ABB India Dec Quarter Net Profit up 5.3%; Eyes Solar Expansion Overseas

We have delivered balanced performance in 2017, and built a solid foundation for future growth and profitability as our nation’s and global markets improve, says Sanjeev Sharma.

ABB India Ltd, a leader in power & automation technologies, has reported a rise of 5.3 per cent in its standalone net profit after taxes (PAT) at Rs 171.52 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2017.

“The standalone net profit of ABB India stood at Rs 162.81 crore during the same period a year ago,” said ABB India Ltd in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Further, its total income too grew by 4.7 per cent at Rs 2,779.40 crore during Q4 FY 2017, as compared to Rs 2,654.78 crore during the same period last year.

Commenting on the performance, ABB India, Managing Director, Sanjeev Sharma said, “We have delivered balanced performance in 2017, and built a solid foundation for future growth and profitability as our nation’s and global markets improve. The year was marked by our success in landmark nation-building projects across the country from Kashmir to Kerala.”

“We have projects like solar plant electrification, we have helped build the largest petrochemical company’s energy management system, and it happens to be largest energy management system deployed anywhere in the world. I think not many people know about it, but India has the largest installation of energy management system in an industrial plant. And we have delivered more than 10 gigawatts of cumulative wind and solar solutions into the marketplace. So, we continue to invest in India,” Sanjeev Sharma added.

The company said total orders grew in the fourth quarter by 44 per cent and in 2017 by 19 per cent, excluding the exceptionally large UHVDC order and the large traction transformer orders booked in 2016.

On the solar front, Sharma said, “Capacity addition continues despite falling tariffs and we continue to make sure that the technology that we supply and the customers who buy, we are seen, and we deliver very high-quality inverters and that is why we keep the highest market share. And I think we continue to serve the industry in a good way.”

In a reply to a question in the earnings conference call, ABB India, Chief Financial Officer, T. K. Sridhar said, “The solar market, I think we continue to see expansion there and we continue to expand our capacities. So much so that given the expertise of manufacturing as well as delivery expertise we have, we are not only looking into India, we are also now exposed by the ABB Group into the regional as well as the far regional market. So you will see that India contributing not only to Indian solar market but a lot of market is opening up in the Middle East, Southeast Asia to an extent, and even in the America. And India would be a strong contributor into that growth for the Group.”

Further, the Board of Directors of the company has recommended a dividend of Rs 4.40 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each for the year ended on December 31, 2017.

Besides, Jean Christophe Deslarzes, Head of Human Resource, and member of Executive Committee, ABB Group has been appointed as the non-executive non-independent director and the chairman of the board of directors for ABB India Ltd.