Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) reported a 10.6 per cent increase in its net profit to ₹495.56 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal as against ₹448.17 crore a year ago.
The company’s total income fell by 8 per cent to ₹3,003 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2020, from ₹3,251 crore a year ago.
Its net sales or revenue also fell by 8 per cent to ₹2,937 crore in the April-June 2020 quarter from ₹3,187 crore a year ago.
“During the quarter, we substantially enhanced our liquidity position and strengthened our balance sheet,” said Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises, adding that in financial services, the company has made progress in its priorities to build a multi-product, tech-enabled retail lending platform, as well as to increase granularity in the wholesale portfolio.
“Net debt reduction of ₹13,902 crore in the last one year. Net debt-to-equity falls to 1.2 times verus 1.9 times a year ago,” PEL said in a statement.
The financial services business reported an overall loan book of ₹51,265 crore as on June 30, 2020. Revenue fell by 6 per cent to ₹1,899 crore in the first quarter over a year ago.
The company also had more granularity of the loan book with exposure to top 10 accounts reduced by nearly ₹4,000 crore over a year ago.
It reported gross non-performing assets at 2.5 per cent of gross advances at the end of the first quarter versus 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019-20. It also made conservative provisioning at 5.9 per cent of the loan book.
Revenue in the pharma business fell by 11 per cent on a yearly basis to ₹1,038 crore as on June 30, 2020.