ADVERTISEMENT

Suzlon loss widens to Rs 286.5 cr; trims Q4 outlook

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that measures were vital to the country's very economic survival.

Irate passengers at a closed Kingfisher Airlines counter, Mumbai airport - Source: AP
Irate passengers at a closed Kingfisher Airlines counter, Mumbai airport - Source: AP

The world's fifth largest wind turbine maker, Suzlon Group, today widened losses in the December quarter at Rs 286.5 crore due to higher tax outgo and forex losses, primarily by its overseas subsidiary REpower.

The loss stood at Rs 253.6 crore in the year-ago period.

The company also slashed its Q4 revenue guidance by over 10 per cent to Rs 21,000-22,000 crore from its earlier target, due to the poor volumes from India and China in Q3.

"Our net loss for the third quarter increased 13 percent to Rs 286.46 crore on a higher international deferred tax provisioning of Rs 134 crore and forex loss of Rs 125 crore, (Rs 45 crore due to the rupee fall and Rs 80 crore on sale of goods by the subsidiary REpower).

"That apart, there was also a depreciation of Rs 170 crore during the quarter," Suzlon Energy chief financial officer Robin Banerjee told PTI over phone from the company headquarters in Pune.

Banerjee pointed out that the company had had one of the best quarters when it came to sales as its order book rose to Rs 37,200 crore while order intake rose to Rs 27,000 crore during the reporting period.

Despite slashing Q4 guidance, Banerjee sounded bullish, saying "what is important is that customers continue to repose faith in our products. Also, we could grow our margins by 33 percent in Q3, which is one of the highest in the industry.

That apart we also could maintain a cash profit of Rs 26 crore during the quarter despite massive fall in the rupee against both the US dollar as well as against the euro."

The company also revised downwards its EBIT margin to 6 per cent, due to lower Q3 volumes, for the fourth quarter.

During the quarter, consolidated revenue rose to Rs 4,985 crore, a growth of 12 percent over year-on-year, while margins grew more robustly at 33 percent, while EBIT margin stood at 7 per cent.

Suzlon Group chairman Tulsi Tanti said: "It is unfortunate that in spite of having our best-ever order book, we have had lower volumes in Q3, leading to a downward revision of our full year guidance. These lower volumes were primarily due to an extended monsoon in the country, grid infrastructure delays in China, and a procedural delay in closing our new working capital facilities.

"As a group we are extremely well-positioned in the global marketplace, and with our strong order backlog we expect to deliver nearly 40 percent growth in revenues in the next fiscal."

Banerjee said that "we continue to see a rationalization in our operating expenses, including manpower costs. We have made progress in leveraging group synergies with the re-alignment of our operations in Australia and Europe, alongside commencing manufacturing of the REpower MM92 turbine in the country.

"We have now received an incremental sanction of Rs 1,100 crore in our working capital facilities, which will facilitate our planned deliveries in Q4 and into the next fiscal," he said.

During the quarter, the company reported its highest ever order backlog of 5,755 mw and secured order inflows of 2.85 gw in the first nine months of the fiscal, with around 1.5 gw in Q3 alone; compared to 1.35 gw inflows in all of the first half of the fiscal.

Its another subsidiary, SE Forge, also won an order worth Rs 600 crore from a large bearings manufacturer, and secured major contracts with two large wind players.