Suzlon suffers loss in fiscal Q1, withdraws guidance

Suzlon turbines. Author: Janusz Sobolewski. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Ltd (BOM:532667) reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of INR 5.73 billion (USD 83.3m/EUR 72m) for its first fiscal quarter to end-June, against a INR-490-million profit in the year-ago period.

In addition to suffering a loss in the quarter, the company on Saturday withdrew its full-year operational guidance of revenue between INR 120 billion and INR 130 billion and EBITDA margin of around 14%, citing "prolonged transition."

"However, FY19 may not see huge commissioning volumes as the transition period is prolonging and as a result of the new bidding regime, project execution time has increased from 9 to 18 months. This has caused temporary delay in realizations," said chief executive J P Chalasani. He expects the industry to grow from the 2019/2020 financial year onwards.

In the first quarter, Suzlon saw its revenue drop, which was attributed mainly to low volume. The company delivered 155 MW in the quarter, down from 326 MW a year ago, reflecting back ended auction in the previous year.

More details of the results:

In INR	Q1 2018/19	Q1 2017/18
Revenue	12.72bn	25.71bn
EBITDA (Pre FX)	770m	4.75bn
EBITDA Margin (Pre FX)	6.1%	18.5%
Net Profit (Pre Fx and Ex. Items)	(3.21bn)	900m
Net Profit attributable to Shareholders	(5.73bn)	490m

The turbine maker ended the period with an order book of 1,134 MW and says it has the largest backlog in India's wind industry. The CEO said the company is also focusing on select profitable international markets.

(INR 100 = USD 1.454/EUR 1.256)

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