Auto components maker Bharat Forge today reported 71 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 203.18 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.
The Pune-based firm had posted a net profit of Rs 118.98 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.
Total standalone income of the firm grew 32 per cent to Rs 1,223.98 crore in January-March quarter of last fiscal from Rs 930.52 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14, it added.
For the 2014-15 fiscal, the USD 2.5 billion Kalyani Group firm's standalone net profit jumped 80 per cent to Rs 718.98 crore from Rs 399.98 crore in 2013-14.
Its total standalone income rose 34 per cent to Rs 4,548.05 crore from Rs 3,399.27 crore during the same period.
On the performance front, Bharat Forge Chairman and Managing Director Baba N Kalyani said: "Operational performance during the year (FY15) was excellent, driven by productivity improvement, cost efficiency and sweating of assets."
Financial parameters improved across the board and this coupled with strong free cash generation resulted in net debt reduction, he added.
The firm's debt was Rs 1,797.4 crore at the end of March 31, 2015 as against Rs 1,994.3 crore in the year-ago period.
On the demand scenario, the firm said it expects demand to be "slightly muted" in April-June of 2015-16 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2014-15.
Kalyani said: "Strong market share gain in North American truck market, new customer additions in the US and Europe, coupled with the entry into the premium aerospace segment with 4 marquee customer contracts capped off a strong year."
Going ahead, he said in FY 2015-16 the firm is witnessing growth in passenger and commercial vehicle segment across its key markets.
"However, industrial sectors are witnessing mixed fortunes due to sudden slowdown in Oil & Gas markets and resultant on other industrial sectors. Mining continues to be sluggish as well," Kalyani added.
On April-June of 2015-16 fiscal, he said the firm expects demand to be higher than January-March of 2014-15, but lower compared to the fourth quarter of last fiscal primarily due to lower-than-anticipated recovery in the Indian medium heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) market and decline in Oil & Gas business, Kalyani said.
Bharat Forge shares were trading 4.15 per cent down at Rs 1,235.20 apiece during pre-close session on the BSE.
