Buffeted by the general industrial slowdown, defence public sector company Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) has reported a marginal decline in turnover during 2011-12.
Announcing the results here on Friday, Chairman and Managing Director V. R. S. Natarajan said the company's turnover stood at Rs.3,615 crore in 2011-12, a decline of 0.17 per cent when compared with the previous year.
However, the post-tax profit declined sharply — from Rs.159.76 crore in 2010-11 to Rs.57.25 crore in 2011-12. In fact, the net profit in 2011-12 was 74 per cent lower than the net profit made by the company in 2009-10. Mr. Natarajan attributed the slackening performance to the industrial slowdown, especially on the export front, and the poor performance of the coal companies.
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Mr. Natarajan said the company was confident of crossing the Rs.5,000-crore mark in revenues during the current year. He said the diversified nature of the company's business — from dredging to aerospace and railways — would ensure that this was achieved. He said BEML, which was supplying coaches for several metro rail projects in the country, was likely to benefit from the expenditure of Rs.1 lakh crore that would be spent on such projects in the next decade. “We expect to get a 40-50 per cent share of this market,” Mr. Natarajan said.
Referring to the defence-related production, Mr. Natarajan said, “The Tatra truck is not our only product.” “We have established a tank-testing track and we plan to get into the tank overhauling business, too,” he said. The aerospace facility, located on the outskirts of Bangalore, was likely to become operational by September, he added. The company had also bid for a dredging contract worth Rs.150 crore in Bangladesh, he said.