Bharat Forge Q3 net dips 81 pc to 40 cr

Auto components major Bharat Forge on Monday reported a 81.37 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 40.44 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 216.96 crore in the same period last fiscal, Bharat Forge said in a regulatory filing.

Total income during the period under review stood at Rs 1,868.05 crore, as against Rs 2,516.7 crore in the year-ago quarter, it added. "The quarter gone by was a repeat of the previous quarter in terms of weak market demand and financial performance," Bharat Forge Chairman and Managing Director B N Kalyani said.

Domestic and export revenues were down more than 30 per cent in the third quarter as compared to the year-ago period, he added. Kalyani, however, said passenger vehicle business continued to stand out across both domestic and export markets with strong performance against underlying demand and grew by 8.7 per cent.

He said the company's international operations in Europe have also been badly impacted by the decline in end market. "We have initiated restructuring and cost optimisation actions. These actions coupled with investing in creating capacity towards a favourable product mix will eventually result in a sustainable and stronger business overseas," he added.

On the outlook, he said, "over the next three to six months we expect demand to remain soft given the uncertainty in India due to the transition to BS-VI and continuation of weakness in North America and Europe." He, however, added that the "phase of sequential decline in the financial performance for the company is nearing an end and the new phase of growth will commence in FY21".

The convergence of cost reduction initiatives and business development will enable the company to come out stronger from this current downturn, he said.

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