Piramal Enterprises Ltd on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 1,703 crore for Q4 FY20 versus a net profit of Rs 455 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
The revenue declined by 2 per cent to Rs 3,341 crore from Rs 3,409 crore in the same period.
"The last few quarters have been challenging for the Indian economy. The situation has further worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a subsequent economic recovery likely to be long-drawn," said Chairman Ajay Piramal.
"To navigate through such an environment, we have significantly strengthened and deleveraged our balance sheet through multiple initiatives to raise capital," he said in a statement.
Piramal said the pharma business continues to be operational despite Covid-19 lockdowns and delivered healthy revenue growth of 13 per cent year-on-year to Rs 5,419 crore and an EBITDA margin of 26 per cent for FY20.
"We have consciously shrunk our wholesale loan book by 12 per cent and more importantly, reduced our large single borrower exposure by Rs 4,200 crore over the past year."
Further, given the uncertain macro environment, the company has created Rs 1,903 crores of additional provision to mitigate potential contingencies in the financial services business.
During FY20, Piramal Enterprises managed capital inflows of Rs 14,500 crore from key milestone transactions.
It increased total equity by 12 per cent to Rs 30,572 crore as compared to Rs 27,224 crore last year. The net debt reduced by Rs 17,838 crore to Rs 37,283 crore as against Rs 55,122 crore last year.
The board of directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 14 per share. The total dividend payout on this account will be Rs 316 crore.
( With inputs from ANI )