Sterling and Wilson's H1 results suffer in challenging environment

India’s Sterling and Wilson Solar Ltd (BOM:542760), or SWSL, on Saturday posted a 9.5% year-over-year increase in revenue for the first half of the 2021/2022 financial year but profitability continued to be affected by a challenging environment.

The solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm’s revenue from operations came in at INR 26.33 billion (USD 354m/EUR 309m) in the six months through September 2021. Gross margin was negative 5.7%, hit by higher prices of modules, commodities and freight and by greater execution costs because of the COVID impact. The company booked a consolidated net loss of INR 3.6 billion in the six-month period.

More details of its consolidated performance:

SWSL said in its unaudited results it had faced liquidity challenges during the quarter and six-month periods, but continued to have a strong order book, a positive net-worth and favorable net current asset position.

In October, Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (BOM:500325) agreed to take a 40% stake in SWSL through Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd. SWSL is a joint venture of India’s Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Ltd (SPCPL) and the Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala family.

“SWSL will immensely benefit from Reliance Group’s integrated new energy vision which will further strengthen our position as a leading EPC and O&M player globally,” said global chief executive Amit Jain.

(INR 1 = USD 0.013/EUR 0.012)

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