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Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) reported a consolidated net loss of ₹1,702.6 crore in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 on the back of higher incremental provisions and tax adjustments.
It posted net profit of ₹454.63 crore in the same period a year ago.
In 2019-20, its net profit stood at ₹21.14 crore, compared to ₹1,464.09 crore in 2018-19.
For the quarter ended March 31, the Ajay Piramal-led company, with business interests in sectors such as financial services and pharma, posted a three per cent increase in total income to ₹3,581 crore, compared to ₹3,491 crore a year ago. Revenue declined two per cent year on year to ₹3,341 crore.
It had tax expense amounting to ₹1,758 crore in the quarter under review and also made additional provisions of ₹1,903 crore (₹1,411 crore net of taxes) in the financial services business due to any challenges arising out of Covid-19.
Net sales in the financial services arm fell 11 per cent to ₹1,718 crore (₹1,933 crore a year ago). Its loan book stood at ₹50,963 crore with top 10 exposure reduced by ₹4,200 crore during the year.
The pharma business registered 10 per cent growth in net sales at ₹1,623 crore (₹1,476 crore). Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises, said, “The last few quarters have been challenging for the economy. The situation has further worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a subsequent economic recovery likely to be long-drawn... we have significantly strengthened and deleveraged our balance sheet through multiple initiatives to raise capital.” It has also shrunk the wholesale loan book by 12 per cent.
Piramal however, said the company would continue to build on the platform for its consumer lender business and said it is looking at “creating a solid tech led platform across segments”.
In a media call, Piramal also said that he doesn’t expect normalcy in the construction sector for the first two quarters of the current fiscal. He said he expected residential sales to pick up and did not foresee much stress in prices.
PEL’s scrip gained 5.21 per cent to close at ₹932.25 apiece on the BSE on Monday.
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