ABB India bedazzled everyone with a better-than-expected performance with its net profit jumping more than 2x to Rs.151 crore for Q1CY22 (Jan to Dec Year ending).

The performance was mainly driven by operational improvement initiatives, capacity utilization and reduced expenses. It also included a one-time gain of Rs.75 crore due to disposal of an asset as a part of footprint rationalization initiative.

Its revenue for the quarter rose 7% on the back of successful backlog conversion. And it can also be attributed to a robust order book. In Q1, it saw a strong rebound in orders in automation and robotics portfolio while orders were up 24% sequentially at Rs.1825 crore, with uptrend across all divisions. Its order backlog is at Rs.4328 crore v/s Rs.4114 crore (QoQ).

The company’s cash position is at Rs.2,528 crore at the end of Q1 2021 vis-a-vis Rs.1,464 crore (QoQ).

The worry though is that this second wave could once again disrupt its activities though not at the magnitude at which it had happened last year.

The stock opened with a positive gap of 2% at Rs.1412.50 and went up further to Rs.1440, at which point profit booking took over and the stock is now just about holding on to the green at Rs.1386 levels.