Hindustan Aeronautics Posts First Decline In Profit In 10 Quarters

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Friday, reported its first decline in profit in 10 quarters, hurt by higher input costs and tax expenses.

HAL's consolidated net profit fell nearly 9% to 28.31 billion rupees ($346.2 million) in the fourth quarter ended March 31.

While revenue from operations rose 8% to 124.95 billion rupees, that was offset by a 9.2% jump in expenses, led by a nearly 39% spike in cost of materials, HAL said in an exchange filing.

The company also said it incurred tax expenses of 124.7 million rupees in the quarter, against a gain of 5.28 billion rupees from tax refunds a year ago.

The state-owned aerospace and defence firm, whose customers include the Indian army, navy and air force, along with aerospace corporations Airbus and Boeing, said its order book position stood at 817.84 billion rupees for the quarter.

HAL is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, repair, overhaul, upgrade and servicing of a wide range of products including, aircraft, helicopters, aeroengines, avionics, accessories, aerospace structures and Industrial Marine Gas Turbine.

The Indian government currently owns a 71.65% stake in HAL as of March-end, according to exchange data, having sold 3.5% of its holdings in a deal that fetched it 28.67 billion rupees in the last fiscal year.

Shares of HAL fell as much as 2.4% after results, after rising 7.9% in the March-quarter.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)

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