India's Bajaj Electricals posts rise in Q4 profit on consumer goods demand

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Bajaj Electricals Ltd on Tuesday reported a nearly 32% jump in fourth-quarter profit as shoppers spent more on durable goods like fans and air coolers amid soaring temperatures.

Consolidated net profit was 518.5 million rupees ($6.3 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with 393.5 million rupees a year earlier.

Extreme heat waves across the country are driving the sales of consumer durables such as air coolers and air conditioners.

Overall revenue from operations climbed about 12% to 14.90 billion rupees on the back of strength in consumer products business, which includes air coolers, fans, room heaters and kitchen appliances.

Revenue from the segment, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the business, reported an 8.7% increase to 9.87 billion rupees, even as the company faced pricing constraints and a demand slowdown, Chairman Shekhar Bajaj said in a statement.

Expenses rose 11% in the face of inflationary pressures. Order book as on April 1 stood at 17.61 billion rupees mostly on power distribution and transmission line towers projects, the Bajaj Group company said.

The order book as of April 1, 2022, was 9.64 billion rupees, the company said in May last year.

Revenue at the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) division that houses its power distribution and transmission line towers projects jumped nearly 60% in the latest quarter.

The board also recommended a final dividend of 4 rupees per share for the fiscal year ended March.

Earlier this month, rival Havells India Ltd reported a strong quarterly profit on rising demand for air conditioners.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)