Bhel net up 52% to Rs 1002 cr in FY05

Bharat Heavy Electricials (Bhel), has reported a 52 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 1,002 crore during 2004-05 against Rs 658 crore in 2003-04.

Turnover rose 21 per cent from Rs 8,662 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 10,520 crore in 2004-05, the highest turnover growth rate in the last two decades, according to provisional figures released today. This was on top of a 16 per cent growth reported in 2003-04.

"In 2004-05, the company crossed the Rs 10,000 crore turnover mark and reported a net profit of more than Rs 1,000 crore. With the power and industrial sectors such as steel, petrochemicals and cement poised to grow well in 2005-06, growth prospects for BHEL look more promising than before," said A K Puri, CMD, while addressing the company's annual press conference.

In 2004-05, the power sector contributed 70 per cent to the company's turnover. 'The company plans to enhance its manufacturing capacity from 6000 MW per year to 10,000 MW a year by March 2007 to cater to the country's ambitious power capacity addition programme.

The expansion will cost the company between Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, he said, adding that expenditure on research and development would be hiked by 90 per cent.

The company plans to add new technologies, 800 MW thermal sets, 250 MW hydro sets and 256 MW advanced class gas turbines. Bhel is also taking steps to offer 350-300 MW sets when required.

However, it had enough internal resources to meet capital needs for the next, two years, he said, adding that the funding requirement could be met from internal resources. The company would therefore not go in for any public listing when the government decided to offload stake.

The company has recently bagged an order for a 260 MW plant in Indonesia valued at Rs 190 crore. Just before that,an order for an Australian combinet cycle 63 MW plant was awarded to Bhel. It is also supplying locomotives to Sudan Railways.

It has also bagged the order to the Steel Authority of India and National Thermal Power Corporation joint venture plant at Bhilai.

The company's earnings per share rose 52 per cent from Rs 26.89 to Rs 40.9 in 2004-05. The company reported an order inflow of Rs 18,016 crore and outstanding orders for execution in future stand at over Rs 31,800 crore.

On the company's export focus, Puri said the company would continue its focus on the Middle East and Asean region and that it would also focus on Africa and South Asia. "We hope to double exports over the next 3-4 years," he said.