India’s BEML logs 18% growth in Q4 profit as expenses dip

BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s BEML Ltd on Friday reported a more than 18% climb in fourth-quarter profit as easing input costs offset a drop in revenue.

Consolidated profit rose to 1.58 billion rupees ($19.12 million) for the three months ended March 31, from 1.33 billion rupees a year earlier, it said in an exchange filing.

Net profit margin for the quarter expanded to 11.36% from 7.92% in the previous year.

The state-owned heavy equipment maker benefitted from falling commodity prices and normalising supply chains, as it saw a near-25% dip in costs of raw materials, pulling total expenses down by 23.7% to 11.29 billion rupees.

However, consolidated revenue from operations also decreased 17.6% to 13.88 billion rupees, hurt by a slowdown in realisation of projects.

The company faced a slowdown in its order book during the quarter due to intense competition despite the uptick in government tenders across various sectors.

BEML’s consolidated order book stood at 85.70 billion rupees as of March 31, a 1.6% sequential decrease from the previous quarter.

The company’s board also declared a final dividend of 5 rupees per share.

The company’s direct rival in the railway sector, Titagarh Wagon Ltd, swung to profit in the fourth quarter, while its revenue from operations more than doubled.

Shares of BEML closed 1% higher on Friday. They fell 14.4% in the Jan-March quarter.

($1 = 82.6480 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Priya Sagar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)