Murugappa group, a leading business house in South India, reported a significant increase in operating margin and bottomline for the pandemic-hit 2020-21, while its topline saw a decent growth after a low single-digit growth in the earlier fiscal.

Profit after tax (PAT) of the Chennai-headquartered group stood at ₹4,500 crore for FY21 compared with ₹2,946 crore in FY20, an increase of 53 per cent.

The Group reported a turnover of ₹41,713 crore for 2020-21 compared with ₹38,105 crore in the previous fiscal, an increase of 9.5 per cent. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 20.4 per cent at ₹6,440 crore (₹5,347 crore in FY20).

Manufacturing entities generated a free cash flow of ₹5,059 crore ( ₹1,903 crore), which stood at 254 per cent of PAT.

In engineering business, Carborundum Universal saw a marginal growth in revenue at ₹2,604 crore (₹2,569 crore), while Tube Investments of India Ltd reported a 29 per cent increase at ₹5,827 crore (₹4,520 crore).

In financial services businesses, NBFC Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Co registered 10 per cent increase in revenue at ₹9,584 crore (₹8,713 crore), while its insurance arm Cholamandalam MS General Insurance reported a marginal decline (0.23 per cent) at ₹4,388 crore (4,398 crore).

In the agriculture business, Coromandel’s revenue grew 8.05 per cent at ₹14,145 crore (₹13.091 crore), while EID Parry’s topline grew about 11 per cent, at ₹4,400 crore (₹3,967 crore).

Group manufacturing entities reduced loan outstanding of ₹2,148 crore during FY21, leading to an improvement in total debt-equity from 0.47 times as on March 31, 2020 to 0.20 times as on March 31, 2021.

In FY21, EID Parry has sold 4 per cent stake in its subsidiary, Coromandel International Ltd, for an aggregate value of ₹835 crore, which will be utilised to reduce debt.

Total capital expenditure programmes for expansion/ debottlenecking/ modernising /digital infrastructure facilities across group companies, excluding M&A, were about ₹445 crore in FY21 (₹1,009 crore). Capex spend during FY21 was low mainly on account of the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Market capitalisation of the 10 listed companies of the group aggregates to ₹1,28,707 crore as of March 31, 2021 ( against ₹46,683 crore for 9 listed companies).

In FY21, Tube Investments of India Ltd bought a controlling stake of 53.16 per cent in CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd. Consolidated turnover of the Group includes that of CG Power for the four-month period December 2020 to March 2021. Excluding the same, the Group registered a growth of 5.9 per cent at ₹40,339 crore ( ₹38,105 crore).

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