Thermax Q4 profit seen up 8.8%, OPM may jump 150 bps: Poll

Thermax's fourth quarter profit is expected to increase 8.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 115 crore led by operational performance, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. However, lower other income may limit the bottomline growth.

The engineering solutions provider to energy and environment sectors will announce its earnings today.

Total income from operations is seen rising 10.9 percent to Rs 1,533 crore during January-March quarter against Rs 1,383 crore in the year-ago period, aided by execution of few large projects and low base in Q4FY14.

Results could see benefits of execution especially of Rs Rs 1,700 crore large order (from Reliance Industries) awarded in FY14. Revenues could also benefit from a reasonably strong opening order book of Rs 6,120 crore (up 25 percent Y-o-Y) as on April 2014.

Operating profit (EBITDA) may jump 27.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 171 crore and margin may expand 150 basis points to 11.1 percent in March quarter.

Margin may be supported by low base in Q4FY14, favourable operating leverage (led by higher utilisation and lower commodity prices), improved margins from environment segment and execution boost from Reliance order.

Key issues to watch out for are demand environment in domestic as well as overseas markets, sustainability of margins in energy segment and sustained improvement in environment business.

Guidance

Thermax expects revenue growth of 10 percent and stable margins for FY15.