Bajaj Electricals posts net loss of Rs 32.5 crore in September quarter, revenue declines 31%

Bajaj Electricals, electrical equipment manufacturing arm of Bajaj Group, on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 32.54 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

"The company had posted a net profit of Rs 29.83 crore for July-September period of the last financial year," Bajaj Electricals said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

For July-September period, total income stood at Rs 1,106.80 crore as compared with Rs 1,605.77 crore in the previous year, registering a decline of 31 per cent.

For the second quarter of 2019-20, the company's sales fell 31.51 per cent to Rs 1,095.65 crore as against Rs 1,599.81 crore in the second quarter of the previous year.

The company has made loss before tax of Rs 28.10 crore as against profit before tax of Rs 50.78 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

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Segment wise, consumer products division earned total revenue of Rs 701.52 crore as against Rs 643.66 crore in the year-ago period, a growth of 9 per cent. EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) segment has achieved a total revenue of Rs 393.81 crore versus Rs 955.90 crore in the previous year's period, registering a de-growth of 58.80 per cent.

For the half year ended September 30, 2019, Bajaj Electricals sales stood at Rs 2,402.71 crore, while it made loss of Rs 18.84 crore. The company generated positive cash flow from operations of Rs 294.17 crore (versus a cash outflow from operations of Rs 471.35 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year).

During the half year, the company has repaid the loans of Rs 127.11 crore, it said in the filing.

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The current order book stood at Rs 1,799 crore, comprising Rs 881 crore for transmission line towers, Rs 778 crore for power distribution and Rs 140 crore for illumination projects, it said.

Commenting on Q2 earnings, Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Electricals said, "We have been pursuing our stated path of a strong focus on positive cash flow from operations, reducing our debt and strengthening our balance sheet and we have done well on all of these parameters."

"We had also embarked upon a strategic shift in business direction of continuing to drive growth in our consumer products segment while adopting a more risk-calibrated approach for the EPC segment with a focus on completion of existing projects on hand," he added.

Weighed down by weak Q2 earnings, shares of Bajaj Electricals closed 8.60 percent lower at Rs 349.10 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar