Virus ate into India Inc profit in Q4, too

NEW DELHI: As many as 159 companies listed on the BSE cumulatively saw a decline of Rs 22,538 crore in their EBITDA in the three months ended March 2020 compared to the December quarter, reflecting an early impact of the coronavirus pandemic, says a report.

EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. For the report, leading consultancy EY India analysed March quarter results of the top 300 BSE-listed companies and 115 global firms spanning over 12 sectors to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on their reporting calendar, profitability, financial position, liquidity, disclosures and other key parameters.

"The analysis relies on details of the pandemic's impact as presented by companies in their results or any public document pertaining to their quarterly reporting," EY India said.

It was done for the March quarter results of top BSE 300 companies that were announced till June 5.Most of the companies experienced a material impact on financial performance indicators such as EBITDA, revenue, debt and interest service coverage, provisions, profitability as and earnings per share (EPS), it noted.

As per the report, 159 BSE 300 companies saw Rs 22,538 crore decrease in EBITDA in the March 2020 quarter compared to the preceding December quarter, 2019 "as early impacts of pandemic and resulting changes in macro-economic factors," EY India said.