ABB India Mulls Utilising Rs 1,800 Cr For Acquisitions To Drive Growth

Electrification and automation major ABB India can utilise around Rs 1,800 crore of its cash balance for inorganic growth or acquisitions apart from organic expansion plans, a top company official said.

The company has identified high-growth potential segments, including transportation, data centres, electronics, warehousing and logistics, water, renewable, food and beverage, pharma and healthcare, automotive, etc.

"We have a robust cash balance of Rs 3,616 crore, which can support (it) to take part in the bolt-on acquisition strategies to the extent of 50 per cent of cash available, apart from organic expansion plans," Sanjeev Sharma, Country Head and Managing Director, ABB India told reporters.

Sharma stated that its electronics, railways & metro, data centres, warehouse & logistics and renewables segments are growing at a high rate of 15 per cent and above.

Food & beverage, pharma & healthcare, water & wastewater and automotive segments are growing at a moderate growth rate of 10-14 per cent.

The segments with moderate to low growth rate of the company's business are those with below 10 per cent rate. These are power distribution rubber & plastics, buildings & Infra, cement, oil, gas & chemicals, metals & mining, marine & ports, pulp & paper and textiles.

He also said that the company is not seeing weakness in the demand for its product and services and there could be a couple of sectors which can witness a slowdown but that is a normal practice.

Sharma said that the company will continue to focus on new opportunities in the high-growth segments and enhance focus to gain market share in segments with moderate growth.

He also said that the company will have a sustained focus to retain market share in segments where growth is moderate to low.

ABB India achieved a significant milestone in order booking by reaching Rs 10,028 crore in CY2022 and Rs 2,335 crore for the last quarter (October-December) of CY2022.

ABB India on Friday posted a 58 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 306 crore in the December quarter compared to Rs 194 crore logged a year ago. In the December quarter, total revenue rose to Rs 2,427 crore from Rs 2,101 crore a year ago.

The company follows the January to December financial year. For CY2022, the net profit almost doubled to Rs 1,026 crore from Rs 532 crore in CY2021.

Its revenues were Rs 8,568 crore for CY2022, the highest in the last five years. Its revenue was at Rs 6,934 crore in CY2021.

The firm continues to have a strong and consistently growing order backlog at Rs 6,468 crore as of December 31, 2022.

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