ABB India Q1 profit up 87% on strong orders
Electrification and automation major ABB India reported over 87 per cent rise in its net profit at ₹460 crore in the March 2024, or the first quarter, compared to ₹245 crore in the corresponding previous period. The company follows the JanuaryDecember financial year.
During the quarter under review, the revenue from operations stood at ₹3,080 crore, up 28 per cent from ₹2,411 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s order book stood at ₹8,932 crore, up from ₹7,170 crore in Q1 of 2023.
A company statement said, “We are pleased to announce a strong start to 2024, building on our robust performance from Q4 of 2023. The increased demand for technologically superior solutions, coupled with the government’s capital expenditure focus on new-age themes such as energy eciency, decarbonisation, and digitalisation, has significantly driven our order momentum. “Our team’s relentless dedication to execution continues to be a pivotal factor in maintaining strong customer confidence and preference for ABB India’s innovative and reliable solutions.
“We are also proud to highlight our ongoing commitment to sustainability; this quarter, half of ABB India’s campuses achieved water positivity and we have achieved an 88 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) compared to the baseline year of 2019.”
ABB India’s Q1 orders surged to ₹3,607 crore, the highest for the first quarter in the last five years. The quarterly growth was led by the ‘Electrification & Process Automation’, which more than oset the sluggishness in ‘Motion and Robotics & Discrete Automation’ business.
STRONGEST GROWTH
From the market point of view, the strongest growth was witnessed in data centres, smart buildings, expansion in tier-II and III cities, energy and logistics, said the company.
At the operating level, the EBITDA surged 98.1 per cent to ₹565.2 crore in the first quarter over ₹285 crore in the corresponding previous period. The company’s cash position continues to remain robust at ₹5,036 crore at the end of Q1 vis-a-vis ₹3,942 crore in Q1 of 2023.
In terms of outlook, the company stated that higher capex in infrastructure, railways, renewables, power distribution, water, energy, commercial buildings and metals are likely to provide opportunities for growth. Policydriven public sector capex, with investments in energy transition, FDI in steel, cement and incentivising local production (PLI) in areas like specialty steel and battery manufacturing will also ‘augment the opportunity landscape.’
The Aurora Borealis, also known as the ‘northern lights’, caused by a coronal mass ejection on the Sun, illuminate the skies over the southwestern Siberian town of Tara, Omsk region, Russia on Saturday. An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of colour in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere. A crimson glow lit up the dark sky as afar away as Ladakh in a rare stable auroral red arc event at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in the high Himalayas. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.