Leading infrastructure firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today reported reported a 47.4 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 22.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, against Rs 43 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company reported a net loss of Rs 64.6 crore on a consolidated basis for 2010-11, as against a net profit of Rs 5.8 crore in 2009-10. Income from operations of the company grew to Rs 7,152.5 crore during the period from Rs 3,975.2 crore in 2009-10, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. It said the HCC group has adopted a new policy for contracts given on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, due to which Rs 119.3 crore has been accounted as exceptional items.
On a standalone basis, the company's net profit for 2010-11 declined by 12.8 per cent to Rs 71 crore, compared to Rs 81.4 crore in 2009-10, the filing added. Last year it was Rs 4,144 crore, a growth of 7.3 per cent compared to Rs 3,863 crore in 2009-10.
Acknowledging the decline in the company's net profits, HCC Chairman Ajit Gulabchand said there were a number of issues that affected the growth of the company, including a stoppage of work notice on its ambitious Lavasa project. "In spite of financial constraints, in spite of heavy lock ups as a result of an increase in working capital due to non-payment by government agencies on a variety of issues, in spite of being a difficult year, the HCC group has shown enough resilience to be able to make good," he said.
For the quarter ended March 31, the company reported a drop of 47.4 per cent drop in standalone net profit to Rs 22.61 crore. Income from operations of the company rose by 10.81 per cent to Rs 1,209.7 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,091.7 crore for the same period of 2009-10, the company said, adding that its total order book as on March 31, was Rs 18,127 crore.
Gulabchand said there has been a slowdown in orders coming up due to environmental issues and assembly elections in five states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.