Q1 Order Book
The order inflow of some of the major construction and infrastructure companies across sectors in Q1 of 2013-14 has seen many ups and downs. While some leading companies saw a jump in their order books, others witnessed a downturn due to the current economic slowdown. By a rough estimate, contracts worth Rs.43,000 crore were awarded for 389 projects with railways leading at Rs.20,921 crore for 30 projects.
ABB India Ltd:
The company received orders worth Rs.1,731 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, 2013, compared to order intake of Rs.2,045 crore for the same period last year. The company’s order backlog stood at Rs.8,235 crore at the end of the quarter as compared to Rs.9,175 crore during the same period last year.
“The economic environment is now increasingly depressed. Our multiple productivity and operational excellence initiatives are yielding results. We are confident that our broad portfolio, cost takeout programmes, localisation initiatives and the ability to find new opportunities will give us pole position as the market eventually revives,” Bazmi Husain, Managing Director, ABB India Ltd, said.
Larsen & Toubro Ltd:
The engineering and construction group’s order inflow jumped 28 per cent to Rs.25,159 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012. International order inflow jumped 2.28 times to Rs.3,617 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012. International orders constituted 14 per cent of the total order inflow in Q1 June 2013. The major orders during the year came from Building & Factories, Transportation Infrastructure, Hydrocarbon, and Heavy Civil Infrastructure businesses, L&T said.
The company’s order book stood at Rs.1,65,393 crore as of June 2013 with year-on-year growth of 8 per cent. International order book rose 16 per cent on y-o-y basis and constituted 12 per cent of the total order book.
Punj Lloyd Group:
With a turnover of $2.06 billion, Punj Lloyd Ltd has a strong order backlog of Rs.20,868 crore. The group’s strategy has been to expand its footprint outside of India and today over 65 per cent of orders represent the growing regions of Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. While the revenues show a reasonable increase in challenging global macro environment, margins have been impacted due to financial charges and the depreciating rupee. In the coming months, the group is actively looking at retiring high interest debt.
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Suzlon Group:
The consolidated group order book stood at 5.36 GW, approximately Rs.41,947 crore ($7.1 billion) in value, with an intake of 356 MW over Q1 FY14. The management of the company, as a precautionary measure, excluded from the order book a US project totalling 200 MW due to non-movement of this order.
Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, Suzlon Group, said, “This has been a progressive quarter for Suzlon Group. We regained some of our lost momentum and began to see results from the group’s ongoing focus on key priorities. Looking at the markets, India continues to regain momentum, returning from a 50 per cent drop in the last fiscal. While we expect this year to continue to be challenging, we are confident that our mid- to long-term outlook remains strong.”
PGCIL:
Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd posted a net profit of Rs.1,040 crore for the first quarter of FY14, an increase of 20 per cent against Rs.870 crore reported during the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2012. Total turnover for first quarter rose to Rs.3,634 crore, up by 22 per cent from Rs.2,980 crore in the corresponding year-ago period.
At present, PGCIL is operating more than 101,000 circuit km of transmission lines along with 169 substations and transformation capacity of about 168,000 MVA. During Q1, interregional power transmission capacity of 2,100 MW has been added thereby enhancing the total interregional power transmission capacity of the National Grid to about 31,850 MW. The average availability during the quarter was maintained at 99.9 per cent.
The company has a capex plan of Rs.20,000 crore for the current financial year.
Transport Corporation of India Ltd:
TCIL, the integrated supply chain and logistics solutions provider, during the quarter ended June 30, 2013, achieved revenues to the tune of Rs.481.45 crore at a growth rate of 5 per cent as compared to Rs.458.69 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
Commenting on this, Vineet Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, TCIL, said, “Growth has been slower due to lower economic growth and uncertain market conditions. Regular and persistent diesel price hikes have also increased costs structures. We expect the next few months to be challenging as well.”
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Voltas Ltd:
Voltas Ltd, the global air-conditioning and engineering services provider of Tata Group, noted, “Due to slowdown in the economy coupled with higher interest costs, the order book of the electromechanical projects and services segment stood at Rs.3,811 crore as compared to Rs.4,574 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.”
The company recently received a letter of award for MEP works of a project in Qatar amounting to Rs.280 crore. Further, it is in advanced stages of negotiation on Letter of Intents aggregating Rs.525 crore pertaining to projects in Qatar and Oman. Despite intense competition, the company has sustained its market leadership in room air-conditioners.
Tata Steel:
The Indian operations of Tata Steel Group recorded robust performance in the first quarter of FY14 despite softer markets, weakening economic conditions and a seasonally weak quarter. With a turnover in Q1 FY14 of Rs.9,455 crore, an increase of 6.1 per cent over Q1 FY13 turnover of Rs.8,908 crore, the net realisation increased across both flat and long products. Flat product sales volume is increased by 44 per cent y-o-y with value-added products sales increasing by 15 per cent.
Tata Steel Managing Director H.M. Nerurkar said, “The Indian operations delivered a steady performance in a subdued market environment with deliveries growing at an enhanced pace over the comparable period of last year. We are intensifying our focus on efficiency improvements and delivering enhanced value to our customers. Work on the greenfield project in Odisha continues in full swing. The Southeast Asian operations are robust and we continue to invest in improving the underlying