Bharat Forge Expects To Outperform Peers This Year  

Bharat Forge Ltd. reported 25 percent increase in the net profit during the January to March quarter, aided by an exceptional gain.

Profit grew to Rs 207.5 crore from Rs 166 crore in the year-ago period, according to the auto component maker’s stock exchange filing. The bottomline beat the consensus estimate of the analysts tracked by Bloomberg, which stood at Rs 162 crore.

The company reported an exceptional gain of Rs 38.02 crore due to four factors:

• Rs 54 crore gain from the divestment of 49 percent stake in Alstom Bharat Forge Power Pvt.
• Rs 71 lakh set aside towards impairment in the value of investment in BF NTPC Energy Systems Ltd.
• Rs 1.66 crore provision made towards the impairment in the value of investment of equity in Analogic Controls India Ltd.
• Rs 13.61 crore accounted for as an exceptional item due to the decline in fair value of investment in compulsory convertible debentures of Analogic Controls.

Revenue grew 11 percent to Rs 1,183.1 crore in the same period, compared to the Rs 1,070 crore consensus estimate of analysts. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 4.7 percent to Rs 319.9 crore, while the margins contracted to 28.4 percent from 30.2 percent earlier.

Bharat Forge will outperform peers in the financial year 2017-18, Baba Kalyani, the chairman and managing director of the company said in the press release.

Other Highlights

• The company secured export orders worth Rs 270 crore from the domestic market.
• The board declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share.

Bharat Forge shares gained as much as 3.1 percent to Rs 1,079.7 as of 1:25 p.m.