provider ABB India has continued its streak of profit-making. It earned a net profit of Rs 86.6 crore during its first quarter of the 2007 calendar year, up 69 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

The company received significant orders from power utilities and core sector industries such as cement, steel, pulp and paper.

The order intake stood at Rs 2,000.3 crore, a 43 per cent growth over 2006 Q1. With the conversion of several backlog orders, revenues increased by 62 per cent over 2006 Q1 to touch Rs 1,327.6 crore.

"We have succeeded in maintaining our top line growth momentum and our strong order intake is promising for the future. India's power imperative is driving capacity enhancement and the advantage of leveraging technology for improving grid efficiency. The standard products business continued to grow handsomely, supported by the company's ongoing focus on market penetration and range expansion," Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Uppal said. The earnings per share also increased to Rs 20.44 from Rs 12.11 in 2006 Q1.

The company is witnessing this kind of growth for 27 consecutive quarters, indicating the boom in infrastructure activity. Its cumulative net profit for calendar 2006 was Rs 340.3 crore, a 56 per cent jump over 2005.

The Indian subsidiary has witnessed the highest growth rate in the group's worldwide operations, overtaking even that of China by about 10 per cent. The annual growth rate in the flagship divisions of power systems and automation products was also higher in the subcontinent. China's revenue for FY06 is over $3 billion, while revenues from India are a shade over $1 billion.

Apart from higher revenue generation to the ABB group, the engineering centre and the research and development centre in India are the largest worldwide, contributing significantly to innovation, new products and services.