>BHARAT ELECTRONICS LIMITED: Significant order wins in FY2012 (Q4FY2012 Result Update)

Result highlights
 
Weak operational performance, other income the saviour: Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) closed FY2012 with a poor performance on the revenue front which had an impact on the margins and the bottom line. Against a full year sales target of Rs6,200 crore, the company reported sales of Rs5,710 crore. The fourth quarter is the strongest for BEL with more than 40% of the full year’s revenues delivered in the quarter. In FY2012, the fourth quarter contributed 40% of the total revenues of the company. However, in FY2012 there was a revenue lag starting from the middle of the year which could not be recouped. Also, the company faced delays in accepting deliveries from its customers, mainly government and quasi government organisations. For the quarter ended March 2012, BEL reported a 3.3% fall in its revenues to Rs2,232.1 crore. The
EBITDA margin was down 1,140 basis points to 11.5% affected by a higher input cost. However, on the back of a 62.9% jump in the other income to Rs212.3 crore the fall in the net profit was restricted to 25.5% at Rs333.8 crore.
 
Margins remain under pressure: The margins of the company remained under pressure with the EBITDA margin down 1,140 basis points to 11.5% in Q4FY2012. The gross profit margin (GPM) of the company was down 1,170 basis points to 32% on account of input cost pressure. For FY2012, the EBITDA margin stood at 7.8% against 16.2% in FY2011. One of the reasons for the dip in the margin could be the the depreciation of the rupee as one-third of the company’s expenses is in foreign currency. Another reason would be that the share of the revenues from the defence sector was down to 73% from 80% during the period. Finally, the
delay in accepting deliveries from clients, generally government and quasi government organisations, would have led to pressure on the margins.

FY2013 revenue target at Rs6,300 crore: For FY2012, BEL reported net sales of Rs5,645.3 crore, up 3.2% with the EBITDA margin down to 7.8% from 16.2% in FY2011 and the net profit down 12.2% at Rs756.3 crore. For FY2013 the management has set a revenue target of Rs6,300 crore, implying a growth of 10.3% over FY2012. In FY2013, the company would be working on many strategically important projects in the areas of weapon systems, electronic warfare systems, shipborne systems, coastal surveillance system, network centric systems, night vision devices, Satcom and communications.

Valuation and view: BEL has reported a poor show for FY2012 on account of the execution of the low-margin non-defence business as well as a delay in decision making by its customers. BEL remains one of the best plays in the defence capital expenditure space. With the increase in the defence budget and the focus on modernisation of the defence technology, BEL is best
placed to take a sizeable pie of the defence spend. The order book at 4.5x FY2012 sales gives BEL strong revenue visibility for at least the next two to three years. The huge cash reserve gives the stock further support. The key risks, however, remain the timely delivery of orders and the margin performance, which has deteriorated through FY2012. We have introduced our FY2014 estimates and rolled over our PE multiple in this note. We maintain our Buy rating on the stock with a revised price target of Rs1,805 (Rs1,893 earlier) in view of the
strong long-term growth outlook for the company.


Healthy order book at 4.5x FY2012 revenues: BEL closed the year with a healthy order book of Rs25,748 crore, up from Rs23,600 crore at the end of FY2011. The order book is executable over the next five to six years. It includes export orders worth $59.17 million. The order book has seen a steady growth after the big jump seen in FY2011. Though the order book remains strong, the key risk remains its execution; a delay in the release of the orders could lead to slower execution.

Valuation and view: BEL has reported a poor show for FY2012 on account of the execution of the low-margin non-defence business as well as a delay in decision making by its customers, mainly government and quasi government organisations. BEL remains one of the best plays in the defence capital expenditure space. With the increase in the defence budget and the focus on modernisation of the defence technology, BEL is best placed to take a sizeable pie of the defence spend. The order book at 4.5x FY2012 sales gives BEL strong revenue visibility for at least the next two to three years. The huge cash reserve gives the stock further support. The key risks, however, remain the timely delivery of orders and the margin performance, which has deteriorated through FY2012. We have introduced our FY2014 estimates and rolled over our PE multiple in this note. We maintain our Buy rating on the stock with a revised price target of Rs1,805 (Rs1,893 earlier) in view of the strong long-term growth outlook for the company.

RISH TRADER