Bharat Forge's net profit up 59.3% at Rs 389.6 crore in Q4

Bharat Forge, an auto and defence component manufacturer, reported a jump of 59.3 percent on-year in net profit for Q4FY24 to Rs 389.6 crore as compared to Rs 244.5 crore a year ago. Meanwhile, the company's total revenue during the quarter under review also surged 16.6% to Rs 2,328.5 crore as against Rs 1,997.3 crore last year.

EBITDA in the reporting quarter grew by 25.1% to Rs 654 crore, resulting in EBITDA margins of 28.1% in Q4 FY24. For the full year, the topline grew by 18.4% to Rs 8,969 crore, and EBITDA grew by 28.0% to Rs 2,469 crore.

"A key driver of the strong performance was the fulfillment of defence export orders won by KSSL and the continued strong ramp-up of exports business across all business segments except Oil & Gas. The balance sheet continues to remain robust, with cash of Rs 815 crore and sharp improvement in all key parameters.

At a consolidated level, topline grew by 21.5% to Rs 15,682 crore and EBITDA grew by 44.4% to Rs 2,566 crore. In FY24, the Indian operations have secured new orders worth Rs 1,350 crore across automotive & industrial applications. This includes a healthy mix of existing and new customers across traditional and new products," B.N. Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director of Bharat Forge, said in an official statement.

Bharat Forge group’s defence business recorded revenues of Rs 1,561 crore, a nearly four-fold jump as compared to FY23. The company secured new orders worth Rs 4,494 crore across Artillery systems, Armored vehicles and consumables. The executable order book stands at Rs 5,192 Crores as of March 31, 2024, Kalyani added.

In FY24, the industrial casting vertical recorded a strong performance, with topline growth of 28%, EBITDA growth of 57% and PBT (Profit Before Tax) doubling compared to FY23. The company has secured new orders worth Rs 460 crore in FY24. Over the past 2 years, the business has made tremendous progress in reducing its customer and sector concentration and has developed a more balanced business mix across Automotive, Construction & Mining, Hydraulics & Wind energy.

"We have set up an AI/Digital manufacturing center which will catalyse engineering and manufacturing activities, enable improvement in productivity and shorten time to market products. At a consolidated level, we expect FY25 to be a year of growth driven by defense business, Industrial casting business and continued improvement in capacity utilisation of overseas business. The turnaround of the overseas business coupled with margin improvement in other business verticals should result in strong growth in profitability in FY25,” Kalyani added.