Thermax drops over 2% as Q3 net profit falls short of estimates

NEW DELHI: Thermax Ltd plunged as much as 2.4 per cent in trade on Wednesday after the capital goods maker reported a 13 per cent drop in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31 to Rs 66.64 crores.

Analysts polled by ET Now has estimated the company to report a net profit of Rs 74 crore and net sales of Rs 1098 crores for the December quarter. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 76.36 crore in the in the same period last fiscal.

At 09:45 a.m.; Thermax recouped some of the losses and was trading 1.05 per cent lower at Rs 660. It has hit a low of Rs 650.90 and a high of Rs 665 in trade today.

Thermax reported 3 per cent YoY decline in its top-line to rs 1,013cr, as subdued order backlog in the last few quarters (due to weak order inflow) continues to drag down its revenue.

However, order inflow for the quarter improved by 6 per cent YoY to Rs 1,365cr. The company's operating margin contracted sharply by 171bp yoy to 9.0% due to execution of low margin projects in environment segment, Angel Broking said in a report.

The brokerage firm is of the view that falling revenue and margin resulted in a 13 per cent YoY fall of in profit to Rs 67 cr. They maintain their ‘Neutral’ rating on the stock.