HCC order book at Rs 21,523 crore; net profit at Rs 11.6 crore in Q2 FY2017-18

HCC’s turnover and net profit for Q2 FY2017-18 is at Rs 1,031.9 crore and Rs 11.6 crore vs Rs 972.0 crore and Rs 23.1 crore, respectively, in the same period last year. The company secured two new orders worth Rs 1,574 crore in this quarter and was the lowest bidder in a project worth Rs 254 crore, which got converted into LoI recently. The order book is at Rs 21,523 crore as of date. Financial highlights Unaudited standalone results for Q2 FY 2017-18 vs Q2 FY 2016-17: Turnover at Rs 1,031.9 crore vs Rs 972.0 crore Net Profit of Rs 11.6 crore vs Rs 23.1 crore EBITDA at Rs 148.9 crore vs Rs 195.1 crore Praveen Sood, Group CFO, says, “Volatility in the banking sector had delayed the securing of limits for project working capital and CCEA receivables, which has impacted in the short term our ability to ramp up turnover and achieve material repayment of debt. With most lenders now having sanctioned support, we expect a pickup in project execution of our significant order backlog, faster receipt of arbitration award receivables and material reductions in finance cost in the coming quarters.” HCC currently has Rs 4,273 crore of arbitration awards in its favour, of which HCC has procured letters from government agencies for immediate release of Rs 1,930 crore (pursuant to the recent Cabinet order), of which Rs 1,097 crore has already been received. Performance of HCC subsidiaries: Steiner AG: In Q2 of FY2017-18, Steiner AG has achieved a revenue of CHF 196.7 million (Rs 1,306.9 crore) compared to CHF 212.2 million (Rs 1,464.1 crore) in the previous year. The net profit stood at CHF 2.9 million (Rs 19.3 crore) compared to CHF 2.0 million (Rs 13.8 crore) in the previous year. The company secured fresh orders worth CHF 136.5 million (Rs 924.9 crore). The order backlog was CHF 1.6 billion (Rs 10,811.9 crore) at the end of Q2 FY 2017-18. Further, the company has secured orders for over CHF 278 million (Rs 1,883.7 crore), where contracts are yet to be signed. HCC Concessions: The daily collections for Baharampore Farakka Highways and Farakka Raiganj Highways for Q2 FY2017-18 have been Rs 34 lakh and Rs 33.2 lakh, respectively. Q2 collections have been relatively muted due to an unusually heavy monsoon in West Bengal and the impact of GST. For Badarpur Faridabad Tollway Ltd (BFTL), a termination notice was issued by the Company to NHAI on September 1, 2017 along with a request for termination payment in lieu of the Supreme Court imposition of environmental charges, effectively preventing commercial vehicle traffic movement into Delhi, which constitutes a political force majeure event. Lavasa Corporation: The Joint Lenders Forum, as part of a comprehensive solution, has invoked Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) in Lavasa Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries Warasgaon Assets Maintenance and Warasgaon Power Supply. The SDR process will involve lowering of debt by converting a part of lenders loans into equity, the implementation of a fresh business plan and the induction of new investors into the project within the timelines prescribed by RBI in its notification. The lenders also noted that due to delay in implementation of the earlier JLF approved structure, the project remained stalled for two years and an additional interest of around Rs 1,200 crore was accumulated, and hence release of working capital for the project needs to be resolved on priority.