The shareholders of Piramal Enterprises had a lot to cheer despite the company posting losses for Q4 and FY14 given the hefty dividend it has declared. The company has declared a jaw dropping dividend of Rs.52.50/share of Rs.2 face value. This works to a dividend of 2625%!  Book closure for payment of this dividend is from July 17, 2014 to July 25, 2014 (both days inclusive).

The company ended Q4FY14 with a consolidated net loss of Rs.311 crore, up from loss of Rs.200 crore in previous Q4 and Rs.11 crore loss in Q3FY14. EBITDA was down 26% (YoY) at Rs.70 crore.  Forex loss of Rs.14 crore, huge interest burden of Rs.270 crore for Q4 and Rs.1049 crore for FY14 did it in. These interest costs include one-time financing charges of Rs.54 crore for Q4 and Rs.178 crore for FY14, on account of discounting of receivables for investing in lending operations and in acquiring stakes in Shriram Group entities.  Taxes have also shot up by almost 7 times (YoY) and 3 times sequentially.

It ended FY14 with a consolidated net loss at Rs.501 crore, up from the loss of Rs.227 crore in FY13.

Two major developments happened in the company post 31^st March 2014. First was divestment of its entire stake in Vodafone, earning it Rs.8900 crore. It then bought 20% stake in Shriram Capital for Rs.2014 crore and then 9.99% stake in Shriram City Union for Rs.790 crore. The effects of these will be seen in current Q1.