Order intake for the quarter ended Dec 2009 is Rs 1976 crore (up sequentially from Rs 1747 crore in Q2FY10). Order book as end of Dec 2009 was Rs 14814 crore translating into 3.6 times of its FY09 revenue. Of which the share of Building 25%, transportation 4%, Water & Environment 11%, Electricals 4%, Irrigation 11%, metals 5%, power 7%, International 22% and others is 4%.

• Sales for the quarter were higher by 16% to Rs 1187.04 crore on accelerated burning of strong order-book. It seems the number of projects that contribute to the topline has increased as more projects crossing revenue crossing threshold compared to corresponding previous period.

• Operating margin for the quarter was 9.9% which has expanded by 110 bps on yoy compared to 8.8% in the corresponding previous period. However it has declined by 30 bps on sequential basis. Though comparing margin on sequential basis is not ideal the fluctuation in margin is largely to do with the order mix.

• Material cost as a proportion to sales was higher by 530 bps to 42.3%. The labour cost was higher by 80 bps to 9.6%. Barring these two cost heads all others have seen a fall more than offsetting the rise in material and labour cost thereby pushing up the margin.

• Other income was lower by 63% to Rs 1.37 crore. The interest cost was higher by 29% to Rs 30.57 crore and the depreciation was lower by 12% to Rs 13.30 crore. The PBT before EO was higher by 37% to Rs 75.56 crore. EO for the quarter as well as corresponding previous period was nil. The taxation was higher by 48% to Rs 27.70 crore in absolute terms and the tax rate was also higher at 36.7% compared to 34.1% in corresponding previous period. Thus marginally limited the net profit was up 32% to 47.86 crore.

Nine month performance

Standalone sales for the period were up by 7% to Rs 3255.11 crore. With OPM expand by 70 bps to 10.2% the operating profit grew to Rs 330.72 crore, up by 14%. Other income was up 34% to Rs 3.58 crore, interest cost was up 30% to Rs 97.43 crore and depreciation was lower by 5% to Rs 38.90 crore. Thus the PBT was higher by 12% to Rs 197.97 crore. With taxation higher by 12% to Rs 67.97 crore the company closed the period with a net profit of Rs 130 crore, a rise of 12%.

Other development

The company offloaded its 9.5% stake in Gautami Power to the GVK Group for a total consideration of Rs 112.63 crore. As per the agreement, the transfer of shares was to take place in Dec 2009 and the profit on sale of investment of Rs 50.06 crore has not been booked in Q3FY10 as the transaction has not consummated before Dec 31, 2009.

Promoter share holding as end of Dec 2009 was 20.25% down from 20.53% as end of Sep 2009 and down from 24.45% as end of Dec 2008. Out of the total promoter holding about 7.02% is pledged as end of Dec 2009 compared to about 9.49% as end of Sep 2009.

The stock quotes around Rs 158.80.