NEW DELHI: Homegrown telecom gear maker HFCL Friday reported a 38.99% year-over-year growth in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 109 crore in Q4FY24 compared to Rs 79 crore in Q4FY23. HFCL’s PAT grew by 32.67% on a sequential.

HFCL’s revenue, however, declined by 7.46% to Rs 1,326 crore in Q4FY24 from Rs 1,433 crore in Q4FY23, but increased by 28.46% on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) grew 24.45% to Rs 209 crore in the fiscal quarter ending March 2024 compared to Rs 168 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal year.

HFCL’s PAT grew at 6.24%, from Rs 318 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2023 to Rs 338 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2024. Its EBITDA also grew modestly at 2.44%, from Rs 666 crore to Rs 682 crore during the same period.

Revenue, however, was down by 5.87% from Rs 4,743 crore in FY23 to Rs 4,465 crore in FY24 which HFCL MD Mahendra-Nahata attributed to a softening in demand for optical fiber cables .This temporary decline is in line with the worldwide trend. It is attributed to inventory built-up with major operators, resulting in an overall reduction in revenue in absolute terms as well as lower sales realisation per kilometre of fiber,” he added.

HFCL estimates the demand for telecom gear and OFC to restore from Q2FY25 onwards, both in India and in key global markets.

We conclude FY24 on a positive note and at HFCL, we are delighted to witness a meaningful shift in demand for our communication products, 5G and defense equipment. Our order book has increased to Rs 7685 Crores in FY24 as compared to Rs 7010 Crores in FY23, led by significant multi-million order wins from various reputed customers,” said Nahata.

He added that HFCL continued its focus on increasing revenue from margin accretive products, expansion of capacities coupled with high-level vertical and horizontal integration in Optical Fiber Cable (OFC), and huge impetus on R&D.

In the current fiscal year, HFCL is keen to capitalise on opportunities arising from OFC, BharaNet phase three project, Make in India initiative in the defence sector and key international markets including North America, Europe, UK, Middle East and Africa.