Suzlon Q1 consolidated loss widens 25 pc to Rs 1,059 cr

Its revenues for the quarter under review declined 18.86 per cent to Rs 3,851.45 crore from Rs 4,746.72 crore in the year-ago period.

“On the operational front,real progress has been achieved. While our financial performance was impacted by the exceptional depreciation of the rupee,and we incurred one-time costs related to restructuring at REpower,we achieved steady progress on key operating indicators,” group finance head Kirti Vagadia said in a statement.

The company incurred notional foreign exchange losses totalling around Rs 155 crore or USD 26 million,due to the extraordinary depreciation of the rupee against the dollar and the euro.

Suzlon also booked exceptional costs for its restructuring programme worth Rs 136 crore or USD 23 million,the release said.

With a total focus on execution,the company delivered near-normal volumes,compared to historic performance,at the Suzlon wind-level,Vagadia said.

“However,as Q1 is also the lowest volume quarter in a fiscal for our business,resulting in an under-absorption of fixed costs having a negative impact on the bottom-line,” he said.

“We continue to bring down fixed costs. We have achieved a 31 per cent reduction in our operating expenses compared to the last quarter. We also continued to bring down the working capital-to-sales ratio to 11.4 per cent at the end of Q1,from 13.6 per cent. Our non-critical asset divestment programme continues to be on track.”

During the quarter,the company delivered turbines with generation capacity of 219 MW,a 46 per cent increase over volumes in Q1 of the last fiscal and an 88 per cent of total volumes achieved in FY13.

“The business saw continuing traction in core markets including India,Brazil and South Africa,and significant interest from other emerging markets,” he said.

The consolidated group order-book stood at 5.36 GW,worth Rs 41,947 crore in value,with an intake of 356 MW over Q1 of FY13.

One Giga Watt is equal to 1,000 Mega Watt.”The company,as a precautionary measure,excluded from the order-book a US project totalling 200 MW due to non-movement of this order,” he said.

Vagadia further said,”The previously announced initiative to divest USD 400 million of non-critical assets continues to be on track. The company also continues to be in active,solution-oriented dialogue with FCCB-holders,their advisors,and our senior secured lenders.”

Commenting on the performance,Group chairman Tulsi Tanti said,”Looking at the markets,India continues to regain momentum,returning from a 50 per cent drop in the last fiscal. In other key emerging as well as developed markets,for example Australia,Canada,Europe,South Africa,we continue to see positive movement.”

While we expect this year to continue to be challenging,we are confident that our mid-to-long-term outlook remains strong,he added.