BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian sustainable energy solutions provider Thermax Ltd posted a better-than-expected jump of 52% in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, helped by a 16% rise in sales.
Consolidated net profit rose to 1.56 billion rupees ($19.08 million) for the three months ended March 31, from 1.03 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts, on an average, had expected a profit of 1.52 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Meanwhile, Thermax saw a decline of 34%, or 22.54 billion rupees, in its order book in the quarter as the corresponding quarter a year ago had included two significantly large orders.
In March, Thermax had signed an agreement with Fortescue Future Industries to explore green hydrogen projects in India; with this foray, the company’s green solutions segment contributed 28% to the order book.
Revenue from operations rose to 23.11 billion rupees, helped by its industrial infra segment that deals in engineering for power plants, which registered a healthy momentum and grew nearly 18%, benefiting from a softening in commodity prices.
The company’s board also declared a dividend of 10 rupees per share.
Thermax shares had risen 16.5% during the quarter ended March and climbed 23.6% so far this year.
($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Priya Sagar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Pooja Desai)