Bharat Forge shares jump over 3% as Q2 profit rises 52% to ₹215 crore

Bharat Forge's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization) stood at ₹606.8 crore, up 34% from ₹453 crore in the same quarter last year. EBITDA margin expanded to 27%, as against 24.3% in the year-ago period, driven by operating leverage and a sharp focus on cost control.

The strong financial performance and debt reduction of ₹307 crore resulted in ROCE (net-of-cash) inching closer to the 20% mark, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Bharat Forge's defence business continues to move from strength to strength in terms of execution and order wins. During the quarter, the company’s defence vertical, KSSL secured new business worth ₹1,100 crore taking the executable order book to ₹3,000 crore, over the coming 24 months.

The overseas operations performance has also shown improvement, the company said.

"Barring any untoward global disturbances which may impact demand sentiment, we expect the momentum in our businesses to continue in H2 FY24 performance along with strong cash flow generation,” said Chairman and Managing Director BN Kalyani.

Following the quarterly earnings announcement, shares of Bharat Forge Ltd rallied 3.59% to trade at ₹1,067.90 apiece on the NSE. The scrip has gained 36% in the last six months.