EPC player BS to acquire 4 firms for rs 937 cr

Engineering firm BS, which today reported a 24.26 per cent decline in standalone net profit for the March quarter at Rs 22.56 crore, plans to invest around Rs 937 crore for acquiring four companies to expand its presence in domestic and international markets.
The company is also eyeing a five-fold rise in income to Rs 10,000 crore over the next three-four years.
The company has proposed to acquire operative businesses from Agarwal Steels Structures, Durafast Automotive, NHS Metals and Rajesh Sandhi Infras and Metals.
"There is almost 100 per cent growth in power generation, but the transmission and distribution sectors are yet to cope with the pace. The acquisition of these businesses will help us not only expand our presence in the domestic markets but also overseas," company chairman and managing director Rajesh Agarwal told PTI.

He said with these acquisitions, the company is expecting to clock around Rs 10,000 crore of topline in the next three-foure years from Rs 1,904.92 crore in 2014-15.
"This is a synergetic move aimed at expediting growth through inorganic expansion that will enable us to become an end-to-end service provider in these sectors," he said.

He said the proposed transaction will significantly improve bidding capability, provide sustainable operational and financial synergy benefits and facilitate scaling up the value chain, apart from expansion into railway electrification under EPC.
The Hyderabad-based company will acquire different operational businesses including tower manufacturing, component manufacturing such as anti-theft fasteners, steel structures, transmission line hardware, and related EPC businesses.

With the acquisition, BS' tower manufacturing capacity will increase to 7.36 lakh mt from the current 2.4 lakh mt.
The company also has a structural steel mill with an installed capacity of 120,000 tonnes a year near Hyderabad.
BS reported a net profit of Rs 29.79 crore in March quarter of 2013-14.
Its revenues for the March quarter of 2014-15 increased by 7.92 per cent to Rs 535.17 crore from Rs 495.87 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.
For the year 2014-15, the company's standalone total income increased to Rs 1,904.92 crore from Rs 1,770.38 crore in 2013-14, while its profit stood at Rs 68.58 crore against Rs 62.67 crore last year.