India's HAL posts higher quarterly profit on aircraft demand, inventory gain

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) reported a 9% rise in third-quarter profit on Monday, helped by aircraft demand from the defence sector and an inventory-related gain.

Consolidated net profit came in at 12.61 billion rupees ($151.92 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, the state-owned aerospace and defence company said in a filing.

Capital goods and manufacturing companies have benefited from the Indian government's push for higher capital expenditure in its last full budget announced in February 2023, before the next general elections this year.

The push has helped defence equipment makers including Zen Technologies, Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics make higher profits in the December quarter.

HAL, whose customers include the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, along with aerospace corporations Airbus and Boeing, said revenue rose 7% to 60.61 billion rupees in the October-December period. It does not give a segment-wise revenue break-up.

The company's total expenses fell more than 2% to 48.38 billion rupees, as it gained from 1.11 billion rupees worth inventory-related changes.

Last year, the company had reported 2.55 billion rupees in expenses to account for its stock of finished and unfinished goods, as per the exchange filing.

HAL does not specify the break-up of its inventory changes.

Meanwhile, raw material costs went up by nearly 37% as global prices of some metals, including steel, rose during the quarter.

($1 = 83.0027 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)