HCC reports Rs 64.61 cr net loss for 2010—11

Leading infrastructure firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today reported a net loss of Rs 64.61 crore on a consolidated basis for 2010—11, as against a net profit of Rs 5.81 crore in 2009—10.

Income from operations of the company grew to Rs 7,152.54 crore during the period from Rs 3,975.18 crore in 2009—10, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The filing added that the HCC group has adopted a new policy for contracts given on a build—operate—transfer (BOT) basis, due to which Rs 119.27 crore has been accounted as exceptional items.

However, on a standalone basis, the company’s net profit for 2010—11 declined by 12.80 per cent to Rs 71 crore, compared to Rs 81.43 crore in FY’10, the filing added.

During the last fiscal, total revenue of the company on a standalone basis was Rs 4,143.97 crore, a growth of 7.27 per cent compared to Rs 3,862.97 crore in 2009—10.

Acknowledging the decline in the company’s net profits, HCC Chairman, Mr Ajit Gulabchand later said that there were a number of issues that affected the growth of the company, including a stoppage of work notice on its ambitious Lavasa project.

“In spite of financial constraints, in spite of heavy lock ups as a result of an increase in working capital due to non-payment by government agencies on a variety of issues, in spite of being a difficult year, the HCC group has shown enough resilience to be able to make good,” he said.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, the company reported a drop of 47.4 per cent drop in standalone net profit to Rs 22.61 crore for the fourth quarter of 2010—11.

Income from operations of the company rose by 10.81 per cent to Rs 1,209.73 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,091.70 crore for the same period of 2009—10, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, adding that its total order book as on March 31, 2011 was Rs 18,127 crore.

Mr Gulabchand also said that there has been a slowdown in orders coming up due to environmental issues and assembly elections in five states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.

“There has been a slowing down of infrastructure expenditure decision—making in the country. Most of these orders have been moving along on the past order that we have received and not much has been added during the current year,” he said.

Talking about HCC’s ambitious Lavasa project, where work has been stopped following a Ministry of Environment and Forests order, Mr Gulabchand expressed hope that the environmental clearances would come shortly.

“This whole issue is getting resolved as environmental clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests are underway and we are expecting that the clearances would be addressed shortly,” he said.