• Upside in revenue was due to strong growth in revenue of both cables and EPC business. The segment revenue of cables was up by 25% to Rs 1099.50 crore (or 72% of sales) driven by higher volume. Moreover the strong growth in cables was driven by strong 40% growth in sales to institutions with retail sales stand higher by just 5%. The segment revenue of EPC Projects jumped up by 54% to Rs 398.47 crore (or 26% of sales). However the segment revenue of stainless steel wire was down by 3% to Rs 32.55 crore.
• The EBIT (before elimination of intersegment) was up by 16% to Rs 180.19 crore driven by strong growth in profits of cables businesses. The segment profit of cables was up by 28% to Rs 132.10 crore driven largely by both higher sales as well as 20 bps expansion in segment margin to 12%. Despite sharp jump in sales the segment profit of EPC Projects was down by 7% to Rs 46.72 crore as its segment margin erode by 760 bps to 11.7%. Despite lower sales, the segment profit of stainless steel wire was up by 4% to Rs 1.37 crore thanks to 30 bps expansion in its segment margin to 4.2%.

Nine month performance

Sales were up by 22% to Rs 3625.74 crore and the OPM expanded by marginal 10 bps to 10.4%. Thus gained by higher sales as well as marginally higher margin the OP was up by 23% to Rs 375.43 crore. The PBT was up by 30% to Rs 245.07 crore gained by higher OI and lower interest cost as proportion to sales even the depreciation stand higher by sharp 70%. The taxation was down by 24% to Rs 50.82 crore and thus the PAT was up by 59% to Rs 194.25 crore.

Segment profit of cables for the period was up by 25% to Rs 325.42 crore due to higher sales (up 24% to Rs 2949.19 crore) as well as 10 bps expansion in its segment margin to 11%. The segment profit of EPC Projects grew by 25% to Rs 122.82 crore largely due to higher sales (up 59% to Rs 1026.55 crore) as its segment margin erode by 330 bps to 12%. The segment profit of stainless steel wire was down by 44% to Rs 4.53 crore hit by lower sales (down 3% to Rs 98.25 crore) as well as lower margin (down 340 bps to 4.6%).

Order book update

Pending order book on hand as end of Dec 31, 2019 was Rs 4173 crore (Rs 1828crore EPC; Rs 676crore EHV; Rs 1230 crore Cable; Rs 439crore Exports) compared to Rs 4370 crore (Rs 2033 crore EPC; Rs 628 crore EHV; Rs 1188 crore Cable; Rs 521 crore Exports) as end of Sep 30, 2019. In addition the company is L1 for orders worth Rs 316 crore.

Other developments

The BoD of the company on Nov 12, 2019 had approved raising of funds through Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) and the shareholders has approved the same on Jan 15, 2020 through postal ballot pursuant as per statutory requirement under provision of Section 110 of the Companies Act 2013 and other relevant rules and regulations.