9:13 AM
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Suzlon Energy sees growth in profits for the rest of the year as it boosts sales, cuts operating costs and executes orders from emerging economies to help the wind turbine maker maintain growth momentum after a difficult phase. The debt-ridden company is upbeat after an 80% rise in sales helped it post a net profit of . 60 crore in the April-June quarter, recovering from a loss of . 912 crore a year ago. This is the company’s second consecutive profitable quarter after it reported a loss in every quarter since December 2009 due to low sales, high cost and interest burden.
The company have been able to keep our operational expenditure stable even though sales have almost doubled. Operational expenditure as a percentage of sales has reduced to 15% now from 26% earlier and we expect our focus on improving operational efficiency will enhance profit growth.
The company maintained that its consolidated sales are likely to rise to . 24,000-26,000 crore in the current financial year ending March 31, 2012, from . 17,879 crore in the previous year. It also maintained its guidance for earnings before interest and tax margin at 7-8% in 2011-12 against 10% in the previous year.
On a consolidated basis, the company won orders for wind turbines aggregating to 580 megawatts (mw) in the June quarter. Suzlon’s consolidated order book stood at 4,739 mw, worth around . 29,291 crore, as on July 29, 2011. The company hopes to repay part of its net debt of 10,500 crore from the proceeds of its planned exit from its Belgium-based arm Hansen Transmissions International. “The proceeds of the stake sale would be partly used to finance the buyout of Repower.