(Reuters) -India’s state-owned BEML reported a narrower first-quarter loss on Monday, helped by better order execution and a surge in non-operating income.
The heavy equipment manufacturer reported a loss of 641.1 million rupees ($7.3 million) in the April-June period, compared to a loss of 704.7 million rupees in the year-ago quarter.
India’s manufacturing sector activity hit a 10-month-high in April and a 14-month-high in June, led by a surge in exports.
The Bengaluru-based firm’s revenue was largely unchanged at 6.34 billion rupees, but its non-operating income, usually income from investments, surged 16-fold to 85.7 million rupees.
BEML is known for its mainstay railway business, which makes India’s Vande Bharat express trains as well as metro rail coaches. Last year, however, the business reported lower revenue due to weak execution of past orders.
The company’s Managing Director, Shantanu Roy, told CNBC-TV18 in May that he expects the business to scale up in the current year on improved order executions and also form the bulk of new contracts, which are expected to take the company’s order book to 220 billion rupees from about 146 billion rupees in fiscal 2025.
BEML is also targeting a 150-basis-point improvement in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin to about 14.5% in fiscal 2026.
Expenses were flat for BEML, which also makes missile launch vehicles, with raw material and employee costs inching marginally lower.
($1 = 87.6170 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)
