Ahuwalia Contracts (India) (532811) Q4 18/19 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY19 order book rose 28% to ₹10,65,837.55 lakh; operating revenue increased 6.41% to ₹175,218.32 lakh and PAT grew 1.58% to ₹11,726.58 lakh.

• EBITDA declined to ₹21,630.55 lakh from ₹21,925.88 lakh; margins faced pressure from Kota license re-equalisation and impairment on property sales.

Financial highlights

• Standalone total income was ₹176,195.62 lakh versus ₹165,289.38 lakh; PBT rose to ₹17,929.65 lakh from ₹17,486.14 lakh.

• Consolidated PAT was ₹11,720.20 lakh versus ₹11,541.82 lakh; basic and diluted EPS increased to ₹17.50 from ₹17.23.

• Operating cash flow was ₹8,569.21 lakh versus ₹8,097.44 lakh; cash and cash equivalents ended FY19 at ₹13,758.19 lakh.

• EBITDA margin fell 80 bps to 13.7% and PAT margin declined 32 bps to 6.69%.

Outlook and guidance

• The ₹10,65,837.55 lakh order book, adequate manpower, infrastructure and financial resources were positioned to support execution and bidding for further orders.

• Industry outlook cited expected Indian construction growth of 6.44% CAGR from 2018–23 to USD 690.9bn, supported by public infrastructure investment and housing initiatives.

• Union Budget 2019–20 allocated ₹4.56 lakh crore to infrastructure; railway capex was raised to ₹1.6 lakh crore, with ₹65,837 crore allocated.